Breel Embolo is a footballer from Switzerland of Cameroonian origin, playing in the German Schalke 04 as a striker. Since 2015, he has been a member of the Swiss national football team. Previously, the player played for Basel, which included the vice champion of the Swiss Super League.
Soccer player biography
Embolo was born on February 14, 1997 in Yaounde, Cameroon. Soon his mother moved with her two sons to the Swiss city of Basel, where Breel received a Swiss passport in December 2014, two months before his eighteenth birthday. Embolo began his football career at the Nordshtern Club Academy in Basel. In 2008, Breel moved to the Old Boys youth team.
In 2010, the guy ended up in the youth system of Basel. In March 2014, the seventeen-year-old football player Embolo, whose statistics at the youth level was amazing, made his debut as part of the first team. It was a Champions League match against the Red Bull Salzburg team, where a naturalized young striker entered the field at the end of the match and created a couple of dangerous moments. The following season, he became a regular base player. Over the three seasons at Basel, the football player Embolo became the three-time champion of the Swiss Super League, as well as the author of 21 goals scored in 61 matches.
Transition to Gelsenkirchen Schalke 04
On June 26, 2016, the press service of the Schalke 04 club announced the signing of a five-year contract with the football player Embolo for 20 million euros. He rarely appeared on the field during his first season in Germany - in total, he played ten matches in all the championships in a blue T-shirt. The thing is that upon arrival in the Bundesliga, the player received a severe ankle injury, which, in general, deprived him of the opportunity to play fully throughout the year. The next season, Breel began to receive more playing time, adding 23 games to his asset, 21 of them in the Bundesliga.
Switzerland national team appearances
Since 2012, Breel Embolo played for the junior teams of Switzerland until the age of 16 and 17. He took part mainly in friendly matches without a passport of this country.
At the end of 2014, the football player received Swiss citizenship, after which he legally had the right to join the national youth team of Switzerland, which he did subsequently. Spent 8 matches at this level.
From March 2015 to the present, the footballer has been playing for the main national team. The debut game was a duel with the team of the United States of America (draw 1: 1). Here Embolo came on as a substitute in the 56th minute instead of striker Josip DrmiΔ. At the European Championships 2016, Breel Embolo took an active part - he played in all four matches for the βReds". In 2018, it was included in the application for the Swiss national team to participate in last year's World Cup in Russia. He made his world championship debut, having entered the field in the first game of the group stage at the end of the meeting and helped the Swiss keep the draw 1: 1 in the confrontation with the Brazilian national team.
Play style
UEFA spokesman Stephen Potter praised Breal Embolo for his phenomenal attack qualities. He noted that the young Swiss is physically strong, technically developed and very decisive. Potter noted that Embolo does not play according to his age, he is too skilled in finishing, as well as in quick attacks.
Fabian Frey, who was the midfielder of Basel and the Swiss national team, praised Breel for his incredible ability to handle and take the ball in any football situation. However, he noted that Embolo has an excellent scoring flair and a choice of position.
The football player himself admits that Italian Mario Balotelli is his idol and football mastermind. However, their style of play is very similar - they both know how to hide behind the backs of defenders, and both have a high level of technical skills, also associated with physical strength. The goals of the football player Embolo and the football player Mario Balotelli are characterized by the same development plot: getting the ball near the penalty area from partners, moving away from the defenders to the free side using force of the hull (ram type) and a devastatingly powerful shot on goal. In addition, the players are great in the game on the "second" floor.
Breel Embolo is also able to play in the midfield - at the attack position or as a winger. According to David Lemos (a famous football journalist) - "Embolo is a kind of N'Golo Cante, only in attack."