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Karol Mets

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Karol Mets
Mets playing for CSKA Sofia in 2021
Personal information
Date of birth (1993-05-16) 16 May 1993 (age 31)
Place of birth Viljandi, Estonia
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre-back, defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 St. Pauli
Number 3
Youth career
2003–2009 Tulevik
2011 Flora
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Tulevik II 51 (4)
2010 Warrior 4 (1)
2010–2014 Flora 115 (7)
2011–2012 Flora II 19 (3)
2014–2017 Viking 72 (0)
2017–2019 NAC Breda 40 (1)
2019–2020 AIK 46 (2)
2020–2021 Al-Ettifaq 23 (0)
2021–2022 CSKA Sofia 12 (0)
2022–2023 Zürich 25 (1)
2023 → St. Pauli (loan) 17 (0)
2023– St. Pauli 32 (0)
International career‡
2009 Estonia U17 8 (0)
2010 Estonia U18 1 (0)
2010–2012 Estonia U19 32 (0)
2012–2014 Estonia U21 20 (0)
2013– Estonia 94 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 07:44, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11:31, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

Karol Mets (Estonian: [ˈkɑrol mets]; born 16 May 1993) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a centre back or defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club St. Pauli and the Estonia national team.

Club career

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Early football career in Estonia

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Mets came through the Tulevik youth system, and played for the club's reserve sides Tulevik II and Warrior.

In November 2010, Mets was included in Flora's first team squad for pre-season training.[1] He made his debut for the club on 1 March 2011, against Levadia in the Estonian Supercup match. Flora won 5–3 on penalties. Mets made his debut in the Meistriliiga on 2 April 2011 in a 1–0 away victory over Kuressaare. He soon established himself as Flora's first choice centre back alongside Karl Palatu. Mets helped Flora win the Meistriliiga title in 2011.[2]

Viking

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On 5 December 2014, Mets signed a three-year contract with Norwegian club Viking.[3] He made his debut in the Tippeligaen on 6 April 2015 in a 1–0 away loss to Mjøndalen.[4]

NAC Breda

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On 31 July 2017, Mets joined Eredivisie club NAC Breda on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee, rumored to be around €100,000.[5] He made his debut in the Eredivisie in a 4–1 away loss to Vitesse on 12 August 2017, when he came on as a half-time substitute for Arno Verschueren. Mets scored his first goal for NAC Breda on 20 September 2017, in a 4–3 loss to Achilles '29 in the first round of the KNVB Cup.[6]

AIK

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On 14 March 2019, Mets signed a three-year contract with Swedish champions AIK for a fee of €300,000.[7] He made his debut in the Allsvenskan on 31 March 2019, in a 0–0 home draw against Östersund.[8]

Later career

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On 2 October 2020, Mets signed a three-year contract with Saudi club Al-Ettifaq.[9] On 10 August 2021, he signed a contract with Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia until the end of 2021–22 season.[10] On 7 January 2022, Mets signed with Swiss club Zürich until June 2024.[11]

On 5 January 2023, Mets joined 2. Bundesliga club St. Pauli on loan from Zürich until the end of the season with an option to buy,[12] which the club eventually bought at the end of season.[13] Mets played all games of the 2023–24 season in the starting line-up, only missed out 2 games due to a red card.[14][15] St. Pauli won the league and were promoted to the Bundesliga for the 2024–25 season.[16]

International career

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Mets playing against Portugal at the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

On 19 November 2013, Mets debuted for Estonian senior squad in a 3–0 friendly away against over Liechtenstein.[17]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of 1 March 2024[18][19][20][21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[a] Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tulevik II 2009 Esiliiga 28 3 3 0 — 1[b] 0 32 3
2010 II liiga 23 1 — — — 23 1
Total 51 4 3 0 — 1 0 55 4
Warrior 2010 Esiliiga 4 1 0 0 — 0 0 4 1
Flora 2011 Meistriliiga 16 1 3 1 0 0 3[c] 0 22 2
2012 Meistriliiga 32 4 3 0 2[d] 0 0 0 37 4
2013 Meistriliiga 32 2 4 0 2[e] 0 — 38 2
2014 Meistriliiga 35 0 3 2 — 0 0 38 2
Total 115 7 13 3 4 0 3 0 135 10
Flora II 2011 Esiliiga 17 1 0 0 — — 17 1
2012 Esiliiga 2 2 0 0 — — 2 2
Total 19 3 0 0 — — 19 3
Viking 2015 Tippeligaen 28 0 6 0 — — 34 0
2016 Tippeligaen 29 0 3 0 — — 32 0
2017 Eliteserien 15 0 2 0 — — 17 0
Total 72 0 11 0 — — 83 0
NAC Breda 2017–18 Eredivisie 25 0 1 1 — — 26 1
2018–19 Eredivisie 15 1 1 0 — — 16 1
Total 40 1 2 1 — — 42 2
AIK 2019 Allsvenskan 26 1 0 0 — — 26 1
2020 Allsvenskan 20 1 5 0 8 0 — 33 1
Total 46 2 5 0 8 0 — 59 2
Ettifaq 2020–21 Pro League 23 0 1 0 — — 24 0
CSKA Sofia 2021–22 Bulgarian First League 12 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
Zürich 2021-22 Swiss Super League 12 1 — — — 12 1
2022-23 Swiss Super League 13 0 0 0 6[f] 0 — 19 0
Total 25 1 0 0 6 0 — 31 1
St. Pauli (loan) 2022-23 2. Bundesliga 17 0 — — — 17 0
St. Pauli 2023-24 2. Bundesliga 22 0 4 0 — — 26 0
Total 39 0 4 0 — — 43 0
Career total 446 18 41 4 18 0 4 0 501 23
  1. ^ Includes the Estonian Cup, Norwegian Cup, KNVB Cup, Svenska Cupen, King Cup, Bulgarian Cup, Swiss Cup, DFB-Pokal
  2. ^ Appearance in Esiliiga relegation play-offs
  3. ^ Two appearances in Baltic Champions Cup, one appearance in Estonian Supercup
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  6. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

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As of 12 June 2024[22]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Estonia 2013 1 0
2014 13 0
2015 9 0
2016 13 0
2017 9 0
2018 7 0
2019 9 0
2020 4 0
2021 10 0
2022 9 0
2023 7 0
2024 3 0
Total 94 0

Honours

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Flora

Zürich

FC St. Pauli

Estonia

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Flora alustab hooajaks ettevalmistumist detsembri keskel" [Flora will begin preparations for the coming season in mid-December]. Postimees (in Estonian). 29 November 2010.
  2. ^ "FC Flora kindlustas 2011. aasta meistritiitli" [FC Flora secured the 2011 championship title] (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. 1 November 2011.
  3. ^ "Karol Mets liitub Norra kõrgliigaklubiga" [Karol Mets joins Norwegian top-flight club] (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 5 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Karol Mets alustas esimest välismaa hooaega põhimehena" [Karol Mets began his first season abroad as a starter] (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 6 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Asi kindel: Eesti jalgpallikoondislane siirdub Hollandi kõrgliigasse" [Confirmed: Estonian international moves to Dutch top flight]. Postimees (in Estonian). 31 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Mets avas Hollandis väravaarve, kuid Breda sai šokeeriva kaotuse" [Mets scored his first goal in the Netherlands, but Breda suffered a shocking loss] (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 20 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Karol Mets liitus Rootsi valitseva meisterklubiga" [Karol Mets joined the reigning Swedish champions] (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 14 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Mets tegi Rootsis pea 30 000 inimese ees eduka debüüdi" [Mets made a successful debut in Sweden in front of almost 30,000 people] (in Estonian). ERR Sport. 1 April 2019.
  9. ^ الاتفاق يدعم صفوفه بمدافع المنتخب الاستوني (in Arabic). 10 October 2020.
  10. ^ "ЦСКА привлече естонски национал". cska.bgcska.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  11. ^ "FC Zurich sign center-back Karol Mets" (Press release). Zürich. 7 January 2022. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  12. ^ "FC St. Pauli Sign Centre-back Karol Mets". FC St. Pauli. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Mets Handed Permanent Deal". FC St. Pauli. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  14. ^ Karol Mets at Soccerway Edit this at Wikidata
  15. ^ Kallas, Martti (7 August 2023). "Halb uudis: sakslased otsustasid Metsa mängukeeldu pikendada". soccernet.ee.
  16. ^ "St. Pauli earn Bundesliga promotion after 13 years". ESPN. 12 May 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Eesti Emile | Karol Mets: kui on tahet, siis tuleb ka tulemus!". Õhtuleht (in Ewe). 30 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Karol Mets" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association.
  19. ^ "Karol Mets" (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway.
  20. ^ Karol Mets at Soccerway
  21. ^ Karol Mets at National-Football-Teams.com
  22. ^ "Karol Mets" (in Estonian). Estonian Football Association. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
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