Marcel Sabitzer

The 29-year-old Austrian international has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since the end of July 2023. He previously played for Bayern Munich.

Sabitzer's childhood and beginnings in football 

Marcel Sabitzer was born on 17 March 1994 in Wels in the foothills of the Alps in Upper Austria and was already considered one of the country's greatest attacking talents as a youngster. He is now at home in the centre of midfield. He thinks with and against the ball in an offensive and forward-looking manner. One of his great strengths lies in counter-pressing and he specialises in long-range shots: He has scored twelve of his 34 Bundesliga goals from long-range shots, including three directly converted free-kicks. The son of former Austrian international Herfried Sabitzer was practically born into football. He started out at ESV Admira Villach and then at Grazer AK, for whom he laced up his boots until 2008, when he was just 14 years old. Via Austria Wien, he joined the Wacker Mödling academy in 2009, where he initially played for the U17s and U19s at the same time before making his senior debut in the 2009/10 season in the regional league. The then 18-year-old was already on the radar of German first division clubs in 2012/13, but Sabitzer built up his career cautiously, playing for Austrian record champions Rapid Vienna from January 2013, for whom the newcomer scored seven goals in 29 league games in the 2013/14 season and got his first taste of European club football in the UEFA Europa League.

Successes at Rasenballsport Leipzig and FC Salzburg

A German club, RB Leipzig, subsequently secured the midfielder's services, but loaned him out to FC Salzburg for the 2014/15 season. In 33 league games, he scored 19 goals and recorded 16 assists, playing a major part in the club's repeat championship title. He was also instrumental in winning the ÖFB Cup with seven goals and six assists in just five games.

Marcel Sabitzer at RB Leipzig and the move to FC Bayern Munich

Sabitzer played at Leipzig for six years from summer 2015, initially in the second Bundesliga and then in the top flight from 2016. He shone with technique, dynamism, speed and - at the age of just 23 - maturity. And with versatility. He was deployed in attack, behind the striker(s) and on the wings. ‘I'm a bit of everything,’ is how he described his style of play in kicker (August 2015). In 2017, he was voted Austria's Footballer of the Year. When Julian Nagelsmann took over as head coach at Sachsen in 2019, he made Sabitzer his ‘aggressive leader’ in the centre-defensive midfield. His career - from winger to centre-back - is reminiscent of that of Bastian Schweinsteiger. In the summer of 2021, the Austrian, now captain of the Leipzig team, moved to FC Bayern Munich with his coach. At the end of January 2023, he was loaned out to Manchester United until the end of the season (18 competitive matches, eleven of them in the starting eleven; he was ruled out of the final five games due to a meniscus injury). He stood out with two goals in the UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg against Sevilla FC (2:2). At national level, he won the English League Cup with the team.

Sabitzer's decision to move to BVB

During preparations for the 2023/24 season, Sabitzer decided to move to Borussia Dortmund. The decisive factor was a long phone call with coach Edin Terzic. ‘He showed me how he sees me, what my strengths and weaknesses are and what role he has for me. That makes you think and impresses you. When a stranger knows you so well and has studied you, it shows that he has really looked into you. I first discussed the possibility of a change with myself and then got the family on board. I then gave the go-ahead and things happened very quickly. It was a process of maybe twelve to 14 hours.’ Sabitzer is ‘impressed by the team, the club, the fans, the stadium - it's simply amazing. It wasn't easy coming to Dortmund as an opponent. It was never really fun when 75,000 people were against you. I want to attack, I want to have fun here and present myself in the league, as I have done before.' The new signing defines his role as follows: ‘It has to be nasty on the pitch sometimes. I've done that in the past too. You need guys like that: who don't duck away when things aren't so funny.’ Sabitzer sees his strengths as an eighth man: ‘I make a lot of deep runs, but I'm also not too bad at running in behind and doing dirty work. Box-to-box player is my role.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Sabitzer's role in the team

In this role, he can rely on one of his weapons - long-range shots: ‘That can help against deep-lying opponents’. In his youth, he practised a lot of shots on goal with his best mate, a goalkeeper: ‘That certainly contributed to my shooting technique. I want to use that.’ Sabitzer wears the number 20 at BVB. Many numbers in the squad were no longer available. He chose this number because he already wore it in his early days with the Austrian national team. He was 18 years, two months and 19 days old when he made his debut on 5 June 2012. He now has 71 appearances to his name. Sabitzer has been the father of a daughter (Mary Lou) since April 2019.