Bundesliga
After a trophy-winning 2024/25 campaign with Stuttgart and a senior bow with Germany, Nick Woltemade has been the star of the show at this summer's UEFA U21 Euros and the top goalscorer at the finals in Slovakia is ready to take the final step towards ultimate glory.
Not long after helping his club to DFB Cup success last May, the in-form forward's rise to the pinnacle of the game continued with an international debut at the recently-concluded UEFA Nations League finals held in Germany.
From there, the Bremen native flew to Slovakia to take part at the European U21 Championships, where his phenomenal presence has Germany on the brink of success with a final against England to come.
After netting six tournament goals in just four appearances at the finals, Woltemade is the competition's top scorer. His three added assists mean the 23-year-old boasts a whopping nine goal involvements in 386 minutes of on-field action. That he has scored with both feet and his head highlights just how complete a forward Woltemade is.
Watch: The best of Woltemade
"There's a lot of talk about him, and rightly so," Germany U21 coach Antonio Di Salvo said of his striker during the tournament. "The Nick we know is down-to-earth, always in a good mood and always has an eye for keeping the team together; connecting the team and the staff," the tactician continued. "It's a lot of fun with him; he deserves to be in the spotlight like this."
With Germany already safely through to the knockouts ahead of a final group game against England earlier in the tournament, Woltemade was rested against the young Three Lions.
He previously opened his finals account with a hat-trick in the win against Slovenia and added a goal and two assists in his country's subsequent triumph against Czechia. Returning to net and assist in the quarter-final success against Italy, Woltemade was then on target in a 3-0 semi-final victory against France.
Such stunning form on the international stage merely continued a late-season surge that saw Woltemade take his Bundesliga scoring haul with Stuttgart up to 12 for the 2024/25 season, with strikes in each of the final three matchdays. He then scored the opening goal as VfB defeated Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 in the DFB Cup final to finish as top scorer of the competition.
He now looks likely to add one more golden boot to his collection in Bratislava, where he will play his last game for an U21 side he has consistently shone for since making his debut under Di Salvo back in September 2023.
"We have played a number of games together and we've overcome difficult moments [and] had successes," Woltemade - who boasts an overall tally of 13 goals and 10 assists in just 17 U21 games - said ahead of Saturday's showpiece. "[This ] will be my last U21 game. I think it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win the U21 title," he added
Watch: All 12 of Woltemade's Bundesliga goals in 2024/25
His star clearly in the ascendency, there is so much to look forward to for Woltemade, whose next challenge after attempting to bow out in style with the U21s will be to help Stuttgart provide a stiff challenge for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup on 16 August, a game that precede's VfB's 2025/26 Bundesliga opener at Union Berlin.