Moritz Leitner (born 8 December 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.
He has previously played for Borussia Dortmund, 1860 Munich, FC Augsburg, Lazio, Norwich City and Zürich.
Born in Munich, Leitner started his football career at FC Unterföhring, joining them at the age of two.
[2] Leitner made his professional debut for his childhood club 1860 Munich on 14 August 2010, coming on as a substitute for Aleksandar Ignjovski in a DFB-Pokal match against SC Verl, setting up an equaliser for Stefan Aigner.
[4] In October 2010, it was announced that Leitner would move to Borussia Dortmund when the transfer window opened in January 2011.
[9] Leitner made a handful of first team appearances between 22 October 2011 and 26 November 2011, when he suffered a back injury that kept him out throughout 2012.
[15] Due to the impressive performances of Mario Götze, however, only ten of these were as a starter and he spent most of the 2012–13 season on the substitutes bench.
[18] After two seasons on loan at Stuttgart, Leitner's future at Borussia Dortmund became uncertain following the arrival of Thomas Tuchel.
[33] During a 3–3 draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 18 October 2014, Leitner suffered a thigh injury and was sidelined as a result.
[40][41] He was signed to replace Ogenyi Onazi, who had joined Turkish Süper Lig club Trabzonspor.
[44] On 31 January 2017, Leitner was signed by Bundesliga side FC Augsburg[45] on a four-year deal for a reported fee of €2 million.
[47] Leitner did not appear in the first team immediately, due to issues in adapting to the club's playing style.
Having failed to make an appearance in the first half of the 2017–18 season, Leitner was loaned to EFL Championship side Norwich City on 25 January 2018 for six months.
[56] Afterwards, he fell out of favour and only made nine appearances in the top flight, as the club suffered relegation after one season.
Despite this, Leitner remained out of the squad and made no appearances as the Canaries secured another Championship title for the 2020–21 season.
[57][58] On 7 August 2021, Leitner signed a one-year contract with Swiss Super League club Zürich.