Sebastian Deisler

Sebastian Deisler
Personal information
Date of birth	5 January 1980 (1980-01-05) (age 29)
Place of birth	Lörrach, West Germany
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Right winger
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
Years 1985–1988 1988–1990 1990–1995 1995–1998	Club FV Tumringen TuS Stetten FV Lörrach Borussia Mönchengladbach
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–1999 1999–2002 2002–2007	Borussia Mönchengladbach Hertha Berlin Bayern Munich Total:	017 0(1) 056 0(9) 062 0(8) 135 (18)
National team
1999 1999–2006	Germany U-21 Germany	003 0(0) 036 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Sebastian Deisler (born 5 January 1980 in Lörrach) is a former football player in Germany and was considered to be the future of German football at the turn of the millennium. He played as a right winger for German Bundesliga sides Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hertha Berlin and Bayern Munich, and was also a member of the German national team.

Deisler joined his first club, FV Turmringen, when he was only six. The midfielder had to battle career-threatening knee injuries, and lost half of the 2003–04 season to chronic depression at Bayern. Luckily, he became optimistic after the birth of his first child opened new perspectives to him. However, on 16 January 2007, he announced his retirement at the age of 27, citing he had no confidence of ever regaining the needed stability in his often-injured knee.^[1]

Personal life

He has a Brazilian partner named Eunice Dos Santos Santana and a son named Raphael. But Deisler is currently unmarried.^[2]

The level of formal education he reached is technical college. He describes basketball, food, music and movies as his hobbies.^[3]

Club career

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Deisler played for Borussia Mönchengladbach from 1995 to 1999. He started his professional career at the club in 1998, subsequently making 17 Bundesliga appearances and scoring one goal in the league during the 1998–99 season. The club was, however, relegated to the second division following a last-place finish in the first division that season and Deisler went on to move to Hertha BSC Berlin, one of the top five clubs in the first division at the time, for the 1999–2000 season.

Hertha BSC Berlin

Deisler played for Hertha BSC Berlin from 1999 to 2002, making a total of 57 Bundesliga appearances and scoring nine goals in the league over the following three seasons. He also made eight appearances in the UEFA Champions League with the club during his first season there. In his second and third season with Hertha, he also made a total of five UEFA Cup appearances, but failed to score any goals for the club in the European competitions.

Bayern Munich

Deisler played for Bayern Munich since 2002, joining the club for an undisclosed fee. However, he suffered with several injuries during his time with the club and only made 62 Bundesliga appearances in four seasons and a half before retiring in January 2007. He scored eight goals for Bayern in the Bundesliga and also made 13 appearances in the UEFA Champions League with the club, netting three goals in the autumn of 2005. In the 2006–07 season, he only made five competitive appearances for Bayern, four in the Bundesliga and one in the Champions League, coming on as a substitute in the second half. His contract, which runs until 30 June 2009, was not dissolved but will instead be in abeyance.^[4]

International career

Deisler played for the German national team between 2000 and 2006, winning 36 international caps and scoring three goals. He made his debut for the team in a friendly match against the Netherlands on 23 February 2000 and was also part of the German squad at the Euro 2000 finals four months later, appearing in all three group matches before the Germans disappointingly exited the competition in the first round. On 2 September 2000, he scored his first goal for Germany as he netted the first goal in their 2-0 win over Greece in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Due to injuries, he missed the finals of both the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, the latter being held in Germany, as well as the Euro 2004. In 2005, he appeared in all of the German team's five matches at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany. His last match for the German national team was a friendly against Italy on 1 March 2006.

Statistics

Club

• Note: In April 2004, Deisler played four times for Bayern Munich's reserve squad in Regionalliga Süd, the third tier of German football, scoring one goal.

National team

Honours

Club Titles

• Bundesliga: 2003, 2005, 2006
• German Cup: 2003, 2005, 2006
• German League Cup: 2001, 2004

National Team

• European Under-18 Football Championship runner-up: 1998
• Confederations Cup Bronze medallist: 2005

References

External links

• FootballDatabase provides Sebastian Deisler's profile and stats
• Observer Sport Extra: Deisler the danger

Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Kahn • 2 Babbel • 3 Rehmer • 4 Linke • 5 Bode • 6 Nowotny • 7 Scholl • 8 Häßler • 9 Kirsten • 10 Matthäus • 11 Rink • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Hamann • 15 Wosz • 16 Jeremies • 17 Ziege • 18 Deisler • 19 Jancker • 20 Bierhoff • 21 Ramelow • 22 Butt • Coach: Ribbeck

Germany squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Kahn • 2 Hinkel • 3 Friedrich • 4 Huth • 5 Owomoyela • 6 Engelhardt • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Hanke • 10 Deisler • 11 Brdaric • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Asamoah • 15 Ernst • 16 Hitzlsperger • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Schneider • 20 Podolski • 21 Schulz • 22 Kurányi • 23 Hildebrand • Coach: Klinsmann