![]() Karabec in 2025 with Hamburger SV | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 2 July 2003 | ||
Place of birth | Prague, Czech Republic | ||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Attacking midfielder, winger | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Lyon (on loan from Sparta Prague) | ||
Number | 7 | ||
Youth career | |||
2009–2016 | Bohemians 1905 | ||
2016–2020 | Sparta Prague | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2019– | Sparta Prague | 107 | (12) |
2022–2023 | → Sparta Prague B | 5 | (0) |
2024–2025 | → Hamburger SV (loan) | 31 | (3) |
2025– | → Lyon (loan) | 2 | (1) |
International career‡ | |||
2017–2018 | Czech Republic U15 | 10 | (3) |
2018–2019 | Czech Republic U16 | 14 | (3) |
2019–2020 | Czech Republic U19 | 8 | (0) |
2020– | Czech Republic U21 | 29 | (5) |
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 21:53, 23 August 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 16 June 2025 |
Adam Karabec (born 2 July 2003) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Ligue 1 club Lyon on loan from Sparta Prague. He was included in The Guardian 's "Next Generation" list for 2020. [1]
After a long spell in the youth academy of Bohemians 1905, which he had joined at the age of six, in 2016 Karabec gained a move to fellow Prague-based club Sparta Prague and began making it through the Letenští 's youth squads. By the beginning of the 2019–20 season, Karabec was already a member of Sparta's under-19 squad, despite being only sixteen. In July 2019, he was named "Player of the Tournament" in the CEE Cup. [2] By September 2019, he had also begun to play for the reserve team in their regional group of the national third division.
It took less than five months to the midfielder to impress the then head coach Václav Jílek and gain a call-up to join the first team. Karabec subsequently made his professional debut on 23 February 2020, coming on as a replacement for David Moberg Karlsson at the 88th minute of his side's 1–0 loss against Sigma Olomuc. After collecting other three appearances as a substitute and scoring his first goal in a 4–1 win against Karviná, he also made his first start on 10 June 2020, as he featured in Sparta's 2–0 win against Opava and was replaced by Georges Mandjeck at the 76th minute. [3]
On 4 July 2024, Karabec joined German 2. Bundesliga club Hamburger SV on a loan with option to make the move permanent. [4]
On 12 August 2025, Karabec joined Ligue 1 club Lyon on a one-year loan deal with an option to make transfer permanent. [5] Later that month, on 23 August, he scored his first goal in a 3–0 victory over Metz. [6]
A youth international for Czech Republic at several levels, in September 2020, Karabec got called-up for the first time both by the Under-21 and the senior national teams.
On 2 September 2020, he made his debut for the former squad against San Marino U21, registering an assist for Václav Drchal's opener (the match ended up in a 6–0 win); exactly one week later, he was featured on the bench in the latter side's UEFA Nations League match against Scotland.
Karabec played for the Czech Republic in the UEFA European Under-21 championships in 2021, 2023 and 2025, and thus became the first Czech player to appear in three UEFA European Under-21 championships. [7]
Club | Season | League | National cup | Europe | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Sparta Prague | 2019–20 | Czech First League | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 10 | 1 | |
2020–21 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 [a] | 0 | 31 | 3 | ||
2021–22 | 30 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 [b] | 0 | 42 | 2 | ||
2022–23 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 [c] | 0 | 28 | 2 | ||
2023–24 | 21 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 [a] | 0 | 30 | 5 | ||
Total | 107 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 141 | 13 | ||
Sparta Prague B | 2022–23 | Czech National Football League | 5 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | ||
Hamburger SV (loan) | 2024–25 | 2. Bundesliga | 31 | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | 33 | 3 | |
Lyon (loan) | 2025–26 | Ligue 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Career total | 145 | 16 | 14 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 181 | 17 |
Sparta Prague
Individual