Joel Matip is the central defender who spent most of his career in the German Schalke. He was born in Germany, however, he is Cameroonian by nationality and stands for the corresponding team. Joel Matip recently moved to the English Liverpool, where he was invited by Jürgen Klopp.
Carier start
Joel Matip was born on August 8, 1991 in Germany. Already at the age of three, he was enrolled in the football academy of the Weitmar 45 club, where he went in for sports for four years before being watched in the largest club in his hometown, Bochum. The boy was accepted, and in the new place he spent another three years, and in 2000 he was in the Gelsenkirchen Schalke, one of the strongest clubs in Germany. Matip spent a long nine years there, training hard and playing for youth teams of various age categories. In 2009, Joel Matip came of age and Schalke signed a professional contract with him. Thus began the career of Cameroonian in Germany.
The game for Schalke
Joel Matip is a football player who did not immediately get a chance at Schalke. The first year he was periodically called into the base of the club, having played only 24 matches and scoring three goals. But even then it became apparent that Matip is a defender with a great future and incredible talent. Therefore, from the next season, he has already taken a place at the base of Schalke. Over the next six years, he played in 234 matches at the club, scored twenty goals and in 2011 helped his team win the German Cup and then win the German Super Cup.
Joel Matip, whose photographs were in all German sports magazines, was not particularly known in other countries, this continued until Jurgen Klopp, a former coach of the Dortmund Borussia, began working in England. It was he who called Matip to Liverpool, but Schalke did not want to let go of one of his leading players. Negotiations were held for a long time to extend the contract with an increase in wages, but Cameroonian insisted. Already in the winter of 2016, when six months were left until the end of the contract, Joel signed a preliminary agreement with Liverpool, and in the summer he became a full-fledged player in the English club.
Going to Liverpool
Thus ended the more than fifteen-year history of Matip and Schalke, many players prefer to stay in their native club for a long time, or even for their entire career, but Joel decided to make a difference in his life. As a result, he ended up as a free agent in Liverpool, where he immediately got a place in the first team. To date, he spent seven matches for the club, each of them from the whistle to the whistle. Cameroon’s contract with the English club is for four years, but the defender is only twenty-five years old, so he still has a lot of time ahead to achieve great success with Liverpool.
Team appearances
Matip currently played 23 matches for Cameroon, scoring one goal in them. He made his debut in March 2010 in a friendly game against the Italian national team, and after four friendly fights, Joel was included in the application for the 2010 World Cup. He came out at the base for the first match against Japan, but was replaced in the 63rd minute. At the 2014 World Cup, he was also included in the application, having missed the first match, Matip won the remaining two, scoring his only goal for the national team against the Brazilians. The last time Joel was called up to the Cameroon team in September 2015 for a qualifying match against the Gambia team, in which Cameroonians won 1-0. Since then, the defender did not get into the team’s application. Each time, he himself refuses to represent the country in the international arena, although he is the strongest Cameroonian footballer today.