Karim Adeyemi

Karim David Adeyemi ( ; born 18 January 2002) is a German professional footballer who plays as a right winger or forward for club Barcelona and the Germany national team.

Club career Red Bull Salzburg Adeyemi played as a youth for TSV Forstenried, and at the age of eight he joined local Bundesliga side Bayern Munich youth academy in 2010. Due to an impasse in negotiating his continued stay at the club, there was a dispute and Adeyemi eventually had to leave the club, which meant that he joined SpVgg Unterhaching in 2012. After progressing through the youth departments, he made his debut in March 2018 for the U19 team in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga (Under 19 Bundesliga). He scored his first goal in this league in April 2018 in a 2–3 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt U19. With Unterhaching, he suffered relegation to the A-Jugend Bayernliga (Under 19 Bayernliga) at the end of the season.

Prior to the 2018–19 season, Adeyemi was signed by Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg where he signed a three-year contract. He was subsequently loaned out to their feeder club FC Liefering for the season. Adeyemi made his 2. Liga debut on 1 September 2018 against Austria Lustenau, where he played the full game as Liefering lost 1–0. On 1 December 2020, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 3–1 away win over Lokomotiv Moscow during the 2020–21 season.

Borussia Dortmund On 10 May 2022, Adeyemi was announced to have joined Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund on a deal until the summer of 2027. On 5 October, he scored his first Champions League goal with Borussia Dortmund in a 4–1 away win over Sevilla. On 4 February 2023, he was recorded as the Bundesliga's fastest-ever player at during a match against Freiburg. Later that month, on 15 February, he scored the only goal from a solo strike in a 1–0 victory over Chelsea in the Champions League round of 16 first leg. On 30 March 2024, he scored the opening goal in a 2–0 away win over Bayern Munich, to be his club's first victory in Der Klassiker since 2019 and the first win at Allianz Arena in 10 years. He featured in the 2024 UEFA Champions League final against Real Madrid, missing a one-on-one opportunity in a goalless match before his side eventually suffered a 2–0 defeat.

On 1 October 2024, he scored his first hat-trick in the Champions League in a 7–1 home win over Celtic, becoming the third player in Dortmund history next to Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus to score a hat-trick for Dortmund in the Champions League.

Barcelona On 23 July 2026, Adeyemi joined Barcelona on a five-year deal. The reported fee was €29 million. A month later, on 23 August, he scored his first goal on his debut in a 5–0 away victory against Elche.

International career Adeyemi is a youth international for Germany, having represented the Germany under-16s, under-17s and under-21s, winning the Euro under-21 in 2021 with the latter. He made his debut for the Germany senior team in a 6–0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification win over Armenia on 5 September 2021, coming on as a late substitute and scoring his side's sixth goal in the first minute of second-half injury time. As Adeyemi was a Red Bull Salzburg player on his debut, this marked the first time in the post-war period that a player from an Austrian club played a match for the German senior national team. In November 2022, he was named in the German squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. However, he did not feature in any match, as Germany were knocked out at the group stage.

He missed the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship due to a torn muscle fiber. After nearly four years, he returned to Germany's senior squad in March 2025, featuring in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals against Italy and helping the team reach the finals. Despite playing in the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification, Adeyemi opted out of the final tournament to join Borussia Dortmund at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, alongside teammates Maximilian Beier and Youssoufa Moukoko. Adeyemi also contributed to Germany's successful 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in late 2025, but was not included in the final 26-man squad for the tournament.

Personal life Adeyemi was born in Munich, Germany, to a Nigerian father and Romanian mother.

In 2023, Adeyemi started dating rapper Loredana Zefi, and they married in a private ceremony in October 2024.

In November 2025, Adeyemi and Zefi were fined 60 daily payments of €7,500 for illegal possession of weapons, after the Federal Police found brass knuckles and a taser in their possession. Adeyemi claimed he ordered a mystery box from the internet and didn't know its contents, but still regretted it, calling it a careless mistake.

Career statistics Club

International

As of match played 23 March 2025. Germany score listed first, score column indicates score after each Adeyemi goal.

Red Bull Salzburg Austrian Bundesliga: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 Austrian Cup: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22

Germany U21 UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2021

Individual Fritz Walter Medal U19 Gold: 2021 Fritz Walter Medal U17 Gold: 2019 Austrian Bundesliga Top scorer: 2021–22 Austrian Bundesliga Team of the Year: 2021–22 Bundesliga Rookie of the Month: January 2023 Bundesliga Goal of the Month: September 2025 Bundesliga Rookie of the Season: 2022–23 IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2022