13 fun facts about David Alaba

The Alaba family is truly global in scope. A Nigerian royal, David's father George originally came to Vienna to study economics before joining the Austrian army as the first black guard soldier. He is now a DJ and artist. Gina, David's mother, is a nurse who in the 1980s won the title of Miss Philippines, where she was born.

David frequently gets the Filipino flag sewn onto his boots, and after Bayern won the 2012–2013 UEFA Champions League final at Wembley, he hoisted the Nigerian flag on the pitch.

When David Alaba made his debut for the Austrian senior national team in October 2009 against France, no one really knew him. He was not one of those burgeoning youngsters making a name for himself in Europe.

What made him a bit famous, though, was a record that attached to him when he played against France. At 17 years and 112 days, Alaba was named the youngest player to ever turn out for Austria.

However, some reports have stated that the former Bayern Munich defender is, in fact, the second youngest player to represent Austria.

On November 4, 1917, in a match between Austria and Hungary, goalkeeper Ernst Walter Joachim started in goal for Austria, making his international debut.

He was 16 years and 305 days old when he made his debut, but this wasn't reported by the contemporary press.

When Bayern Munich signed Alaba from FK Austria Wien in 2008, he started out by playing for the age level groups in the Bayern academy.

Ahead of the 2009-10 season, the-then 17-year-old was promoted to the reserve team. He trained with the first team occasionally and was named in several first team squads.

It wasn't until the second half of the season that Alaba would be handed his debut for the first team. On February 10, 2010, in a DFB-Pokal game against Greuther Fürth, Alaba was introduced from the bench in the 59th minute.

With just his second touch of the game, the teenager set Franck Ribéry up for a goal that put Bayern ahead in the game. Not only did he get an assist on his debut, but also became the youngest player in Bayern history to appear for the first team in a competitive fixture, at 17 years, seven months, and eight days.

As mentioned earlier, Alaba made his top-flight debut in February 2010 with Bayern Munich. However, he had already made his international debut for Austria almost four months earlier, in October 2009.

Despite the fact that Alaba was still representing Bayern Munich's B squad at the time, Dietmar Constantini, the Austrian coach, granted him his senior football debut at the Stade de France due to his unmistakable potential.

Alaba said that Bayern Munich had already asked him if he would be interested in a swap deal including Leroy Sane of Manchester City, which he felt was a "slap in the face" after numerous attempts to extend his contract.

“After the second or third conversation [about the new contract], I got a call and was asked if I could imagine being included in a swap deal,” Alaba told Sky Sports Germany.

“That probably was a slap in the face.

“The respect and appreciation I was looking for when the contract negotiations started was not going in the right direction. That was a year ago now. In times when coronavirus was still very far away.”

You can read the full story on GOAL.

Real Madrid signed Alaba on a free transfer ahead of the 2021-22 season.

In his first El Clasico on October 24, 2021, Alaba broke the deadlock to fire Los Blancos into the lead, becoming only the second Austrian ever to score in the fixture.

The first-ever Austrian to score in Clasico history was Hans Kranki in 1979.

David's sister, Rose May Alaba, is a singer, songwriter, and recording artist.

She gained prominence for her 2016 hit Love Me Right, which spent more than four weeks at the top of the Austrian iTunes chart.

She performed the anthem for the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, which was hosted in Austria, while representing Austria at the 2017 Europa Music Contest.

"I always hated Bayern," Alaba had admitted.

The Austrian had twice turned down the chance to sign for the Bavarians as a kid before eventually signing for the Bundesliga giants.

"They had the best training kit and always came to youth tournaments in the nicest bus, and left celebrating."

With his dad being a Nigerian, his mom being a Phillipine, growing up in Austria, and then spending 13 years in Germany, Alaba has a wide range of cultural experiences. He is a big fan of Mexican culinary delicacies.

The team of Alaba's heart is neither Austrian, nor German, and definitely not Spanish. He grew up admiring Turkish club Galatasaray.

In an interview with GOAL, the Austrian revealed his affection for the Turkish giants.

"Yes, I have sympathy for Galatasaray," he conceded.

"As a child, I played every day in Vienna. I had many friends from Turkey there. There were exactly three options: Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce. I decided on Galatasaray very quickly.

"I don't remember why. I always watched the Istanbul derbies together with my friends from Gala."

Coming from a family where his father was a rapper and a DJ, David grew up with ambitions of making it as a singer.

"I grew up with music. It's a very important part of my family," Alaba told GOAL.

"When I was a kid, we had music all the time. CDs, records. Whether it was in the flat or in the car: music, music, music. And everyone sang.

"I dreamed of a singing career, but realized relatively quickly that it wasn't going to happen. But, just like music, I've also loved football from the beginning."

"My parents tried me out on piano and guitar. But my sister obviously has all the talent in the family for it."

When asked if he can still play any song on the musical instruments, he replied, "Yes, one on the guitar and two on the piano."

Last season, in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash against PSG, Real Madrid were trailing 2-0 on aggregate with just half an hour to go.

However, a Karim Benzema hattrick helped Los Blancos complete a memorable 'remontada.'

After Benzema scored the third goal, Alaba was seen celebrating with a chair in front of the Bernabeu crowd.

When asked about the celebration, Alaba responded, "It’s good to try new celebrations every now and then. And the chair was there at just the right moment. I didn’t think about it, it was just the emotion of it all."

🗣️ David Alaba: “The PSG come-back chair? Yes, I still have it. (laughs)” #rmalive pic.twitter.com/RfZxR2YU2Z

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) March 9, 2023

Alaba has been known to give back to the community ever since he was at Bayern Munich.

In 2015, Alaba visited refugees and hand delivered them presents as part of the Respect Refugees campaign.

In 2022, Alaba donated an ultra-modern biodegradable toilet facility to the Ogere Remo neighbourhood in Ogun State, Nigeria in his bid to support the Federal Government of Nigeria’s initiative to end open defecation.

Abike Dabira-Erewa, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), thanked Alaba on social media.

⁦@David_Alaba⁩ . A big thanks for the facility donated by the David Alaba Foundation at Kara Market, Ogere Remo, Ogun State to support FGNs move to end open defecation.David is also planning a football training centre in Nigeria🙏🏿👍 pic.twitter.com/FrPbdHfHMZ

— Abike Dabiri-Erewa (@abikedabiri) September 17, 2022