The German striker of Yazidi-Kurdish descent, Deniz Undav, continued to steal the spotlight at the 2026 World Cup after playing a decisive role in leading the German national team to a precious 2-1 victory over Côte d’Ivoire during the second round of Group E matches. This performance earned him the Man of the Match award and guided his country to qualify for the second round for the first time since the 2014 edition.
Undav entered the match as a substitute in the 60th minute, replacing Jamal Musiala at a time when Germany was trailing by a goal scored by Franck Kessié. However, the Stuttgart striker turned the tide of the match by scoring the two winning goals in the 68th and 94th minutes, capitalizing on two assists from Nadiem Amiri and Felix Nmecha.
Undav raised his tally to three goals and two assists in the tournament, becoming the first player to contribute to five goals during his first two matches in World Cup history since Frenchman Karim Benzema in 2014, confirming his status as one of the most prominent stars of the current edition.
Following the match, Undav emphasized that he is playing with great confidence and believes in his ability to score in every game, noting that the strength of the German national team is not limited to the starting players, but also includes substitutes who are capable of deciding matches. He added that the team showed strong character and a high fighting spirit, considering that Germany is moving in the right direction to achieve its ambitions in the tournament.
In the Golden Boot race, Undav shared the top spot of the 2026 World Cup top scorers list with Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Canada’s Jonathan David, with three goals each. They are pursued by a number of the tournament’s top stars, including England’s Harry Kane, France’s Kylian Mbappé, Norway’s Erling Haaland, Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior, Morocco’s Ismael Saibari, and the Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo, each having scored two goals.
Undav now has five goal contributions in the tournament, matching the record set by Cameroon’s Roger Milla in the 1990 World Cup, and surpassing the record set by Germany’s André Schürrle with four contributions in the 2014 edition.
Undav’s presence at the World Cup is not limited to his performance inside the green rectangle; it has extended to expressing his Yazidi-Kurdish identity. During his celebration of one of his goals in Germany’s opening match against Curaçao, he performed part of a traditional Yazidi-Kurdish dance, in a message carrying broad cultural significance, according to a report published by DW.
Undav had also shone in that match, assisting two goals and scoring one just 12 minutes after entering the pitch, before celebrating in an eye-catching manner when he bowed slightly and locked his arms behind his back.
According to the DW report, Undav’s display of his identity on the world’s largest football stage carries special significance, given that he was previously subjected to racist attacks and insults during a Europa League match in Istanbul between the Turkish club Fenerbahçe and the German club VfB Stuttgart, where he faced phrases like “traitor to the homeland” and “a dog without a homeland” both inside the stadium and across social media.
His celebration also garnered notable interaction when his German national team teammate Antonio Rüdiger spontaneously joined him, in a scene that reflected football’s ability to unite different identities, cultures, and religions.
Undav’s parents hail from the city of Viranşehir in the Şanlıurfa province in southeastern Turkey; his father is a Yazidi Kurd, while his mother holds Syrian citizenship. The family settled in Germany after his grandfather left Turkey following the 1980 military coup.
When Undav was asked in an interview about his role model, he said: “My father, he came here with nothing and built himself up, and I try to do my best to make my father proud and pay him back 10 times what he did for us. He truly worked two or three jobs to provide everything for us kids. As Kurds and Yazidis, we do not have our own state or our own national team, and therefore we carry our origins in our hearts even more wherever we are.”
The Yazidis are an ethno-religious group numbering around one million people, most of whom consider themselves Kurds, while Germany hosts the largest Yazidi diaspora in the world, numbering around 200,000 people.
Undav’s career witnessed many challenges before reaching the top, as his emergence was delayed compared to many stars of his generation. He also endured a difficult experience in the English Premier League with Brighton, and was rejected by Werder Bremen in his early days due to his small stature, before finding his way to stardom with Stuttgart, which marked the most prominent turning point in his career.
Undav had chosen to represent the German national team after rejecting an offer from the Turkish Football Federation to join the Turkish national team, according to reports by Kurdish media following his participation with Germany in UEFA Euro 2024.
Kurd Online + Agencies
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