Stephan Ambrosius

Stephan Kofi Ambrosius (born 18 December 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Hamburger SV. Born in Germany, he represents the Ghana national team.[1]

Stephan Ambrosius
Personal information
Full name Stephan Kofi Ambrosius
Date of birth (1998-12-18) 18 December 1998
Place of birth Hamburg, Germany
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Hamburger SV
Number 35
Youth career
2003–200? Einigkeit Wilhelmsburg
0000 SV Wilhelmsburg
0000–2012 FC St. Pauli
2012–2017 Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2020 Hamburger SV II 52 (1)
2018– Hamburger SV 33 (0)
2022–2023 → Karlsruher SC (loan) 18 (0)
International career‡
2020 Germany U21 1 (0)
2023– Ghana 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 October 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12 September 2023

Born in Hamburg to Ghanaian parents, Ambrosius joined the Hamburger SV youth academy in 2012. He made his professional debut in the Bundesliga in March 2018. Once a German youth international, he has since switched allegiances to represent Ghana internationally.

Early years

Stephan Ambrosius was born in Hamburg to Ghanaian parents.[2] He grew up in the quarter of Wilhelmsburg.[3]

Club career

Youth

Ambrosius started playing football at the age of 5 at local club Einichkeit Wilhelmsburg, before moving to SV Wilhelmsburg and finally FC St. Pauli. In 2012, at the age of 13, Pauli moved to the Hamburger SV youth academy.[4] At HSV, he progressed through all the youth teams until 2017 and played, among other things, in the Under 17 and Under 19 Bundesliga. For the 2017–18 season, Ambrosius was promoted to the second team, Hamburger SV II, and competed in the fourth-tier Regionalliga.

2017–19

In early February 2018, Ambrosius was promoted to the professional squad by head coach Bernd Hollerbach.[5][6] On 10 February 2018, he was called up for the first team squad for his first Bundesliga game, but did not make an appearance in the 0–2 defeat away at Borussia Dortmund.[7] He made his Bundesliga debut on 31 March 2018 in a 1–1 away draw against VfB Stuttgart under new head coach Christian Titz, who had taken over the reigns in early March. Ambrosius debuted in the starting lineup and was substituted at half-time for Rick van Drongelen.[8][9] This proved to be his only appearance during the season, which saw HSV suffer relegation to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in club history. For the second team, Ambrosius made 20 appearances and scored one goal.

Ahead of the 2018–19 season, Ambrosius signed his first professional contract running until 30 June 2021.[10] In the first half of the new season, he was behind Rick van Drongelen, David Bates and Léo Lacroix in the depth chart, and neither under Titz nor under his successor Hannes Wolf he made an appearance in the 2. Bundesliga, instead only playing in the DFB-Pokal besides his 15 appearances for the second team in the Regionalliga Nord. In December 2018, Ambrosius suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, sidelining him for the rest of the season.[11]

2019–present

In the 2019–20 pre-season, Ambrose was demoted to the second team by the new head coach Dieter Hecking.[12] There, he immediately established himself as a starter again. In February 2020, Ambrosius returned to first-team practice as Gideon Jung was utilised in defensive midfield following the injury of Adrian Fein and only Ewerton was available alongside central defenders Rick van Drongelen and Timo Letschert.[13] After Jung received a red card on 29 February against Erzgebirge Aue and Ewerton suffered a long-term injury, Ambrosius was included in the first-team squad for the matchup against SSV Jahn Regensburg on 7 March for the first time that season.[14] On the last matchday of the season, he made his first and only league appearance that season in the 5–1 home defeat to SV Sandhausen and received a "satisfactory" score by sports magazine kicker, the best score of a field player on a desolate HSV team.[15] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambrosius made only 17 appearances (15 appearances as a starter) in the Regionalliga, before the season was cancelled.

At the beginning of the 2020–21 season, Ambrosius became a regular starter under new head coach Daniel Thioune and formed a duo at centre-back alongside new addition Toni Leistner.[16] In January 2021, 22-year-old Ambrosius extended his contract, which would have expired at the end of the season, until 2024.[17] After Leistner suffered a long-term injury in early 2021, Thioune stated: "The only one set is Stephan [Ambrosius]. This brings stability to our defensive chain. Everyone is welcome to orient themselves to him."[18] In April 2021, Ambrosius tore his cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in three years.[19]

From January 2022, Ambrosius gradually returned to first-team training after having been sidelined for an extended period; a competitive return was expected in March.[20] In March 2022, however, he could only train individually due to a muscle injury.[21] In April 2022, Ambrosius returned to the matchday squad for the first time in a year. Despite his return to fitness, Ambrosius failed to make a single appearance during the 2021–22 season, which saw Hamburger SV miss out on promotion in the promotion playoffs against Hertha BSC.[22]

Karlsruhe

On 16 August 2022, Ambrosius joined Karlsruher SC on a season-long loan.[23]

International career

Born in Hamburg, Ambrosius was also eligible to play for Ghana due to his parents being from the country. Due to numerous cancellations in his playing position by Nico Schlotterbeck and Maxim Leitsch, Ambrosius was called-up by Germany under-21 coach Stefan Kuntz in early October 2020.[24] However, as Ambrosius tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, he was unable to participate in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina.[25] Ambrosius finally made his debut for the under-21 side in November 2020.

In July 2022, the president of the Ghana FA, Kurt Okraku, announced that Ambrosius was one of the few players that had officially switched allegiances to represent the Ghanaian senior national team internationally.[26]

Career statistics
As of match played 25 April 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League DFB-Pokal Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hamburger SV 2017–18[27] Bundesliga 1000——10
2018–19[28] 2. Bundesliga 0010——10
2019–20[29] 2. Bundesliga 1000——10
2020–21[30] 2. Bundesliga 26000——260
2021–22 2. Bundesliga 0000—0000
Total 28010—00290
Hamburger SV II 2017–18 Regionalliga 201———201
2018–19 Regionalliga 150———150
2019–20 Regionalliga 170———170
Total 521———521
Career total 80110—00811

    References
    1. Stephan Ambrosius at WorldFootball.net
    2. "HSV-Talent Stephan Ambrosius: Wer ist Hamburgs Bundesliga-Debütant?". Spox (in German). Perform Media Deutschland GmbH. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
    3. Jacobs, Henrik; Schiller, Kai (31 July 2018). "Projekt Profi: Ambrosius lebt seinen Fußball-Traum". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Zeitungsgruppe Hamburg GmbH. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
    4. "Ambrosius: Alles auf A!". Hamburger SV (in German). 18 September 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    5. Saess, Niklas (7 February 2018). "HSV: Bernd Hollerbach zieht Talente hoch - Gideon Jung trainiert individuell". 90min.de (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    6. "Neues vom HSV: Stephan Ambrosius trainiert mit den Profis". shz.de (in German). 8 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    7. "Batshuayi trifft schon wieder - und macht den Salto". kicker (in German). 10 February 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    8. "VfB Stuttgart – Hamburger SV 1:1 (Bundesliga 2017/2018, 28. Round)". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
    9. "Ginczek macht es Holtby nach". kicker (in German). 31 March 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    10. "Stephan Ambrosius unterschriebt Lizenzspielervertrag". Hamburger SV (in German). 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    11. "HSV: Jetzt hat es auch Ambrosius erwischt". kicker (in German). 13 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    12. Jacobs, Henrik (17 July 2019). "Der lange Weg zurück: Das ist Heckings Plan mit Ambrosius". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    13. Vieira Heine, Luis (3 March 2020). "HSV-Abwehrtalent Nach Ewerton-Verletzung: Neue Chance für Ambrosius?". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    14. "Hamburg siegt wieder: Kapitän Hunt und Co. setzen Stuttgart unter Druck". kicker (in German). 7 March 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    15. "Taktische Aufstellung - Hamburger SV - SV Sandhausen". kicker. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    16. Braasch, Simon (14 December 2020). "Abwehr-Duo mit starken Werten: Startelf-Garantie für das HSV-Bollwerk". MOPO (in German). Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    17. "Bis 2024: HSV verlängert Vertrag mit Stephan Ambrosius". HSV (in German). 8 January 2021. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    18. Braasch, Simon (3 February 2021). "Verstärkung aus der U21?: Thioune macht Ambrosius zum neuen HSV-Boss". MOPO (in German). Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    19. "Im Training verletzt: Ambrosius erleidet erneut Kreuzbandriss". kicker (in German). 28 April 2021. Archived from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    20. Möller, Yannik (7 January 2022). "Ambrosius nähert sich dem Comeback: "Fühle mich sehr gut"". 90min (in German). Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    21. Rebien, Florian (26 March 2022). "Trauriger Jahrestag steht bevor: Darum muss HSV-Profi Ambrosius weiter pausieren". MOPO (in German). Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    22. Kleis, Christopher (23 May 2022). "Bitteres Aus in der Relegation: HSV unterliegt der Hertha". MOPO (in German). Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    23. "BIS ENDE DER SAISON: STEPHAN AMBROSIUS VERSTÄRKT KSC-DEFENSIVE" (in German). Karlsruher SC. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
    24. "Mit HSV-Duo und Passlack: Kuntz nominiert Septett nach". kicker (in German). 5 October 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
    25. "Nmecha reift zur Führungsfigur". kicker (in German). 9 October 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020. Wegen eines Coronafalles des Hamburgers Stephan Ambrosius hatte das Spiel lange auf der Kippe gestanden.
    26. Eleto, Clinton (5 July 2022). "Breaking News: Tariq Lamptey and four other new players complete Ghana Black Stars switch". Sahara Football. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
    27. "Games played by Stephan Ambrosius in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    28. "Games played by Stephan Ambrosius in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    29. "Games played by Stephan Ambrosius in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
    30. "Games played by Stephan Ambrosius in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
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