Stefan Kießling

Stefan Kießling

Kießling with Bayer Leverkusen in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Stefan Kießling[1]
Date of birth	(1984-01-25) 25 January 1984
Place of birth	Lichtenfels, West Germany
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Bayer Leverkusen
Number	11
Youth career
	1. FC Eintracht Bamberg
	1. FC Nürnberg
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2006	1. FC Nürnberg	73	(15)
2006–	Bayer Leverkusen	236	(107)
National team
2003	Germany U20	1	(0)
2004	Germany Team 2006	1	(0)
2005–2006	Germany U21	15	(4)
2007–	Germany	6	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 06:19, 20 December 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Stefan Kießling (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtɛfan ˈkiːslɪŋ]) (born 25 January 1984) is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Bayer Leverkusen. He has also represented the German national team six times.

Career

1. FC Nürnberg

Kießling started his senior club career with Nürnberg having made his way through their youth ranks – though he was previously in 1. FC Eintracht Bamberg's youth academy. He debuted in 2003, eventually going on to make 73 league appearances for the club, during which he managed to score 15 goals.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

His playing attracted the attention of Bayer Leverkusen and he signed with the Bundesliga club in 2006.^[3] After arriving in Leverkusen, he netted approximately ten goals a season, but subsequently improved his goal scoring rate to become a top scorer in the Bundesliga, scoring 15 goals in the 2008–09 campaign, five goals behind regular strike partner Patrick Helmes.^[4] He continued his impressive form in the 2009–10 season, scoring 21 goals in 33 games and finishing the season as the second highest goal scorer in the Bundesliga.^[5] On 16 March 2010, Kießling signed a contract extension with Leverkusen, tying him to the BayArena side until 2015.^[6]

On 15 December 2012, Kießling scored a brace to keep Bayer close on the heels of Bayern Munich heading into the winter break; the goals also meant that at mid-season he was the top scorer in the Bundesliga.^[7] Kießling continued to show consistently good form during the second half of the season and was ultimately crowned the Bundesliga's highest scoring player for the 2012–13 season (having netted 25 goals in total, edging out Robert Lewandowski who finished with 24 goals).^[8]

On 26 July 2013, Kießling signed a contract extension with Leverkusen, committing himself to the club until 2017.^[9] On 18 October, he was involved in a situation against Hoffenheim, when he appeared to have missed the net on a header attempt off a corner. He turned away in frustration only to have his teammates come celebrate with him seconds later as the referee signaled the goal.^[10] Upon further review, the ball ended up in the back of the net after squeezing through a hole in the side netting, unnoticed by most at the time.^[11] The "ghost goal" secured a 2–1 victory for Leverkusen and was cause for much debate after the game with Hoffenheim officials calling for a replay.^[12] Kießling shurgged off the debate five days later by scoring two convincing goals in Leverkusen's 4–0 hammering of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.^[13][14]

International career

Kießling made his international debut for the Germany national team in a friendly against Denmark on 28 March 2007. Almost a year after earning his last cap, he was recalled to the team by Joachim Löw after showing good form in the 2009–10 season, and subsequently picked up his fourth cap on 13 May 2010, in a friendly vs. Malta, playing the full ninety minutes in a 3–0 win. He was one of the 23 players making up the Germany squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[15] He came on as a substitute in two games, the knockout game with England, replacing Mesut Özil in the 83rd minute^[16] and during the "consolation" match for third place against Uruguay, where he came on as a substitute for Cacau in the 73rd minute.^[17]

He has since stated that he will refuse call-ups to the squad while Joachim Löw remains in charge, due to a perceived lack of respect by the German coach.^[18] With Mario Gómez and Miroslav Klose both injured, Max Kruse was nominated instead of Kießling for the decisive 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Ireland, a move that essentially rules Kießling out as an option for the German squad for the time being, despite his continued good form in the current season.^[19][20]

Career statistics

As of 20 December 2013

International appearances

As of 29 September 2013

Honours

Club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

• DFB-Pokal Runner-up: 2008–09
• Bundesliga Runner-up: 2010–11

International

Germany

• FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place – Bronze medal

Individual

• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 2012–13

References

External links

• Stefan Kießling at transfermarkt.de (German)
• Stefan Kießling at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Stefan Kießling at kicker.de (German)
• Leverkusen who's who (German)

v t e Germany squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Neuer 2 Jansen 3 Friedrich 4 Aogo 5 Tasci 6 Khedira 7 Schweinsteiger 8 Özil 9 Kießling 10 Podolski 11 Klose 12 Wiese 13 Müller 14 Badstuber 15 Trochowski 16 Lahm (c) 17 Mertesacker 18 Kroos 19 Cacau 20 Boateng 21 Marin 22 Butt 23 Gómez Coach: Löw