By the eighth minute, the midfielder had gone down without any contact from an opponent, seemingly catching his right knee slightly in the turf. A few seconds later, Chukwuemeka sat on the ground and called for the medical staff, who then carried out a thorough examination of his right knee.
At first, it looked as though the Austria international would have to come off immediately, but Chukwuemeka did return to the pitch shortly afterwards. After just over 20 minutes, though, he could not continue and the 22-year-old was taken off, with new midfield talent Takato Yamamoto coming on in his place. Shortly before that, Chukwuemeka had sat down on the ground again and was still not moving freely.
How serious the injury is will only become clear once there is a diagnosis. It is also possible the substitution was only a precaution.
Bad injury? Carney Chukwuemeka wants to stake his claim for a more important role at BVB
Either way, it is a bitter blow, especially as Chukwuemeka had only just linked up with pre-season after an extended World Cup holiday and wanted to make an immediate impression in the hope of playing a bigger role for BVB next season than he did in the campaign just gone. The midfielder, who had previously always represented England’s junior sides at youth level, had decided in March to switch association, as he is also eligible to play for Austria.
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He was then included in the ÖFB team’s World Cup squad and came off the bench in three of Austria’s four matches at the tournament in North America. In the 3-0 defeat to eventual world champions Spain in the round of 32 at the start of July, he was brought on at half-time.
BVB friendlies in Japan overshadowed by early substitutions
When Chukwuemeka first arrived in Dortmund at the start of 2025, he had knee problems, but in the past season he had his recurring physical issues fairly well under control. Across all competitions, the Vienna-born player made 38 appearances in 2025/26, scoring three goals and providing two assists.
After the friendly against Tokyo, the BVB travelling party will head back to Dortmund, having already faced another Japanese top-flight side, Cerezo Osaka, earlier in the week. From BVB’s point of view, however, that game went badly wrong as they lost 1-0 after a disappointing performance, and there was already another injury-enforced substitution there too, involving Filippo Mane. The young centre-back had thigh problems, although it did not appear to be too serious. Mane was still absent from the Dortmund squad against Tokyo, however.
Just over half an hour into Saturday lunchtime’s match in German time, play had to be suspended briefly. Monsoon-like heavy rain and a local thunderstorm warning forced the refereeing team to halt the game, and both sides initially retreated to the dressing rooms. After an interruption of around half an hour, the friendly was able to continue.