Sebastien Haller

The 29-year-old attacker has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since July 2022. He previously played for Ajax Amsterdam and made 22 appearances (9 goals / 5 assists) for BVB across all competitions by June 2023 (deadline for all information).

An impressive comeback: Sébastien Haller's fight against cancer

His fate touched footballing Germany. His disciplined fight against cancer impressed everyone. After a forced six-month break with two operations and four chemotherapy sessions, Haller was back as a professional footballer in January 2023.

The return of the scorer: Haller's performance after his comeback

‘His personal story is the fairytale of the past season, perhaps the fairytale of European club football,’ said Hans-Joachim Watzke in an interview with the members' magazine Borussia (June 2023 issue). ‘I remember exactly how he and all of us received the news during the summer training camp in Bad Ragaz that he had cancer. He underwent two operations, had to undergo four chemotherapy sessions and was so strong during this time that he even built up other people. After just six months, he is back on the pitch and attacking. What kind of strength does this man have? That's really impressive.’

The striker played in all 19 league games after the winter break (15 times as a starter). With him, BVB scored an average of 2.4 points per game, compared to just 1.7 without him. ‘When he came back, we weren't even in a Champions League place, and our regular attacking wingers hadn't scored a goal in the first 15 matchdays - if I remember correctly. With Sébastien, we then developed into the most goal-scoring offence,’ recalled Watzke. Haller himself scored nine times, which was BVB's top figure for the entire season together with Julian Brandt and Donyell Malen; these nine goals in the second half of the season were unrivalled by any other Bundesliga player. During his time at Frankfurt, the Frenchman was already known as a striker who doesn't shy away from a duel and can assert himself well, and it was the same at BVB. He won a very strong 53 per cent of duels and is Borussia's preferred attacking player for high balls.

‘You can get cancer, but you can also beat it. I've learnt that over the past six months,‘ explained Sébastian Haller in an interview with the members’ magazine Borussia (March 2023 issue), emphasising that he ‘never doubted that I would return to the pitch. I still remember the meeting with our doctor very well when he told me: Okay, Sébastien, you can get back into training. That was around 20 December. I knew then that the tumour was out and there was nothing left of the disease in my body.’

Haller had been signed for the 2022/23 season as the successor to goalscorer Erling Haaland, who had moved to Manchester City. In the previous year, Haller shone in the Ajax Amsterdam jersey not only as the top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie (21 goals this season), but above all in the UEFA Champions League. A total of eleven goals meant third place in the annual ranking of top scorers, with Haller scoring in every game in the group stage - something that only superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had ever achieved before. Haller has also proven to be a reliable goalscorer in the Bundesliga. Between 2017 and 2019, he scored 24 goals in 60 games in the Eintracht Frankfurt shirt.

Successful career and international experience: Haller's path to BVB

He was born on 22 June 1994 in Ris-Orangis, just outside Paris. His father is French and his mother is from the Ivory Coast. He therefore has both nationalities. He plays internationally for his mother's country and has made 15 senior international appearances to date. He played for France at youth level, scoring 25 goals in 51 youth internationals from U16 to U21. He did judo as a child, which is another reason why he is extremely agile.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

A look at Haller's footballing career

Haller signed his first professional contract with AJ Auxerre as a 17-year-old in June 2011 and played his first second division match in July 2012. In January 2015, he moved to FC Utrecht. He described his two-and-a-half years in the Dutch Eredivisie with 51 goals in 98 games as a turning point in his career, which then really took off. Haller moved to Eintracht Frankfurt for the 2017/18 season and won the DFB Cup (3:1 against Bayern Munich) in his first season with the club. In the following season, the 1.90 metre tall athlete was directly involved in 24 of Frankfurt's 60 Bundesliga goals. He scored 15 times himself and set up nine goals. And he could have scored even more if he hadn't been injured on match day 27.

The Ivorian joined West Ham United in the English Premier League for the 2019/20 season. He scored three goals in his first three league games; after a year and a half on the island, he had scored 14 goals in 54 games. In January 2021, Haller returned to the Netherlands to join his former coach Erik ten Hag, who had moulded him into a top striker in Utrecht. In an AFC Ajax shirt, he won the championship in 2021 and 2022 (as top scorer) and the cup in 2021.

Haller is married, has two children (daughter Chiara and son Eden) and is considered down-to-earth and modest.