Axel Witsel

General

Image gallery

Axel Witsel
Personal information
Full name:	Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel
Date of birth:	12 January 1989 (1989-01-12)
Place of birth:	Liège, Belgium
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position:	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Atlético Madrid
Number	20
Youth clubs
1995–1997 1997–1999 1999–2006	RRC Vottem CS Visé Standard Liège
Senior clubs
Years	Club	App (Gls)
2006–2011 2011–2012 2012–2016 2017–2018 2018–2022 2022–	Standard Liège Benfica Zenit St. Petersburg Tianjin Quanjian Borussia Dortmund Atlético Madrid	148 0(33) 032 00(1) 122 0(16) 036 00(5) 0105 00(10) 035 00(1)
National team
2004 2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2006 2007–2009 2008–	Belgium U15 Belgium U16 Belgium U17 Belgium U18 Belgium U19 Belgium U21 Belgium	001 00(0) 002 00(0) 019 00(0) 005 00(0) 003 00(0) 010 00(0) 105 00(0)

Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel (born 12 January 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Atlético Madrid. During his play for the Belgium national team, he came into the first team as a right-winger, and can also play attacking midfielder, though his natural position is as a central midfielder.

He began his career at hometown club Standard Liège, making 183 appearances and scoring 42 goals while winning five domestic trophies. He was awarded the Belgian Golden Shoe in 2008. After a season in Portugal with S.L. Benfica, he signed for Zenit Saint Petersburg for a €40 million fee in 2012. Witsel won four honours during his time in Russia, before leaving for Tianjin Quanjian in January 2017. He returned to Europe with Borussia Dortmund in August 2018.

Witsel made his senior international debut in 2008 and earned his 100th cap for Belgium on 15 November 2018. He represented the country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, helping them to third place in the last tournament.

Honours

Clubs

Standard Liege

• Belgian Pro League: 2007–08, 2008–09
• Belgian Cup: 2010–11
• Belgian Supercup: 2008, 2009

S.L. Benfica

• Taça da Liga: 2011–12

Individual

• Belgian Young Footballer of the Year: 2007–08
• Belgian Golden Shoe: 2008

External links

• Zenit profile
• Axel Witsel at Soccerway

Belgium – 2014 FIFA World Cup – Quarter-finals

1. Courtois 2. Alderweireld 3. Vermaelen 4. Kompany (c) 5. Vertonghen 6. Witsel 7. De Bruyne 8. Fellaini 9. Lukaku 10. Hazard 11. Mirallas 12. Mignolet 13. Bossut 14. Mertens 15. Van Buyten 16. Defour 17. Origi 18. Lombaerts 19. Dembélé 20. Januzaj 21. Vanden Borre 22. Chadli 23. Ciman Manager:   Marc Wilmots

Belgium – UEFA Euro 2016 – Quarter-finals

1. Courtois 2. Alderweireld 3. Vermaelen 4. Nainggolan 5. Vertonghen 6. Witsel 7. De Bruyne 8. Fellaini 9. R. Lukaku 10. Hazard 11. Carrasco 12. Mignolet 13. Gillet 14. Mertens 15. Denayer 16. Meunier 17. Origi 18. Kabasele 19. Dembélé 20. Benteke 21. J. Lukaku 22. Batshuayi 23. Ciman Manager:   Marc Wilmots

Belgium – 2018 FIFA World Cup – Third place

1. Courtois 2. Alderweireld 3. Vermaelen 4. Kompany 5. Vertonghen 6. Witsel 7. De Bruyne 8. Fellaini 9. Lukaku 10. E. Hazard (c) 11. Carrasco 12. Mignolet 13. Casteels 14. Mertens 15. Meunier 16. T. Hazard 17. Tielemans 18. Januzaj 19. Dembélé 20. Boyata 21. Batshuayi 22. Chadli 23. Dendoncker Manager:   Roberto Martínez

Belgium – UEFA Euro 2020 – Quarter-finals

1. Courtois 2. Mignolet 3. Sels 4. Alderweireld 5. Boyata 6. Castagne 7. Denayer 8. Dendoncker 9. Meunier 10. Vermaelen 11. Vertonghen 12. Carrasco 13. Chadli 14. De Bruyne 15. T. Hazard 16. Praet 17. Tielemans 18. Vanaken 19. Witsel 20. Batshuayi 21. Benteke 22. Doku 23. E. Hazard (c) 24. Lukaku 25. Mertens 26. Trossard Manager:   Roberto Martínez

Belgium – UEFA Euro 2024 – Round of 16

1. Casteels 2. Debast 3. Theate 4. Faes 5. Vertonghen 6. Witsel 7. De Bruyne (c) 8. Tielemans 9. Trossard 10. Lukaku 11. Carrasco 12. Kaminski 13. Sels 14. Lukebakio 15. Meunier 16. Vranckx 17. De Ketelaere 18. Mangala 19. Bakayoko 20. Openda 21. Castagne 22. Doku 23. Vermeeren 24. Onana 25. De Cuyper Manager:   Domenico Tedesco