Tobias Levels

Tobias Levels

Levels with Fortuna Düsseldorf in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Tobias Levels
Date of birth	(1986-11-22) 22 November 1986 (age 37)
Place of birth	Tönisvorst, West Germany
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
	SV 1911 St. Tönis
0000–1999	KFC Uerdingen
1999–2005	Borussia Mönchengladbach
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2009	Borussia Mönchengladbach II	45	(2)
2006–2012	Borussia Mönchengladbach	110	(1)
2011–2012	→ Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan)	26	(0)
2012–2014	Fortuna Düsseldorf	49	(0)
2014–2018	FC Ingolstadt	69	(2)
2016–2017	FC Ingolstadt II	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tobias Levels (born 22 November 1986) is a German former footballer of Dutch descent who played as a defender.^[1][2]

Levels began his career at his home club SV St. Tönis. He then went to KFC Uerdingen before moving to Borussia Mönchengladbach in July 1999. There, he initially played regularly in the second team, with whom he was promoted to the Regionalliga Nord, then the third tier of the German football league system, in the 2005–06 season.

Under Mönchengladbach head coach Jupp Heynckes, Levels participated in training with the professionals for the first time prior to the 2006–07 season. On 10 September 2006, he made his debut for the first team in a DFB-Pokal match against SV Roßbach. On 30 September 2006, Levels made his Bundesliga debut in an away game at Werder Bremen (0:3), in which he came on as a substitute during the second half. Two match days later, he made his first appearance in the starting eleven against VfL Wolfsburg (3:1) and played the entire 90 minutes. Levels scored his first Bundesliga goal on 7 March 2009 in a 4:1 win against Hamburger SV.^[1] Levels was loaned out to 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf for the 2011–12 season,^[3] where he became a regular starter at the right back and finished the season in third place with his club. He appeared as a starter in both relegation playoff legs against Hertha BSC, in which Fortuna won 4–3 on aggregate und secured promotion to the Bundesliga.^[1] He was signed permanently for the 2012–13 season, signing a contract until 30 June 2014.^[4]

After his contract with Fortuna Düsseldorf had expired, Levels was a free agent for more than three months. In November 2024 he went to trial with 2. Bundesliga club FC Ingolstadt 04 and was subsequently signed for the remainder of the season. Ingolstadt reacted thereby to the injury of their regular right back Danny da Costa.^[5] At the end of the 2014–15 season, he was promoted to the Bundesliga with his club. In the first half of the 2015–16 season, Levels was a permanent starter for Ingolstadt and only missed one match due to a yellow card suspension, however, he missed the entire second half of the season due to an ankle injury. On 31 May 2016, Levels extended his contract at FC Ingolstadt 04 until 2018.^[6]

On 27 March 2017, FC Ingolstadt 04 announced that Levels would play for the under-23 team in the future. The reason for this was a dispute with the coach, Maik Walpurgis.^[7][2] After Stefan Leitl succeeded Walpurgis as coach at the end of August 2017, Levels once again became an integral part of the Ingolstadt squad. His contract with FC Ingolstadt 04 ran until the end of the 2017–18 season. Levels ended his active football career in the summer of 2018 and moved back to Mönchengladbach.^[8]

• Tobias Levels at kicker.de (in German)
• Tobias Levels at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Tobias Levels at Soccerway
• Tobias Levels at WorldFootball.net
• 2. Bundesliga: Tobias Levels at dfb.de (in German)