Dimitri Oberlin

Dimitri Oberlin (born 27 September 1997) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a forward for Basel.

Dimitri Oberlin
Oberlin in 2017
Personal information
Full name Dimitri Joseph Oberlin Mfomo
Date of birth (1997-09-27) 27 September 1997
Place of birth Yaoundé, Cameroon
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Basel
Number 27
Youth career
FC Étoile-Broye
2008–2009 FC Thierrens
2009–2011 Lausanne-Sport
2011–2015 FC Zürich
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015 FC Zürich 1 (0)
2015–2018 Red Bull Salzburg 12 (3)
2015 → FC Liefering (loan) 15 (7)
2016–2017 → SCR Altach (loan) 20 (9)
2017–2018 → Basel (loan) 26 (5)
2018– Basel 15 (0)
2019 → Empoli (loan) 5 (0)
2019–2020 → Zulte Waregem (loan) 18 (2)
National team‡
2012 Switzerland U15 7 (2)
2012 Switzerland U16 3 (1)
2014 Switzerland U17 8 (4)
2014–2016 Switzerland U19 9 (9)
2016– Switzerland U21 11 (5)
2018– Switzerland 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:07, 4 July 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 October 2018

Club career

Youth

Oberlin started his youth football with FC Étoile-Broye, FC Thierrens and Lausanne-Sport, with whom he won an Under-15 championship in Switzerland.[1]

Zürich

In 2011 he moved to FC Zürich, and signed his first professional contract with the club in 2014. While he was initially promised playing time in the first team, he was used sparingly at the club, and for that reason Oberlin sought to transfer away from the club. He was sought after by Manchester United in England, but would've started in their academy with the Under-18 team. For that reason, Oberlin chose to transfer to Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, where a path to the first team was clearer.[2] Oberlin was often compared with fellow Cameroon-born, Swiss international Breel Embolo, and Zürich chairman Ancillo Capella remarked upon Oberlin's departure that he did not want "hysterical mothers claiming that their sons are at least as good as Embolo".

Salzburg

On 30 June 2015, Red Bull Salzburg made the announcement that they had signed a three-year contract with Oberlin.[3] Oberlin scored his first goal with Salzburg in his second game with the club, against Rapid Wien on 1 August, after coming on as a second-half substitute. He ended up splitting his first season with Salzburg and their farm club, Liefering. He scored three goals with Salzburg, and seven with Liefering in the Erste Liga. Oberlin received an offer from Red Bull parent club RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga, but declined, citing the importance of playing first team football.[4]

Rheindorf Altach

Oberlin was loaned out to fellow Austrian Football Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach for the 2016–17 season. Oberlin got off to an amazing start with Altach, as he scored 6 goals in his first 5 games with the club. He finished the first half of the season with 9 goals, second in the league to Deni Alar, as Altach were the surprise leaders of the league at the halfway point of the season.[5] Oberlin was recalled by RB Salzburg at that point, and he found the back of the net on his first match back, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Mattersburg.[6] He made three more appearances before missing nearly two months with a muscle tear in his thigh, picked up while on international duty with the Swiss under-20 team.[7] Expected to miss the rest of the season, Oberlin returned in time to make a substitute appearance against his former club that season, Altach, in the final game.[8] Altach were in fourth by that point in the season, and Salzburg won 1–0 as they ran away with the championship, their fourth in a row.

Basel

On 20 June 2017, FC Basel announced that they had acquired Oberlin on loan from Salzburg, with the option of a definite transfer.[9]

Basel, as champions of the Swiss Super League the previous year, earned a spot in the group stage of the Champions League. Oberlin appeared as a substitute against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but started for Basel against Portuguese club Benfica. On 27 September 2017, Oberlin played in the starting eleven in the Champions League Group stage match against Benfica. Basel ran out 5–0 victors at St. Jakob-Park, with Oberlin scoring two goals and assisting a third, highlighted by his full-field sprint after heading away a Benfica corner to finish off a Basel counter-attack with a goal.[10][11] Oberlin made 4 starts in the group stage, scoring 4 goals as Basel advanced to the knockout stages, second in their group behind Manchester United. Drawn against Manchester City, Basel lost 5–2 on aggregate, but they did defeat City in the second leg in Manchester 1–2, as Oberlin started both legs. He also scored on his debut with the club in the league on 5 August, finishing off a 3–0 victory over Thun with his stoppage time goal.

Under trainer Marcel Koller Basel won the Swiss Cup in the 2018–19 season. In the first round Basel beat FC Montlingen 3–0, in the second round Echallens Région 7–2 and in the round of 16 Winterthur 1–0. In the quarter finals Sion were defeated 4–2 after extra time and in the semi finals Zürich were defeated 3–1. All these games were played away from home. The final was held on the 19 May 2019 in the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf Bern against Thun. Striker Albian Ajeti scored the first goal, Fabian Frei the second for Basel, then Dejan Sorgić netted a goal for Thun, but the end result was 2–1 for Basel.[12] Oberlin played in four cup games and scored a goal in the semi-final against Zürich.

Empoli

On 31 January 2019, the last day of the 2018–19 winter transfer window, Oberlin moved to Serie A side Empoli F.C. on loan for the season with Empoli securing an option to make the signing permanent.[13]

Zulte Waregem

On 1 July 2019, Oberlin moved to Belgian First Division A to join S.V. Zulte Waregem on a 1 year loan.[14]

International career

Oberlin received his first call to the Switzerland national football team for friendlies against Greece and Panama in March 2018.[15] Born in Cameroon, Oberlin moved to Switzerland at the age of 9, and has participated in their youth ranks from the age of 14.[16] He made his debut on 23 March 2018 in a game against Greece.[17]

Career statistics
As of match played 26 May 2019[18][19]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FC Zürich 2013–14 Swiss Super League 10000010
2014–15 00000000
Total 10000010
FC Salzburg 2015–16 Austrian Bundesliga 123003[lower-alpha 1]0153
2016–17 51000051
Total 1740030204
FC Liefering (loan) 2015–16 Erste Liga 15700—157
SCR Altach (loan) 2016–17 Austrian Bundesliga 20910—219
Basel (loan) 2017–18 Swiss Super League 265418[lower-alpha 2]4319
Basel 2018–19 Swiss Super League 140214[lower-alpha 3]0201
Empoli (loan) 2018–19 Serie A 5000—50
Career total 91247215411330
  1. Two appearances in the Champions League and one in the Europa League
  2. Appearances in the Champions League
  3. Appearances in the Champions League and Europa League

Honours
Salzburg
Basel

References
  1. Yokhin, Michael (13 February 2018). "Basel could hit Manchester City with Dimitri Oberlin's blistering pace". ESPN.
  2. Dubach, Matthias (23 March 2016). "<<Embolo ist mein bester Freund>>". Blick.
  3. "Dimitri Oberlin wechselt vom FC Zürich zu Red Bull Salzburg". Red Bull Salzbug. 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  4. "Dimitri Oberlin kann sich RB Leipzig vorstellen". RB Live. 20 October 2016.
  5. Cullimore, Ben (15 February 2017). "RHEINDORF ALTACH: THE VILLAGE TEAM FIGHTING TO CONQUER AUSTRIA". These Football Times.
  6. "Oberlin sichert Salzburg drei Punkte gegen Mattersburg" [Oberlin secures three points for Salzburg against Mattersburg]. Sky Sport Austria (in German). 25 February 2017.
  7. "Oberlin beim Nationalteam schwer verletzt". SPOX Österreich. 30 March 2017.
  8. "Salzburg siegt nach Eigentor gegen Altach und feiert Meistertitel - derstandard.at/2000058362381/Salzburg-siegt-nach-Eigentor-gegen-Altach". Der Standard. 28 May 2017.
  9. FC Basel 1893 (2017). "Dimitri Oberlin wechselt leihweise zum FCB". FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  10. Lawless, Josh (2017). "WATCH: Basel Star Dimitri Oberlin Channeled His Inner Usain Bolt Last Night". sportbible.com. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  11. thelocal.ch (2017). "FC Basel thrash Benfica in Champions League". thelocal.ch. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. "FC Basel - FC Thun 2:1 (1:0)". Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv”. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  13. Frische, David (31 January 2019). "Dimitri Oberlin wird an Empoli ausgeliehen". Telebasel (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  14. "Transfer News | Dimitri Oberlin will join SV Zulte Waregem".
  15. "Nati-Coach Petkovic: Deshalb habe ich Drmic und Oberlin aufgeboten".
  16. McVitie, Peter (22 November 2017). "Who is Dimitri Oberlin? The on-loan Basel forward who rejected Man Utd". Goal.
  17. "Greece v Switzerland game report". ESPN. 23 March 2018.
  18. "D. Oberlin". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  19. "Dimitri Oberlin » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
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