Patrik Schick
Patrik Schick is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Bayer Leverkusen and the Czech Republic national team.
Born in Prague, Schick began his career with local club Sparta Prague, rising through their youth ranks, before making his senior debut as a teenager. He spent the 2015–16 season on loan with Bohemians 1905, from where he moved at the age of 20 to Sampdoria in Italy. After his debut season in Italy, he moved to Roma in 2017. Having spent three years in Italy, Schick moved to Germany in 2019 to join RB Leipzig on a season-long loan before moving to Bayer Leverkusen on a permanent basis in September 2020. There he won a domestic double of the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal in 2024.
Formerly an international at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19, and under-21 levels, Schick made his senior debut for the Czech Republic in May 2016 at the age of 20. He has since helped the national team reach the quarter-finals of the European Championship in 2021, where he won both the Goal of the Tournament and the Silver Boot awards as the joint-highest goalscorer of the tournament.
Club career
Sparta Prague
Patrik Schick was born in Prague and spotted by Sparta Prague when he was 11 years old. He made his top-flight debut for Sparta on 3 May 2014 in a 3–1 away loss at Teplice. Sparta would win the domestic double that campaign but four appearances over two campaigns meant Schick crossed town to join Bohemians 1905 on loan for the 2015–16 season. He scored 8 goals in 27 outings for Bohemians during a relegation battle. Schick returned to Sparta and was expected to feature prominently for the club during the 2016–17 season, but David Lafata was preferred and when Sparta offered Schick a new contract, his agent turned it down.Sampdoria
Schick signed for Serie A club Sampdoria in June 2016 for a reported fee of €4 million. In his first season in Italy, he appeared in 32 league matches and scored 11 goals for Sampdoria. He started 14 times and was able to score once every 137 minutes.In May 2017, Schick refused to extend his contract, expecting a transfer to another club. In June 2017, Juventus triggered the release clause of a reported €30 million on Schick's contract. Schick failed two separate medicals and Juventus backed out of the deal on 18 July.
Roma
On 29 August 2017, Schick joined Roma on loan for a fee of €5 million with an option to buy for a further €9 million, once certain sporting objectives had been achieved, that could be rising up to a club record €40 million fee, which turn out to be unavailable. Upon signing, Roma sporting director Monchi described Schick as "one of the brightest prospects in international football." Schick spent most of his spell at Roma playing out on the right wing or left up front by himself, and he scored only eight times in 58 games.2019–20: Loan to RB Leipzig
On 2 September 2019, Bundesliga club RB Leipzig announced the signing of Schick on a season-long loan deal with an option to buy him permanently. His first goal for Leipzig came in a 3–2 defeat of SC Paderborn on 11 November 2019. This started a run of three goals in four league appearances including coming off the bench to complete the comeback and secure a 3–3 draw with Borussia Dortmund. Alongside Timo Werner, Schick rekindled his form with 10 goals in 28 games for Leipzig as the club finished in third place in the Bundesliga and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.Bayer Leverkusen
2020–21: Debut season
On 8 September 2020, Schick joined Bayer Leverkusen on a five-year contract for a reported fee of €26.5 million plus bonuses, getting the number 14 on his jersey.Schick scored his first goal in a UEFA competition on 26 November 2020, coming in a 4–1 victory over Israeli club Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the group stage of the Europa League. On 19 December 2020, Schick scored a volley against Bayern Munich in a 2–1 loss for Leverkusen. He was the preferred centre-forward for much of the 2020–21 campaign at the BayArena and finished with nine strikes across 29 league games.
2021–22: Record breaking season
On 4 October 2021, Schick scored his first brace for Leverkusen and provided an assist against Arminia Bielefeld which ended a 4-0 win. Schick continued his goalscoring threat scoring once in the next two league games against 1. FC Köln and Bayern Munich before he tore his ankle ligament. On 4 December 2021, Schick scored four goals and provided an assist – all in the second half – in a 7–1 victory against Greuther Fürth, which is the most goals in a single game from an individual in Leverkusen's history. He continued his good form in Leverkusen's next two league games, scoring a brace in each match against Eintracht Frankfurt, and TSG Hoffenheim respectively. Because of this, Schick won Bundesliga Player of the month by scoring eight goals and one assist in the four matches he played. In the first half of the season, Schick scored 16 goals in 14 games, while also missing a few games due to injury, and was only behind Robert Lewandowski in the top goalscoring charts.Following the mid-season winter break, Schick scored four times in six league matches. In the sixth game against Mainz 05 he scored from a long range shot outside the box, but in the 49th minute of the same game, he tore his muscle fibre in the calf region, causing him to miss the following six games. He scored four goals and provided two assists in the last four matchdays of the 2021–22 season, most notably a double against Hoffenheim, which secured his club's place for Champions League for the following season, and just missing out on the goalscoring record held by Stefan Kießling by a single goal. He ended the season as the league's second highest scorer with 24 goals in 27 matches, while winning Leverkusen's player of the season award, then extended his contract with the club until 2027.
2022–23: Injury crisis
On 3 September 2022, Schick scored his first goal of the season against Freiburg. On 7 September, in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League match against Club Brugge, Schick scored a header which was controversially ruled out from VAR, ten minutes after Schick scored a bicycle kick which was ruled out for offside. Schick made it back to back games scoring and this time was against Hertha BSC. Schick received an adductor injury. On 19 February 2023 he scored immediately off the bench after being out for several weeks against Mainz. He again was involved in a goal and provided an assist in a 4-1 victory against Hertha Berlin. Schick got an adductor injury again, which meant he would miss the rest of the season and the first half of the next season, overall missing 34 matches due to injury in this season.2023–24: Comeback and historic success
On 30 November 2023, Schick returned from a long-time injury with a goal in a 2–0 away victory against BK Häcken in the 2023–24 Europa League, then went on to score five more goals and provide one assist in six more matches in all competitions. On 3 December, he came on as a substitute in the 79th minute and went on to assist a vital goal in the same minute to Victor Boniface against Borussia Dortmund to extend Leverkusen's unbeaten streak. On 20 December, he scored a first half hat-trick against VfL Bochum, with the game finishing in a 4–0 victory.In March 2024, Schick scored three critical goals to keep Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League in their round of 16 tie against Qarabağ FK. During the first leg in Baku, he scored the equalizing stoppage-time goal for Leverkusen, ending in a 2–2 draw. In the following leg, he scored two stoppage-time goals to end the game in a 3–2 victory. On 30 March, he scored a stoppage-time winner in a 2–1 victory over Hoffenheim, which secured his club's qualification for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League group stage on matchday 27. On matchday 32 against Eintracht Frankfurt, Schick scored a header in a 5–1 victory for Leverkusen to extend their 48-game unbeaten streak. In matchday 33 against Vfl Bochum, Schick scored the opening goal of a 5–0 Leverkusen win, making history as the club's 50th game unbeaten. On the final matchday in the Bundesliga season Schick was a part of the first ever unbeaten Bundesliga season with Leverkusen. In the DfB-Pokal final against FC Kaiserslautern, Schick helped his team win it to make it a special double trophy winning season, then he prepared for the upcoming Euro 2024.
2024–25: Defending champions
In the 2024 DFL-Supercup at the start of the season against VfB Stuttgart, Schick scored an equaliser in the 88th minute to make the score 2–2 and bring on a penalty shoot-out, during which he scored and Leverkusen won 4–3 to win their first ever Supercup. On 23 November, Schick scored a hat-trick against Heidenheim in a 5–2 comeback victory. Three days later, he netted his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 5–0 victory over Red Bull Salzburg. On Schick's 100th league appearance in a match against Union Berlin on 30 November, Schick scored in a 2–1 victory. On 21 December, Schick scored four goals in a 5–1 win over Freiburg, surpassing Jan Koller's 61 goal record for Czech players in the league. On 5 February 2025, he netted a brace, including a stoppage-time equalizer, against 1. FC Köln in the DFB-Pokal quarter-final, which ended in a 3–2 victory after extra time. Schick ended the 2024–25 season as top goal scorer for Leverkusen across all competitions with 27 goals and behind only Harry Kane as the top-scorer in the league.2025–26
On 4 August 2025, Schick extended his contract with Leverkusen until 2030. On 15 August, in a DFB-Pokal match against Großaspach, Schick scored the first Leverkusen goal under new head coach Erik ten Hag.On August 30th, Patrik scored a brace against Werder Bremen to draw 3-3 which concluded Ten Hag's era at Leverkusen. Schick continued his good form and scored a penalty against Frankfurt to get the first Bundesliga win of the season.