Torsten Frings

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Torsten Frings
Personal information
Full name	Torsten Frings
Date of birth	November 22, 1976
Place of birth	Würselen, Germany
Height	182 cm
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Werder Bremen
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1996 1996-2002 2002-2004 2004-2005 2005-	Alemannia Aachen Werder Bremen Borussia Dortmund Bayern München Werder Bremen	-(-) 162 (15) 47 (10) 29 (3) 37 (3)
National team**
2001-	Germany	64 (8)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 October 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2006.

Torsten Frings (born November 22, 1976 in Würselen, Germany) is a German football midfielder who currently plays for Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga.

Contents 1 Career 2 Player profile 3 Personal 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] Career

His professional career began at third division Alemannia Aachen before a move to Werder Bremen in 1996/97, helping the Weserstadion outfit to a German Cup final defeat of Bayern Munich in 1999 and tallying more than 160 Bundesliga appearances and 15 goals over six seasons.

In 2002, a number of Europe's leading clubs were on Frings's trail prior to the World Cup but he opted for a four-year deal with Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €10m, penning the contract two games into the competition. A regular in his first term at the Westfalenstadion, Frings also played 12 times in the UEFA Champions League, scoring home and away against Lokomotiv Moscow.

Frings's 2003/04 season only began on 30 January when he played against FC Schalke 04, his first game since damaging his knee against VfL Bochum in July. He took over from Tomáš Rosický in the playmaking role and scored four times in 16 games before signing a three-year contract with Dortmund's chief rivals, Bayern Munich.

Despite winning the domestic double with Bayern and making 29 Bundesliga and ten Champions League appearances, Frings never really enjoyed his football in Munich, and was played out of position by coach Felix Magath. In June he rejoined Bremen for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal, helping them past FC Basel into the Champions League group stage.

[edit] Player profile

Frings is an all-action, versatile midfielder, considered by many to be the best in the national team together with Michael Ballack. He can play anywhere across midfield, although he is most comfortable running deep from his own team's box to the opposition's box. Frings scored Germany's fourth goal in their 4-2 win against Costa Rica in the opening match of the 2006 World Cup on 9 June 2006 with a powerful drive from more than 30 yards.

Following Germany's penalty shootout victory over Argentina on 30 June 2006, Frings was fined and suspended by FIFA for two games (one of which is subject to a six-month probationary period) for his role in the brawl that broke out between the Argentine and German teams after the match [1]. After reviewing video footage of the brawl, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee determined that Frings had punched Argentine forward Julio Cruz and leveled punishment accordingly, even though Cruz himself had denied that Frings punched him; the second game of the suspension was made probationary due to the Committee's determination that Frings had been provoked into fighting. This suspension decision, announced by FIFA only the day before Germany's semi-final versus Italy on 4 July 2006, rendered Frings unavailable for the important match. The controversy of the decision was also sparked by the fact that Frings' role in the brawl had been widely accentuated in the Italian media after FIFA had already announced it closed its investigations against German players. Frings answered to the accusations in an interview: „This is all politics. The Argentinians attack us, I defend myself and the Italians get worked up. With this suspension, FIFA just wanted to show that Germany doesn't get special treatment as the World Cup hosts."

[edit] Personal

• Torsten Frings is married to Petra and they have two children, Lisa-Katharina and Lena.
• He considers Muhammad Ali as the greatest sportsperson of all time and thinks Brazilians Ronaldo and Kaka are two of the best players in the world at the moment.
• His favourite food is pasta, and he enjoys listening to heavy metal
• Favorite drink: Coke Light
• Animals: A dog called cookie, and two cats (Kira and Puma) and Candy (frings dog) died last year.
• Father: Dieter Frings
• Torsten has an orange scar in his left cheek because when he was 5 years old he had a car accident.
• His mother died in 2001 at the age of 57.

[edit] Trivia

• In his early years at Werder Bremen, Frings earned the nickname "Lutscher"(Lollipop, Sucker). After fouling Werder's Austrian star Andreas Herzog during a training sesssion, Herzog barked on the young player Frings. Frings responded: "Was willst du denn - Lutscher?" (What's your problem, sucker/lollipop?) Frings nickname is now roared by the crowd in Bremen.
• Frings is a natural center midfielder, but has played a multitude of positions before in his career:
  • As a young rookie in Aachen, he played striker alongside veteran Marcus Feinbier.
  • In his first Bremen stint under Felix Magath, he mostly played right wing.
  • In the 2002 World Cup, manager Rudi Völler played him as right full-back.
• His Ruhr derby comeback against Schalke in January 2004 was watched by a Bundesliga record crowd of 83,000.
• In the 2006 World Cup, Frings was suspended for 1 game (semi-final match against Italy) for his part in the skirmish between the Germans and the Argentinians after Germany defeated them 4-2 in penalty kicks.

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Profile at Werder Bremen official site

SV Werder Bremen - Current Squad
1 Reinke | 3 Pasanen | 4 Naldo | 5 Wome | 6 Baumann | 7 Vranješ | 8 Fritz | 9 Zidan | 10 Diego | 11 Klose | 14 Hunt | 15 Owomoyela | 16 Andreasen | 17 Klasnić | 18 Wiese | 19 Polenz | 20 D. Jensen | 22 Frings | 23 Almeida | 24 Borowski | 26 Mohr | 27 Schultz | 29 Mertesacker | 30 K. Jensen | 32 Schachten | 33 Vander | 34 Harnik | 35 Mosquera | 37 Rockenbach | 38 Bischoff

	Germany squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Lehmann | 2 Jansen | 3 Friedrich | 4 Huth | 5 Kehl | 6 Nowotny | 7 Schweinsteiger | 8 Frings | 9 Hanke | 10 Neuville | 11 Klose | 12 Kahn | 13 Ballack | 14 Asamoah | 15 Hitzlsperger | 16 Lahm | 17 Mertesacker | 18 Borowski | 19 Schneider | 20 Podolski | 21 Metzelder | 22 Odonkor | 23 Hildebrand | Coach: Klinsmann

	Germany squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Kahn | 2 Linke | 3 Rehmer | 4 Baumann | 5 Ramelow | 6 Ziege | 7 Neuville | 8 Hamann | 9 Jancker | 10 Ricken | 11 Klose | 12 Lehmann | 13 Ballack | 14 Asamoah | 15 Kehl | 16 Jeremies | 17 Bode | 18 Böhme | 19 Schneider | 20 Bierhoff | 21 Metzelder | 22 Frings | 23 Butt | Coach: Völler