Thomas Meunier
- 24
- Gregor Kobel 1
- Mateu Morey Bauza 2
- Nico Schlotterbeck 4
- Salih Özcan 6
- Giovanni Reyna 7
- Mahmoud Dahoud 8
- Sébastien Haller 9
- Marco Reus 11
- Raphael Guerreiro 13
- Nico Schulz 14
- Mats Hummels 15
- Marius Wolf 17
- Youssoufa Moukoko 18
- Julian Brandt 19
- Anthony Modeste 20
- Donyell Malen 21
- Jude Bellingham 22
- Emre Can 23
- Niklas Süle 25
- Julian Ryerson 26
- Karim Adeyemi 27
- Felix Passlack 30
- Abdoulaye Kamara 32
- Alexander Meyer 33
- Marcel Lotka 35
- Tom Rothe 36
- Luca Unbehaun 38
- Göktan Gürpüz 42
- Jamie Bynoe-Gittens 43
- Soumaila Coulibaly 44
- Antonios Papadopoulos 47
The 30-year-old full-back has been under contract with Borussia Dortmund since July 2020. As of June 2022, the Belgium international has made 59 appearances (three goals/seven assists) across all competitions for BVB and was part of the team that won the DFB-Pokal in 2021.
Thomas Meunier comes from Lavacherie, which is made up of three villages with a total population of 2,500, named after the French for "cowshed", and located in the southernmost province of Belgium. He moved to the Standard Liege academy in 2004, but wasn’t considered one of the top talents at the club famed for its work with young players. There were others above him in the pecking order, including a certain Axel Witsel, two years his senior. At 15, Meunier was told his time at the club was over. The disappointment was so great that the youngster considered hanging up his boots for good. His mother Véronique then arranged a trial for him at Excelsior Virton. Thomas duly scores ten goals in a 15-3 friendly win. "What number do you want on your shirt?" the coach asked after the game.
He made his debut for Virton’s first team at 17, playing in the Belgian second tier. In the 2010/11 season, he developed into a sensation. Ten goals attracted the interest of the first-division team in the Ardennes. Unbelievable, because Meunier had already completed his education and was pursuing a good honest job: after his studies in Bastogne, he would get up at 5 a.m. every morning to deliver the mail.
At FC Brugge, the right-winger was converted to a defender. ''I wasn’t sure if this position was for me. But I wanted to play.'' Driven on by the powerful right-back, Club Brugge won the Belgian Cup in 2015 and the league one year later. Meunier starred for his country at Euro 2016 and after the tournament he moved to PSG, where he won two French cups (2017, 2018) and three league titles (2018, 2019, 2020).
When in February 2020 Thomas Meunier ran out onto the pitch at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK for the first time he was wearing a Paris St. Germain shirt. His club at the time went head-to-head with BVB in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, and the Belgium international was able to get his first taste of the stadium’s special atmosphere. "I enjoyed the moment, the noise, the atmosphere. The fans are so close to the pitch and you really have a sense of where you are,’’ says the Belgian. "On the pitch, I was grinning like a little kid. You could probably see as much on the television." That game had a big influence on his decision to sign for BVB the following summer.
He compares BVB to his first professional team, Club Brugge: "Both clubs are very popular, they have a lot of fans all over the country and the same mentality. You don't need to describe Dortmund. You can already see on TV how it is to play for BVB. That's what I was looking for. It's that simple." In Dortmund, he linked up with his national team colleagues Axel Witsel and Thorgan Hazard, who had already told him plenty about life in Black & Yellow. He also played alongside them at EURO 2020 in the summer of 2021. The 29-year-old played in all five of the Belgians' matches up to the quarter-finals, scoring one goal and providing two assists.
After making only four appearances in the starting line-up in the second half of the 2020/21 Bundesliga season, Meunier started 17 games in 2021/22, and didn't once appear on the bench. When Meunier was fit, he played! And he did so at a consistently high level. He put in a good 36 sprints per 90 minutes, ran an average of 11.9 kilometres, hit more crosses from open play than any of his teammates (41), four of which resulted in a goal. In addition, he scored two goals of his own; both came on Matchday 19 against Freiburg and both were headed in from corners.
He married his long-time girlfriend Deborah Panzokou in June 2022.