Michael Ballack

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Michael Ballack
10th Day of Legends 2014 69.jpg
Michael Ballack, 2014
Personnel
birthday September 26, 1976
place of birth GoerlitzGDR
size 189 cm
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
1983-1988 BSG engine "Fritz Heckert" Karl-Marx-Stadt
1988-1995 FC Karl-Marx-Stadt / Chemnitzer FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1994-1996 Chemnitzer FC amateurs 18 0(5)
1995-1997 Chemnitzer FC 49 (10)
1997-1998 1. FC Kaiserslautern amateurs 17 0(8)
1997-1999 1. FC Kaiserslautern 46 0(4)
1999-2002 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 79 (27)
2002-2006 FC Bayern Munich 107 (44)
2006-2010 Chelsea FC 105 (17)
2010–2012 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 35 0(2)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1996-1998 Germany U21 19 0(6)
1999-2010 Germany 98 (42)
1 Only league games are given.

Michael Ballack (born September 26, 1976 in Görlitz ) is a former German soccer player . He came to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1999 via Chemnitzer FC and 1. FC Kaiserslautern . With the Rhinelander he reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in his career in 2002. He then moved to Bayern Munich , where he won the double three times . At the age of 29 he took the step abroad to England to Chelsea , where he was involved in several titles. At the end of his career, he returned to Leverkusen for two years. He won a total of five national championships with his clubs, including in 1998 when he was promoted to the Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern. From 1999 to 2010 he played 98 games for the German national team and was their team captain from 2004 . He took part with her in two world championships and three European championships and reached a World Cup and a European Championship final.

Career

societies

Youth in Chemnitz (1983–1995)

Ballack began playing football at the BSG Motor "Fritz Heckert" Karl-Marx-Stadt at the age of seven . His parents sent him to practice with the local team, where he was noticed by coach Steffen Hänisch, who himself had played in the second division of the GDR . Particularly impressive for Hänisch was his technique, which was extraordinarily advanced for Ballack's age, and his ability to shoot with both feet. He switched to the Karl-Marx-Stadt children's and youth sports school .

He played his way into the team of his age group and came to his very first game on October 4, 1983 in a 2-1 win over Motor Ascota Karl-Marx-Stadt . In the first season he scored twelve goals. With the increasing number of games, Ballack's talent quickly became apparent, who also began to take over the team leadership on the field. He also developed goal danger and came in his third season on 57 goals in only 16 games. On October 19 alone, he scored twelve goals in a playing time of 2 × 25 minutes in a 28-0 win in Crimmitschau . In 1988 he moved to the larger city neighbor FC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was renamed Chemnitzer FC in 1990 . In the same year he won the district indoor championship with his new club. He developed further under his new coaches Jürgen Häuberer and Eberhard Schuster and three years later won the Saxon indoor championship with Chemnitzer FC . After three more years he won the Free State's U-19 championship for Chemnitzer FC in 1994.

Chemnitzer FC (1995–1997)

In 1995 Ballack received his first professional contract due to his performance as a central midfielder. Based on Franz Beckenbauer , he was nicknamed the "little emperor" during this time . On August 4, 1995, he made his debut on the first day of the 1995/96 season in the 2nd Bundesliga . During the season Ballack came to a total of 15 missions, but rose with his club in the Regionalliga Nordost . A personal highlight was his first game for the German U-21 national team on March 26, 1996 .

In the following season Ballack finally became a regular player and only narrowly failed with Chemnitz's promotion to the second division. He completed all games and scored ten goals for the "sky blue". In the summer of 1997 was followed by his other personal advancement, as Otto Rehhagel him for the just in the Bundesliga ascended 1. FC Kaiserslautern committed.

1. FC Kaiserslautern (1997-1999)

On the seventh game day of the 1997/98 season , Rehhagel changed his new player in the game at Karlsruher SC for the first time for the last five minutes. This was followed by the first appearance from the start on March 28, 1998, when he was given the task of eliminating the opposing playmaker Emerson against Bayer 04 Leverkusen . Ballack came to sixteen games in the first season and was involved in the championship win of 1. FC Kaiserslautern , which achieved this success as the first climber in the history of the Bundesliga.

In the second season Ballack became a regular and leading player with 30 appearances and four goals in his team, which reached the quarter-finals in the Champions League in its first European Cup season, but was defeated there in a German duel by Bayern Munich . Three months after the debut of the German senior team Ballack transferred on 16 July 1999 for a fee of eight million German marks to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1999-2002)

Ballack celebrated his final sporting breakthrough with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, where he received the necessary freedom to design matches from the current coaches Christoph Daum and Klaus Toppmöller . In the central midfield, Ballack was henceforth the play-off station and the creative actor, who also intervened in critical game moments and in standard situations in the opponent's penalty area in order to use his goal threat . In the course of his three years at Bayer Leverkusen he scored 27 goals in the Bundesliga and nine other goals in European club competitions.

In 2000 , Leverkusen only needed a draw on the last match day against the underdog SpVgg Unterhaching to win the championship title. However, with a 2-0 defeat in which Ballack scored an own goal , the team lost the title they had already believed to be safe.

After another successful season with Leverkusen, when the club was again runner-up in the 2001/02 season and was both in the 2002 Champions League final and the 2002 DFB Cup final , but lost both finals, Ballack left Leverkusen.

Ballack finished the 2001/02 season with 17 championship goals, which earned him the award for Germany's Footballer of the Year and a nomination for the UEFA "All-Star Team" of the past season.

FC Bayern Munich (2002-2006)

Ballack in the jersey of FC Bayern Munich (2006)

Despite a simultaneous offer from Real Madrid , Ballack decided in 2002 to move to FC Bayern Munich , the transfer fee was around six million euros . Although he was now more defensive at Bayern, he still scored ten goals this season in his first season and won the German championship title with his new team. In the DFB Cup final against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, he scored two more goals for a 3-1 win. In the summer of 2004, FC Barcelona were very interested in Ballack and a change was imminent. The players and the club had already agreed on the terms of the contract. Ultimately, the move failed due to the transfer fee, on which Bayern and Barcelona could not agree.

After a sporting stagnation in his second season for Munich, Ballack was again instrumental in winning the “ double ” again in the 2004/05 season and, according to the new coach Felix Magath, was the only seeded player in Bayern's midfield. In a total of four seasons for the record champions, Ballack won three “doubles” from the German championship and the DFB Cup and scored 47 goals in 135 games. In the top German league, Ballack scored 75 goals between 1998 and 2006.

Nevertheless, Ballack was regularly criticized for having performed weaker performances in decisive Champions League games and for always flirting with the move to a major international club instead of declaring his loyalty to Bayern. The criticism was particularly strong from the club superiors and former players of FC Bayern Franz Beckenbauer (president), Uli Hoeneß (manager) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (chairman of the board) and even their own appendix, who reinforced him in the last match days Stands mocked.

Ballack reacted angrily about the increasing expressions of displeasure and emphasized that he had dutifully fulfilled his contract and always behaved professionally as a Bayern player both on and off the field. Internally, he repeatedly denounced the unwillingness to invest in the quality of the team.

In 2005, FC Bayern made Ballack a very good offer for a four-year contract extension for a club. In November, however, the association withdrew the offer with media impact, as Ballack repeatedly allowed deadlines for an acceptance to elapse. Ballack, who had always made it clear that he wanted to move abroad, had numerous offers from top international clubs and finally decided to move to Chelsea .

Chelsea FC (2006-2010)

Ballack in the jersey of FC Chelsea (2009)
Ballack (2008)

Ballack signed a new contract on May 15, 2006 in London , where he moved on a free transfer, and rose to the top earner in the Premier League there. The then Chelsea coach José Mourinho responded to public media discourses on whether a teamwork between Ballack and Frank Lampard , who both claim similar positions in the team, was possible by saying that he had no difficulties in reconciling the two players in his Team see.

Ballack made his debut for Chelsea on July 31, 2006 in a friendly game in the US at UCLA . On the following day he was officially presented to the media and showed himself - as with all other clubs before - with the jersey with the number 13. Originally the number 19 was intended for Ballack, since the 13 was occupied by his teammate William Gallas . However, this expressed intention to change, which is why Mourinho Ballack awarded the number 13.

He scored his first goal for Chelsea on September 12, 2006 in front of a home crowd at Stamford Bridge in the opening game of the 2006/07 Champions League season with a penalty against Werder Bremen . He won his first title in England in the League Cup final when Chelsea defeated Arsenal . He also won the FA Cup with his new team . In the final against Manchester United , he was not used due to an injury.

In the following season 2007/08 Ballack reached the final of the Champions League with Chelsea . In the first all-English final in history, his team lost 6-5 on penalties to Manchester United. After the end of regular time and overtime, the score was 1: 1. Ballack converted his team's first penalty. It was Ballack's second defeat in the final after 2002 (with Bayer 04 Leverkusen). In the league, too, only the runner-up was achieved, here too Manchester United was just ahead of Chelsea.

In 2008/09 Ballack reached only third place with Chelsea, seven points behind champions Manchester United. In the Champions League semi-finals , his club was unhappy against FC Barcelona . In contrast, Ballack, who came on as a substitute in the 61st minute in the 2-1 final win against FC Everton , won the second FA Cup of his career.

While preparing for the new 2009/10 season, the midfielder injured and broke his toe. However, Ballack was able to recover in time and was substituted on for the 60th minute in the FA Community Shield game played in the run-up to the start of the league . Since the encounter did not find a winner after 90 minutes and extra time (2-2), the penalty shoot-out had to decide. In the 4: 1 for Chelsea, Ballack converted a penalty to 2: 0 and was able to celebrate this cup victory for the first time. This season Ballack was able to win the English championship for the first time . Since Chelsea also defeated Portsmouth FC 1-0 in the final of the FA Cup , the double was even celebrated at the end of the 2010 season. Despite the good season, Ballack's contract in London was not renewed. The club offered him a new one-year contract, coach Carlo Ancelotti put big pieces on him. Ballack, however, insisted on a two-year contract extension. He left the club on a free transfer in June 2010.

Return to Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2010–2012)

For the 2010/11 season Ballack moved back to Bayer 04 Leverkusen after eight years on a free transfer. In September 2010 he suffered a fracture on his tibia in the game against Hannover 96 on the third day of the game , which meant that he was out for the rest of the first half of the season and was not reinstated until January 2011. From the 26th matchday he was regularly on the starting line-up again and thus came to 17 games in the season, which he finished for the third time as runner-up in the Bayer Leverkusen jersey. On the 8th matchday of the 2011/12 season , Ballack played his 100th Bundesliga game for Leverkusen against VfL Wolfsburg . His contract, which expired on June 30, 2012, was not extended at his own request.

After that there was much speculation as to whether Ballack would possibly continue playing outside of Europe. However, there was no engagement. Ballack ended his active football career on October 2, 2012.

In an interview in 2020 Ballack stated that he regretted the decision to move from Chelsea to Leverkusen in retrospect. “I should have stayed, if only for a year. I never expected to return to Bayer Leverkusen. I really hoped to the end that I could stay in Chelsea until the end. "

National team

On March 26, 1996, shortly after his move to the professional division of Chemnitz, Ballack stood against Denmark for the U-21 selection for the first time in a German national team. There he came to a total of 19 games and seven goals. After moving to Kaiserslautern, Berti Vogts appointed him to the senior national team. His first international match was on April 28, 1999 in Bremen under coach Erich Ribbeck in the 1-0 defeat against Scotland , when he came on for Dietmar Hamann after an hour .

Ballack converted a penalty in the opening game of the Confederation Cup 2005

Ballack made two substitutions when he took part in Euro 2000 in the Netherlands and Belgium . Germany was eliminated in the preliminary round. By the 2002 World Cup , he grew up to be a leading player. His three goals against Ukraine in the play-off games for World Cup qualification enabled the German team to make their way to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea , where Ballack, alongside Oliver Kahn, developed into a key player in the German team and played a large part in the entry had to the final . He scored the winning goal in each of the 1-0 victories in the knockout games against the United States and South Korea . In the semifinals against the hosts, he accepted the resulting yellow card and the associated ban for the final with a tactical foul that prevented the opponent from having a great chance at scoring . A few minutes after receiving the yellow card, he scored the decisive goal.

In the run-up to Euro 2004 in Portugal , Ballack scored four times in a friendly against Malta (final score 7-0). Gerd Müller had scored four goals in an international match 32 years earlier. The European championship itself was disappointing for the German team because of the preliminary round, but Ballack was appointed to the all-star team. Under the new national coach Jürgen Klinsmann , he was appointed as the successor to Oliver Kahn as the new national team captain.

Ballack impressed at the 2006 soccer World Cup in his own country, although it was slightly damaged . As captain, he led his team onto the field five times. The FIFA chose him in the games against Ecuador and Argentina to " Man of the Match ". He prepared a goal against Ecuador and was involved with Tim Borowski in creating the equalizer against Argentina. In the penalty shootout against Argentina, he converted the second penalty. At the end of the tournament, in which Germany finished third, he was appointed to the All-Star Team by a FIFA committee.

At the EM 2008 Ballack scored the winning goal in the third group match against Austria with a free kick to make it 1-0, which meant the quarter-finals. This hit was voted goal of the year 2008 in the sports show . In the 3-2 win against Portugal , he scored the third goal for Germany after a free-kick cross. Of the expert committee of UEFA , he was one day after the final defeat to Spain in the Star team All- EM chosen of 2008.

Ballack on the ground after the foul by Kevin-Prince Boateng

The friendly game against Argentina on March 3, 2010 in Munich was Ballack's last appearance in the national team, but this was still unclear at the time. On May 6, 2010 he was appointed to the expanded squad for the 2010 World Cup by national coach Joachim Loew . However, due to a tear in the inner ligament and a partial tear of the syndesmosis of the ankle after a foul by Kevin-Prince Boateng on May 15, 2010 in the English Cup final between Chelsea and Portsmouth , he fell out of the World Cup. His place as captain was taken over by Philipp Lahm , who declared during the tournament, shortly after Ballack had left to visit the team, that he did not want to give up the captaincy again. While Oliver Bierhoff criticized Lahm for it, coach Löw was unimpressed. After a renewed injury at the beginning of the 2010/11 season (see above), Ballack was no longer used after the World Cup, even if a return initially remained open and Ballack was confirmed as captain by Löw immediately after the World Cup.

On June 16, 2011, after two conversations with Ballack in the past few months, national coach Löw announced that he was no longer planning with him and offered Ballack “a worthy farewell to the national team” for August 10 in the friendly against Brazil . Ballack then criticized Löw for how he treated him during his injury and rejected the offer to "declare a long-term friendly game now as a farce" as a "farce". The DFB showed no understanding for Ballack's choice of words . In March 2013 Ballack invited national coach Joachim Löw and his successor Philipp Lahm to his personally organized farewell game in Leipzig, despite all the quarrels in the past . In September of that year, in the run-up to the World Cup qualifier against Austria, he was officially honored and adopted by the DFB.

Style of play

Ballack was known for his versatile and adaptable style of play, which enabled him to take part in attacking play as effectively as he did defensive work. He was considered an excellent header player and had a good shot with both feet. He was also considered an excellent penalty taker.

Career statistics

society league season league Nat. Cup European Cup Other total
Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates Games Gates
Chemnitzer FC Am. Oberliga Nordost 1994/95 7th 2 - - - - - - 7th 2
1995/96 11 3 - - - - - - 11 3
total 18th 5 - - - - - - 18th 5
Chemnitzer FC 2nd Bundesliga 1995/96 15th 0 1 0 - - - - 16 0
Regionalliga Northeast 1996/97 34 10 1 0 - - - - 35 10
total 49 10 2 0 - - - - 51 10
1. FC Kaiserslautern Bundesliga 1997/98 16 0 2 0 - - - - 18th 0
1998/99 30th 4th 2 0 6th 0 1 0 39 4th
total 46 4th 4th 0 6th 0 1 0 57 4th
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bundesliga 1999/00 23 3 - - 2 2 - - 25th 5
2000/01 27 7th 2 0 5 2 1 0 35 9
2001/02 29 17th 4th 0 16 6th 1 0 50 23
total 79 27 6th 0 23 10 2 0 110 37
FC Bayern Munich Bundesliga 2002/03 26th 10 5 4th 7th 1 - - 38 15th
2003/04 28 7th 3 2 8th 0 1 2 40 11
2004/05 27 13 4th 3 9 2 2 2 42 20th
2005/06 26th 14th 5 1 6th 1 - - 37 16
total 107 44 17th 10 30th 4th 3 4th 157 62
Chelsea FC Premier League 2006/07 26th 4th 3 1 10 2 7th 0 46 7th
2007/08 18th 7th 2 0 9 2 - - 29 9
2008/09 29 1 6th 3 10 0 1 0 46 4th
2009/10 32 4th 4th 1 6th 0 3 0 45 5
total 105 16 15th 5 35 4th 11 0 166 25th
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bundesliga 2010/11 17th 0 - - 3 2 - - 20th 2
2011/12 18th 2 1 0 6th 1 - - 25th 3
total 35 2 1 0 9 3 - - 45 5
Career total 439 108 45 15th 103 21st 17th 4th 604 148

successes

National team

societies

Personal awards

Private life

Half a year after Ballack's birth, his parents moved with him to Karl-Marx-Stadt (today Chemnitz ). He spent his school days in the polytechnic high schoolGeorgi Dimitroff ” (today middle school “Am Flughafen”) and in the children's and youth sports school “Emil Wallner” (later sports high school in Chemnitz ), which he graduated with the Abitur .

Ballack was married to Simone Ballack (* 1976 as Simone Lambe ) from 2008 to 2012 . They met in 1998 in a café in Kaiserslautern, where the doctor's assistant worked as a waitress. The relationship resulted in three sons (* 2001, 2002 and 2005). All three sons also play soccer, the youngest son for a long time in the youth team of FC Bayern Munich, now with SpVgg Unterhaching .

Others

Ballack worked as a testimonial or advertising medium for various companies , including adidas , McDonald’s , Samsung , Sony , Pepsi and the ab-in-den-urlaub.de portal . The jersey number 13 was used as a connecting element in several campaigns.

In 2006 Thomson Media Control came to the conclusion that Ballack is by far the most popular and top-selling football advertising star among active German players.

Ballack's manager is the lawyer and player advisor Michael Becker . In addition to Ballack, he also represents the players Miroslav Klose , Oliver Neuville and Bernd Schneider .

In 2011, after a home game between Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04, Ballack yelled “Scheiß FC Köln” into a megaphone in the fan curve, alluding to the rivalry between Bayer Leverkusen's supporters and 1. FC Köln . He had to pay a fine of 8,000 euros for unsportsmanlike conduct.

From 2012 to 2016 Ballack was a football expert for the US sports broadcaster ESPN . He acted as a studio expert for the broadcaster during the 2012 European Championship and the World Cup in Brazil .

Ballack is socially committed, for example for the German Stroke Foundation , and in 2000 called for support for the Stern and Amadeu Antonio Foundation campaign courage against right-wing violence .

Web links

Commons : Michael Ballack  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dino Reisner, Michael Ballack: The story of the football superstar, Stebner Verlag GmbH, Munich 2005, p. 13.
  2. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Michael Ballack - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, December 20, 2012, accessed January 4, 2013 .
  3. Marcel Haisma: Michael Ballack - Matches in European Cups. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, January 15, 2010, accessed January 4, 2013 .
  4. sport.ard.de: Ballack defends himself and threatens Bavaria ( Memento from August 15, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  5. Sport1.de: FC Bayern: Michael Ballack was in agreement with FC Barcelona in 2004 - that's why the deal fell through. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  6. Ballack transfer to Barça was “close” - “Some discussions” with Hoeneß. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  7. chelseafc.com: Chelsea 2 - 1 Everton ( Memento from June 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  8. Ballack gets his first title on August 9, 2009 on focus.de
  9. Michael Ballack on his time at Chelsea and Jose Mourinho. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  10. Michael Ballack to leave Chelsea ( Memento of March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on chelseafc.com
  11. Leverkusen: Contract for two years - Ballack returns to Bayer . In: kicker.de
  12. Michael Ballack has to pause at least until 2011 Die Welt online, October 6, 2010, accessed on August 18, 2013.
  13. Michael Ballack ends his career. In: spiegel.de. Retrieved October 2, 2012 .
  14. Michael Ballack on his time at Chelsea and Jose Mourinho. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  15. ^ Roberto Mamrud: Michael Ballack - Goals in International Matches. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, September 17, 2010, accessed January 4, 2013 .
  16. Profile on Transfermarkt.de, accessed on October 16, 2012.
  17. Lahm is the new captain. In: kicker.de. Kicker-Sportmagazin , May 28, 2010, accessed June 20, 2011 .
  18. Ballack tells Lahm the fight on spiegel.de, July 14, 2010, accessed January 21, 2017.
  19. ↑ National coach Löw no longer plans with Ballack. In: dfb.de. DFB , June 16, 2011, accessed June 20, 2011 .
  20. Ballack accuses Löw of hypocrisy. In: Spiegel Online . June 17, 2011, accessed June 20, 2011 .
  21. Niersbach has no understanding of the choice of words - Löw: "knows what was discussed". In: kicker.de. Kicker-Sportmagazin , June 18, 2011, accessed on June 20, 2011 .
  22. Lars Gartenschläger: Comment: Ballack shakes hands with Löw - a grand gesture. In: welt.de . March 7, 2013, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  23. Sportschau: Goal of the Month September 2002
  24. Sportschau: Goal of the Month February 2006
  25. Sportschau: Goal of the Month June 2008
  26. Sportschau: Goal of the Month March 2009 (with video)
  27. 79647 Ballack (1998 SG15) in the JPL Small-Body Database Browser
  28. Michael Ballack - the official homepage. In: michael-ballack.com ( Memento from March 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  29. Ballack divorce: After 5 minutes it was all over. In: bild.de. October 24, 2012, accessed October 24, 2012 .
  30. Michael Ballack married Simone Lambe. In: welt.de. July 14, 2008, accessed August 27, 2020 .
  31. EM 2008 player women: Simone Lambe
  32. Jugend unter sich, swp.de, January 25, 2019, accessed on January 30, 2020.
  33. cf. For example Horizont.net: Ballack is the top-selling advertising star among football professionals. July 18, 2006, online at horizont.net
  34. cf. for example Jörg Kramer: The great haggling . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 2002, p. 144 ( online - 21 January 2002 ).
  35. Football player: "Scheiß FC Köln" Michael Ballack has to pay , in: n-tv.de, from April 1, 2011.
  36. Michael Ballack
  37. TV expert: America likes Ballack
  38. ^ ESPN Announces TV Schedule For US World Cup Coverage
  39. Michael Ballack is committed to stroke aid ( Memento from December 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kommunikation und Sponsoring
  40. Tagesspiegel: Against right-wing violence