Alexander Merkel

Alexander Merkel
Александр Меркель

Merkel with Admira Wacker in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth	(1992-02-22) 22 February 1992 (age 32)
Place of birth	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Nassaji Mazandaran
Number	52
Youth career
1999	Okzhetpes
1999–2003	JSG Westerwald
2003–2008	VfB Stuttgart
2008–2010	AC Milan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2011	AC Milan	6	(0)
2011–2013	Genoa	19	(1)
2012	→ AC Milan (loan)	1	(0)
2013–2016	Udinese	6	(0)
2014	→ Watford (loan)	11	(1)
2014–2015	→ Grasshopper Club Zurich (loan)	6	(0)
2016	Pisa	0	(0)
2016–2018	VfL Bochum	13	(0)
2018	Admira Wacker	15	(1)
2018–2020	Heracles Almelo	59	(2)
2020–2021	Al-Faisaly	27	(1)
2021–2023	Gaziantep	38	(3)
2023–2024	Hatta	10	(2)
2024–	Nassaji Mazandaran	3	(0)
International career^‡
2007	Germany U15	2	(0)
2007–2008	Germany U16	15	(1)
2008	Germany U17	3	(0)
2009	Germany U18	2	(0)
2010–2011	Germany U19	2	(1)
2011	Germany U20	1	(0)
2015–2019	Kazakhstan	3	(0)
Medal record Milan Winner Serie A 2010–11
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:27, 4 July 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21 March 2019

Alexander Merkel (Kazakh: Александр Меркель; born 22 February 1992) is a Kazakh-German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Persian Gulf Pro League club Nassaji Mazandaran.^[2]

Born in Kazakhstan to parents of German descent, Merkel initially represented Germany internationally at youth level. He switched allegiance to Kazakhstan in 2015, making his debut in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying game.

Club career

Early career

Born in Kazakhstan to parents of German ancestry,^[3] Merkel moved to Germany in 1998, aged 6.^[4] There he started playing football with amateur team JSG Westerwald, before joining VfB Stuttgart at the age of 11.^[5]

AC Milan

In 2008, at age 16, Merkel transferred to Italian side AC Milan.^[6] During his time in the club's youth system, he was a member of the under-20 side who won the Coppa Italia Primavera in 2010, 25 years after the team's last success in the competition.^[7]

Merkel received his first call-ups for the senior team during the 2009–10 campaign, but he was never fielded nor named on the bench.^[8][9][10] At the beginning of the following season, he took part in some pre-season games, putting up good performances.^[4] Merkel eventually made his first-team official debut on 8 December 2010, coming off the bench in a UEFA Champions League group stage game against Ajax. He also came off the bench against Tottenham on the 75th minute for Kevin-Prince Boateng^[11] on 6 January 2011. He also made his league debut, figuring in the starting line-up for a match against Cagliari.^[12] Merkel went on to score his first professional goal on 20 January, as Milan pulled off a 3–0 win over Bari in the Coppa Italia round of 16.^[13] In total, he made ten appearances, six of which were in the league, throughout the season.

Genoa

At the beginning of the 2011–12 season, Merkel joined Genoa in co-ownership with Milan, for €5 million, which, in turn, signed Stephan El Shaarawy in a same type of deal, for €10 million.^[14][15] Merkel made his official debut for the club in 4–3 win over Nocerina in third preliminary round of the Coppa Italia, on 20 August 2011.^[16] Merkel made his first assist of the season with a left-footed cross to Marco Rossi a 2–2 draw against Juventus. On 17 January 2012, he returned to AC Milan on loan from Genoa. He made his official re-debut wearing Milan's red-black shirt on 18 January, winning 2–1 over Novara in the 16th round of the 2011–12 Coppa Italia. Genoa bought the remaining 50% of his rights for another €5 million on 23 May 2012 making him a full Genoa player, as well as El Shaarawy moved to Milan for another €10 million.^[17][18]

Udinese

On 3 January 2013, 50% registration rights of Merkel (€4 million) and Masahudu Alhassan (€1.5 million) were sold to Udinese Calcio for a total of €5.5 million, as part of Antonio Floro Flores's deal.^[19] In June 2013 Udinese acquired them outright for another €1.78 million (€1.16 million and €620,000).^[19]

Watford (loan)

On 3 January 2014, Merkel joined Watford on loan from Udinese until the end of the season.^[20]

Merkel made his debut from the start in a 1–0 defeat to Reading on 11 January 2014, but he was sent off in second half stoppage time after a lunge on Nick Blackman. Merkel scored his first goal for Watford in a 3–0 home win against Barnsley on 15 March 2014.

Grasshopper Club Zurich (loan)

On 14 July 2014, Merkel signed for Grasshopper Club Zurich on a season long loan deal from parent club Udinese.^[21]

Pisa

On 21 July 2016, Merkel joined his former Milan teammate Gennaro Gattuso, who served as manager at Pisa. However, after Gattuso suddenly left the club on 31 July 2016, Merkel was released by the club on 14 August 2016.^[22]

VfL Bochum

On 15 August 2016, Merkel signed with VfL Bochum.^[23]

Admira Wacker

On 5 February 2018, Merkel signed with Austrian club Admira Wacker.^[24] He signed his first goal in the match against Wolfsberger AC.

Heracles Almelo

On 29 July 2018, Merkel signed with Eredivisie side Heracles Almelo.^[25]

Al-Faisaly

On 14 September 2020, Merkel signed with Saudi Professional League club Al-Faisaly.^[26]

Gaziantep

On 19 August 2021, Turkish club Gaziantep F.K. announced the signing of Merkel.^[27]

Hatta

On 5 July 2023, Merkel signed with UAE Pro League club Hatta.^[28]

International career

Merkel made his international debut for Germany U-15 in a 4–1 win against Switzerland and has since represented Germany at all levels of youth international football up to under-19. In a December 2010 interview, he stated that he "dreams" of going on to play for the senior team one day.^[5]

In another December 2010 interview he said that he is interested in representing Russia.^[29] Russian Football Union president Sergey Fursenko and Russia's coach Dick Advocaat both commented saying that he can't be called up as he does not actually possess Russian citizenship. Merkel noted that naturalization should not be a problem, considering that an American-born Jon Robert Holden played for the Russia national basketball team.^[30]

In February 2011, Merkel's adviser Arthur Beck, father of German international Andreas Beck, confirmed the player's renewed wishes to be capped for Germany.^[31]

In March 2015, Merkel decided to play for the Kazakhstan national team.^{[citation needed]} He made his debut against Iceland in a qualifying match for Euro 2016.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 27 May 2018^[22]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AC Milan	2010–11	Serie A	6	0	2	1	2[a]	0	10	1
Genoa	2011–12	Serie A	13	0	1	0	—		14	0
	2012–13		6	1	1	0	—		7	1
	Total		19	1	2	0	0	0	21	1
AC Milan (loan)	2011–12	Serie A	1	0	2	0	0	0	3	0
Udinese	2012–13	Serie A	5	0	0	0	—		5	0
	2013–14		0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Watford	2013–14	Championship	11	1	0	0	—		11	1
Grasshopper Club Zurich	2014–15	Swiss Super League	6	0	2	0	3[b]	0	11	0
Udinese	2015–16	Serie A	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
Pisa	2016–17	Serie B	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
VfL Bochum	2016–17	2. Bundesliga	11	0	0	0	—		11	0
	2017–18		2	0	1	0	—		3	0
	Total		13	0	1	0	0	0	14	2
Admira Wacker	2017–18	Austrian Bundesliga	15	1	0	0	—		15	1
Career total			77	3	9	1	5	0	91	4

1. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
2. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of match played 24 March 2019^[32]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Kazakhstan	2015	1	0
	2019	2	0
Total		3	0

Honours

Milan

• Serie A: 2010–11

Al-Faisaly

• King Cup: 2020–21

References

1. "Kader » 1. Mannschaft | Grasshopper Club Zürich". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
2. Alexander Merkel at WorldFootball.net
3. "Doppel-Pass: Moskau lockt "sowjetische" fußballer". sueddeutsche.de (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
4. Peter Staunton (10 August 2010). "Scouting Report: Alexander Merkel – AC Milan". goal.com. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
5. "Alexander Merkel: 'Milan ist ein Weltverein'". dfb.de (in German). Deutscher Fußball-Bund. 16 December 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
6. "E il multietnico Merkel resta in prima squadra". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 2 August 2010. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
7. "Il Milan del futuro vola con Verdi e Zigoni". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 15 April 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
8. Matteo Calcagni (24 October 2009). "Chievo-Milan, i rossoneri convocati: Abate indisponibile, Gattuso ancora out". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
9. Matteo Calcagni (21 November 2009). "I convocati per Milan-Cagliari: Dinho c'é, Flamini out per una distorsione". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
10. Enzo Vasta (12 January 2010). "I convocati contro il Novara: Verdi a disposizione". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
11. "Milan-Ajax". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
12. "Match: Cagliari v AC Milan". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
13. "Match: AC Milan v Bari". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 20 January 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
14. "Relazione e Bilancio al 31 Dicembre 2011" (PDF) (in Italian). AC Milan. 25 June 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
15. "Official A.C. Milan press release". acmilan.com. Associazione Calcio Milan. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
16. "Il tabellino di Genoa-Nocerina". asgnocerina.it (in Italian). Associazione Sportiva Giovanile Nocerina. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
17. "El Shaarawy-Milan: le cifre dell'operazione". milannews.it (in Italian). milannews.it. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
18. "Relazione e Bilancio al 31 Dicembre 2012" (PDF) (in Italian). AC Milan. 26 June 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
19. Genoa CFC SpA bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2013 (in Italian), PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA (in Italian)
20. "Archived item". Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
21. "Wiesbadener-kurier.de | Nachrichten aus Wiesbaden, Rheingau, Main-Taunus und Untertaunus".
22. "Alexander Merkel" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
23. "VfL verpflichtet Alexander Merkel" (in German). VfL Bochum. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
24. "Merkel signed with Admira Wacker". Retrieved 30 July 2018.
25. "Merkel signed with Heracles Almelo". Retrieved 30 July 2018.
26. "Merkel signed with Al-Faisaly". 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
27. "Transfer | Alexander Merkel Gazi̇antep'te!".
28. "رسمياً : نادي حتا يتعاقد مع اللاعب الكازاخستاني ألكسندر ميركل". 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
29. Полузащитник "Милана" Александр Меркель: Хочу сыграть в России на ЧМ-2018 (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 11 December 2010. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010.
30. Про сборную России я уже все сказал! (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 14 February 2011. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011.
31. "Toll! Jungstar Merkel will für Löw spielen". express.de (in German). Express. 14 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
32. "Merkel, Alexander". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 1 February 2018.

External links

• Alexander Merkel at Soccerway
• Profile at Assocalciatori.it (in Italian)