Anton Stach
Anton Levi Stach is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Leeds United and the Germany national team.
Club career
Stach was born in the town of Buchholz in der Nordheide, Germany, in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and joined Buchholzer FC during his childhood. Since 2010, he participated in training at Werder Bremen once a week, before he joined the youth academy of Bremen-based Nachwuchsleistungszentrum one year later. Stach played for Werder Bremen until the B-youth, and became captain of Werder Bremen's under-16 side. He later played at JFV Nordwest. Afterwards, he joined the U19-team of VfL Osnabrück.For the 2017–18 season, Stach joined SSV Jeddeloh from Regionalliga Nord, a regional league at the fourth-tier of German football. After a one year, he moved to VfL Wolfsburg II, also in the Regionalliga Nord. With the second team of VfL Wolfsburg II, he reached the play-off round for the promotion to the professional 3. Liga, the third-highest level of German football, but the Lower Saxonians lost against Bayern Munich II.
In the 2020–21 season, Stach left Lower Saxony and joined Franconia-based Greuther Fürth from the second German division, where he signed a contract until July 2023. Stach helped the team achieve promotion to the Bundesliga.
In July 2021, Stach joined fellow German club Mainz 05 on a deal until July 2024. Later that year, on 4 December, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 3–0 victory over VfL Wolfsburg.
On 1 September 2023, Stach signed a four-year contract with TSG Hoffenheim. Two months later, on 4 November, he scored his first goal for Hoffenheim in a 3–2 home defeat against Bayer Leverkusen. He finished the 2023–24 season with 408 duels won, the second most only behind Bernardo.
On 22 July 2025, Stach moved to England, joining Premier League club Leeds United on a four-year contract worth reportedly £17 million.
International career
In March 2021, Stach was called up for the Germany national under-21 football team for the group stage of the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The matches were broadcast live in Germany at ProSieben and ProSieben MAXX and his father Matthias Stach was the commentator during the group stage. The player was substituted in the second match against the Netherlands and his father has said "Blamier' mich nicht, Junge!". Germany advanced past the group stage as Stach made two appearances. In July 2021, he was also a part of the German squad for the knockout stage of the tournament, playing in all three matches as Germany reached the final, where they won 1–0 against Portugal.Stach was called up to the senior Germany squad for friendly matches against Israel and the Netherlands on 26 and 29 March 2022, respectively. Stach was substituted in the 2–0 win against Israel in Sinsheim in the 64th minute for Julian Weigl.