_33.jpg) Aiwu playing forRapid Wien in 2022 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Emanuel Aiwu[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (2000-12-25)25 December 2000 (age 24)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Innsbruck, Austria | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Sturm Graz | ||
| Number | 47 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2006–2013 | SKN St. Pölten | ||
| 2013–2017 | Admira Wacker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2017–2019 | Admira Wacker II | 20 | (0) |
| 2017–2021 | Admira Wacker | 81 | (5) |
| 2021–2022 | Rapid Wien | 23 | (2) |
| 2022–2024 | Cremonese | 23 | (0) |
| 2023–2024 | →Birmingham City (loan) | 24 | (0) |
| 2024– | Sturm Graz | 19 | (1) |
| International career | |||
| 2018 | Austria U18 | 2 | (0) |
| 2018 | Austria U19 | 6 | (1) |
| 2019 | Austria U20 | 2 | (0) |
| 2019–2022 | Austria U21 | 13 | (2) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11:57, 10 March 2025 (UTC) | |||
Emanuel Aiwu (born 25 December 2000) is an Austrian professionalfootballer who plays as adefender forAustrian Bundesliga clubSturm Graz. He previously playedAustrian Bundesliga football forAdmira Wacker (2018–2021) andRapid Wien (2021–2022) before joining Cremonese ahead of the2022–23 Serie A season. He spent the 2023–24 season on loan at EnglishChampionship (second-tier) clubBirmingham City. He has represented Austria fromunder-18 tounder-21 levels.
Aiwu was born inInnsbruck, Austria,[4][5] to a Nigerian father, Nathan Aiwu, and an Austrian mother, Heidi Semper, who began her training as a teacher of disabled people while Emanuel was still a baby. He has a younger brother, Elias.[4] The family moved toSt. Pölten in 2006, where the boys began to play football.[4]
Aiwu spent seven years with his hometown club,SKN St. Pölten, before joiningAdmira Wacker in 2013.[6] He came through the youth system to make his senior debut while still a 16-year-old, starting and playing the whole game for Admira II in theRegional League East on 1 September 2017. He made 15 appearances for Admira II, contributed three goals from nine matches for Admira U18 as they went on to win the 2017–18 Jugendliga, found his way into the first-team squad and, towards the end of the season, started threeBundesliga matches, the first coming in a goalless draw away toAustria Wien on 5 May 2018.[6][7]
The following season, Aiwu was a first-team regular,[2] and in February 2020, reigning championsRed Bull Salzburg made an offer for his services. Although the fee received would have been a club record fee, in excess of the €2.5 million paid byVfB Stuttgart forSaša Kalajdžić, Admira turned it down, believing that Aiwu on the field was of more use to the relegation-threatened club than money in the bank.[8][9][4] Admirastayed up Aiwu stayed on for a further season, taking his top-flight appearance totals to 81 matches and five goals.[2]
With the 2021 transfer deadline approaching and speculation rife as to Aiwu's future, he told his coach that he was not fit to play in that day's match againstSturm Graz. Although he insisted that he had not wanted to harm the team by playing while mentally and physically exhausted, his action was widely perceived as a strike in order to force a move, and he and his family were victims of online abuse, some of a racist nature.[10][11][12]
The following day, Aiwu joined another Bundesliga club,Rapid Wien, on a three-year contract. The fee was undisclosed.[5] He made his debut on 15 September, starting in the home defeat againstGenk in theEuropa League group stage, and rarely missed a game thereafter.[2] The club's sporting director,Zoran Barišić, said that Aiwu had gone to another level during the season, fulfilling all the expectations they had of him, and had behaved in a professional manner throughout.[13]
On 5 August 2022, Aiwu joinedSerie A clubCremonese, newly promoted toSerie A,[14] on a four-year contract for a fee reported as €3.5 million.[15] He played regularly for the first part of the season, but a mid-season change of management brought in a coach who preferred older, more experienced defenders, and although Aiwu was still a regular in the matchday squad, he rarely started.[16][2] Cremonese were relegated, and it appeared that Aiwu saw his future at a higher level thanSerie B.[17]
Despite his adviser's mention of interest from top-five leagues,[17] and reports of possible moves to TurkishSuper Lig clubBesiktas[18] and toBurnley, newly returned to thePremier League,[19] Aiwu signed for EnglishChampionship (second-tier) clubBirmingham City on 31 August 2023on loan for the season.[20] The deal included an option to purchase.[20] After a lengthy spell as an unused member of the matchday squad, Aiwu made his Birmingham debut on 3 October as a late substitute in a 4–1 win at home toHuddersfield Town.[21]
Aiwu's first international appearance for Austria came atunder-18 level in 2018. Called up for twofriendlies againstUkraine, he was an unused substitute for the first match and started the second, a 3–0 win on 23 March.[22] He made six appearances, scoring once, forAustria under-19s,[23] and moved into theunder-20s the following year.[24] Aiwu was approached to representNigeria at the2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, but declined, preferring to continue within the Austrian system.[25][26] Aiwu made hisAustria under-21 debut in October 2019 in2021 European Championship qualifier againstTurkey, went on to make thirteen appearances, including seven in2023 European qualifying, and captained the side.[27][28]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Admira Wacker II | 2017–18 | Austrian Regionalliga East | 15 | 0 | — | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | Austrian Regionalliga East | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 20 | 0 | — | — | — | 20 | 0 | |||||
| Admira Wacker | 2017–18 | Austrian Bundesliga | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | Austrian Bundesliga | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | — | 21 | 3 | ||
| 2019–20 | Austrian Bundesliga | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | Austrian Bundesliga | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 1 | |||
| 2021–22 | Austrian Bundesliga | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 6 | 1 | |||
| Total | 81 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 87 | 5 | |||
| Rapid Wien | 2021–22 | Austrian Bundesliga | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8[c] | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 36 | 2 |
| 2022–23 | Austrian Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[e] | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| Total | 23 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 39 | 2 | ||
| Cremonese | 2022–23 | Serie A | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24 | Serie B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 0 | ||||
| Birmingham City (loan) | 2023–24 | Championship | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 25 | 0 | ||
| Sturm Graz | 2024–25 | Austrian Bundesliga | 19 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6[f] | 0 | — | 28 | 1 | |
| Career total | 190 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 227 | 8 | ||
Emanuel Aiwu hat in der letzten Saison einen weiteren Schritt nach vorne gemacht und die hohen Erwartungen, die wir in ihn gesetzt haben, absolut erfüllt. ... Ich wünsche 'Manu', der sich bei uns stets sehr professionell verhalten hat, alles Gute für seine nächste Karrierestation.
