Thomas Kraft
 Kraft at practice with Hertha in 2011. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas Kraft | |||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 22 July 1988 | |||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kirchen, West Germany | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |||||||||||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Hertha BSC | |||||||||||||||||
| Number | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2000 | Sportfreunde Daaden | |||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2002 | VfB Wissen | |||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | SG Betzdorf | |||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Bayern Munich | |||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||||
| 2006–2011 | Bayern Munich II | 103 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| 2008–2011 | Bayern Munich | 12 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| 2011– | Hertha BSC | 117 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Germany U16 | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Germany U17 | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
Honours
| ||||||||||||||||||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 March 2015. † Appearances (Goals). | ||||||||||||||||||
Thomas Kraft (born 22 July 1988) is a German footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Hertha BSC.
Career
Bayern Munich
Kraft made his debut for Bayern's reserve team in 2006, and played in their first game in the newly formed 3. Liga on 17 July 2008.[1] From 2008 to 2010 he was third-choice goalkeeper for the senior team, behind Hans-Jörg Butt and Michael Rensing. Following Rensing's release in 2010, he was promoted to second choice, and he made his first-team debut at the beginning of that season, in the 2010 DFL-Supercup.
On 23 November 2010 he made his debut Champions League match in Rome against AS Roma. Bayern lost 3–2 after going into half-time with a 0–2 lead. The young goalkeeper had a good start and made some outstanding saves. During the 2010–11 winter break, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal announced that Kraft would replace Hans-Jörg Butt as Bayern's first-choice 'keeper for the second half of the season.[2] Kraft made his debut as Bayern's first-choice keeper in a 1–1 Bundesliga draw to VfL Wolfsburg. Kraft produced top performance with several impressive saves to help FC Bayern to a 1–0 win on 23 February 2011 in a round of 16 Champions League clash against Inter Milan.[3] However, the decision to replace Butt with Kraft earned the displeasure of the Bayern board, and contributed to Van Gaal losing his job: after an error by Kraft allowed Christian Eigler to score the equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Nuremberg. Van Gaal – who was already due to leave – was sacked early, and temporarily replaced by his assistant Andries Jonker.[4] Jonker reinstated Butt at Kraft's expense in his first game in charge,[5] and shortly afterwards it was announced that Kraft would leave the club at the end of the 2010–11 season.[6] The following week, 2. Bundesliga champions Hertha BSC announced that they had signed a four-year deal with Kraft on a free transfer.[7]
Hertha BSC
On 1 July 2011, Kraft joined Hertha BSC, which was promoted to the Bundesliga along with FC Augsburg. On 16 October 2011, Kraft returned for the first time with Hertha back to his old club Bayern Munich which turned out to be a quite bitter reunion for Kraft; the Berlin club lost 0–4. Prior to the game, Kraft and two other members of Hertha (Christian Lell and Andreas Ottl) were honored with a bouquet of flowers by the Bayern staff and the fans were chanting pro Kraft throughout the game.
Honours
Club
- Bayern Munich[8]
- Bundesliga: 2009–10
- DFB-Pokal: 2010
- DFL-Supercup: 2010
- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2010
- Hertha BSC[8]
References
- ↑ "Bayern siegen verdient" (in German). licker. 27 July 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
- ↑ Raphael Honigstein (12 January 2011). "Van Gaal risks Bayern's future with promotion of Kraft as No. 1 keeper". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
- ↑ "Thomas Kraft could leave Bayern Munich". BBC Sport. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ↑ Raphael Honigstein (11 April 2011). "Hannover emerge from the shadows for tilt at European dream". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ↑ "Bayern München – Bayer Leverkusen 5:1, 1. Bundesliga, Saison 2010/11, 30.Spieltag – Spielanalyse". kicker (in German). 17 April 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ↑ "Jörg Butt verlängert bis 2012". FC Bayern Munich (in German). 3 May 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
- ↑ "Hertha BSC holt Thomas Kraft" [Hertha BSC sign Thomas Kraft]. official website (in German). Hertha BSC. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "T. Kraft". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
External links
- Thomas Kraft at fussballdaten.de (German)
- Thomas Kraft on the official Hertha BSC Website (German)
| ||||||