Colin Kleine-Bekel

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Colin Kleine-Bekel
2025-04-15 Colin Kleine-Bekel.jpg
Kleine-Bekel in 2025
Personal information
Full name Colin Noah Kleine-Bekel [1]
Date of birth (2003-01-24) 24 January 2003 (age 22)
Place of birth Bielefeld, Germany
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) [1]
Position Centre-back
Team information
Current team
 FC St. Gallen
(on loan from VfL Bochum)
Youth career
VfR Wellensiek
–2015 Arminia Bielefeld
2015–2022 Borussia Dortmund
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2022–2024 Holstein Kiel II 34 (0)
2023–2025 Holstein Kiel 25 (0)
2025– VfL Bochum 1 (0)
2026– → FC St. Gallen (loan) 0 (0)
International career‡
2018 Germany U16 1 (0)
2023–2024 Germany U21 5 (1)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23 August 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 19:54, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Colin Noah Kleine-Bekel (born 24 January 2003) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Swiss club FC St. Gallen on loan from VfL Bochum. [1]

Contents

Career

Kleine-Bekel was born in Bielefeld. [2] He was an important player and vice-captain of the Borussia Dortmund U19 team that won the Under 19 Bundesliga in the 2021–22 season. [3] [2] He also made eight appearances in the UEFA Youth League. [2]

In summer 2022, Kleine-Bekel left Borussia Dortmund after spending seven years with the club, signing for 2. Bundesliga club Holstein Kiel. [2] At Holstein Kiel, he was assigned to the reserve team for the 2022–23 season during which he was an undisputed starter [2] and helped the side avoid relegation from the Regionalliga Nord. [4] He made his debut for the first team in May 2023, on the last day of the season, coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute of a 5–1 win against Hannover 96. [5]

Following strong performances in pre-season, [2] Kleine-Bekel was promoted to the first team for the 2023–24 season. [4] He made his starting debut in Holstein Kiel's first league match of the season, playing alongside Carl Johansson in a 1–0 win against Eintracht Braunschweig. [4] In March 2024, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury that ruled him out for the entire 2024–25 Bundesliga season following his club's promotion. [6]

On 30 May 2025, Kleine-Bekel signed a contract with VfL Bochum until 2028. [7] In January 2026, he joined FC St. Gallen on loan until the end of the season. [8]

Style of play

A left-footed centre-back, [4] Kleine-Bekel has been described as "tactically disciplined" and strong in duels on the ground and in the air. [2] His build-up play is focussed on minimising mistakes. [2]

Career statistics

As of match played 23 August 2025 [9]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeague DFB-Pokal Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Holstein Kiel II 2022–23 Regionalliga Nord 340–340
Holstein Kiel 2022–23 2. Bundesliga 100010
2023–24 2. Bundesliga24020260
2024–25 Bundesliga 000000
Total25020270
VfL Bochum 2025–26 2. Bundesliga100010
Career total60020620

References

  1. 1 2 3 Colin Kleine-Bekel at WorldFootball.net
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Geidel, Andreas (25 July 2023). "Holstein Kiel: Colin Kleine-Bekel per Zickzackkurs in die Erfolgsspur" [Holstein Kiel: Colin Kleine-Bekel zigzags his way to success]. Kieler Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Gebhardt, Cedric (4 February 2022). "BVB-U19: Mit Kopf und Kompass - wie Colin Kleine-Bekel sein Team bereichert" [BVB U19: With head and compass - how Colin Kleine-Bekel enriches his team]. Ruhr Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Sixtus, Luca (4 August 2023). "Der Plan von Colin Kleine-Bekel bei Holstein Kiel geht auf" [Colin Kleine-Bekel's plan at Holstein Kiel is working out]. SHZ (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Hermann, Matthias (29 May 2023). "Holstein Kiel: Weiner und Kleine-Bekel gegen Hannover 96 mit Debüt" [Holstein Kiel: Weiner and Kleine-Bekel make their debuts against Hannover 96]. Kieler Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "Holstein Kiel bestätigt: Kreuzbandriss bei Kleine-Bekel" (in German). NDR.de. 29 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "VfL verpflichtet Colin Kleine-Bekel" (in German). VfL Bochum. 30 May 2025.
  8. ↑ Ritter, Ralf (7 January 2026). "Leihe von Kleine-Bekel fix – wie der VfL Bochum mit ihm plant". Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Funke Mediengruppe. Retrieved 10 January 2026.
  9. ↑ "Colin Kleine-Bekel » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
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