Bastian Schweinsteiger

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Bastian Schweinsteiger
Personal information
Date of birth	August 1, 1984 (1984-08-01) (age 23)
Place of birth	Kolbermoor, West Germany
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	FC Bayern Munich
Number	31
Youth clubs
Until 1992 1992–1998 1998–2002	FV Oberaudorf TSV 1860 Rosenheim Bayern Munich
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2004 2002–	Bayern Munich II Bayern Munich	034 0(2) 153 (15)
National team2
2004 2004–	Germany U-21 Germany	007 0(2) 052 (13)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 17, 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of June 8, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Bastian Schweinsteiger (help·info) (born August 1, 1984 in Kolbermoor, Bavaria, Germany) is a professional footballer from Germany who currently plays in midfield for Bayern Munich. Bastian's older brother, Tobias, currently plays for the German third division club SpVgg Unterhaching.

[edit] Career

Schweinsteiger signed for Bayern Munich as a youth team player on July 1, 1998 and rose through the club's youth sides. A talented youth ski racer, he had to decide between pursuing a professional career in skiing and football at the age of 14. Having won the German youth championship in July 2002, Schweinsteiger quickly earned a place in the reserves, producing a string of solid third division displays.

A left midfielder, he has a hard shot, great dribbling skills and is a specialist at set pieces. He can also play as a defensive midfielder or just behind the strikers. After just two training sessions with the first team, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld gave Schweinsteiger his debut as a late substitute in a UEFA Champions League game against RC Lens in November 2002, and the youngster made an immediate impact, creating a goal for Markus Feulner within minutes. He signed a professional contract the following month and went on to appear in 14 Bundesliga games in 2002-03, helping Bayern to a league and cup double. The next season he played 26 Bundesliga games.

Schweinsteiger scored his first Bayern goal against VfL Wolfsburg in September 2003.

Surprisingly sent back to Bayern's amateurs by new coach Felix Magath at the beginning of the 2004-05 season despite his international exploits of the summer in the Confederations Cup, Schweinsteiger swiftly returned to play a role in the double-winning campaign and scored in Bayern's Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat at Chelsea.

He made his international debut in 2004 in a friendly against Hungary. Bayern's number 31 earned rave reviews for his Euro 2004 performances in Portugal, showing combative skills and even setting up the opening goal for once Bayern teammate Michael Ballack in Germany's 2-1 loss against the Czech Republic.

He scored his first two international goals on June 8, 2005 against Russia and scored his first goal at a major tournament against Tunisia on June 18, 2005 at the Confederations Cup in Germany. This was followed up by two strikes in the third place play-off game at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, also in his home country. He almost performed a hat-trick with his two goals and a Portuguese own goal, also off his shot, by Petit, which led the Germans to a third place win over Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

During Euro Cup 2008 qualifiers, he scored two goals enroute to a 13-0 win over San Marino in San Marino. He scored the third goal in Germany's 4-1 win over Slovakia in Bratislava.

At the age of 22, he had already played 41 matches for the German national team, a record for any German player at the time. This record was soon to be broken, however, by Schweinsteiger's close friend Lukas Podolski who was capped 44 times at the age of 22. At the same age, Lothar Matthäus (German all-time record holder with 150 caps) had only played 13 times for the German national team.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

Club Titles

• Bundesliga: Champion: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008
• German Cup: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008
• DFB Liga-Pokal: 2004, 2007
• German U-17 championship: 2001
• German U-19 championship: 2002

National Team

• World Cup: Third 2006
• Confederations Cup: 3rd place 2005

Personal Honours

• Man of the match: for his performance in the 3rd place of Germany against Portugal, 2006

[edit] External links

• www.bastian-schweinsteiger.de Official Website
• Profile at FCBayern.de
• Career stats at fussballdaten.de

v • d • e Germany squad - UEFA Euro 2008 1 Lehmann • 2 Jansen • 3 Friedrich • 4 Fritz • 5 Westermann • 6 Rolfes • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Gómez • 10 Neuville • 11 Klose • 12 Enke • 13 Ballack • 14 Trochowski • 15 Hitzlsperger • 16 Lahm • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Odonkor • 20 Podolski • 21 Metzelder • 22 Kurányi • 23 Adler • Coach: Löw

v • d • e 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

v • d • e Germany squad - UEFA Euro 2004 1 Kahn • 2 Hinkel • 3 Friedrich • 4 Wörns • 5 Nowotny • 6 Baumann • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Hamann • 9 Bobic • 10 Kuranyi • 11 Klose • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Brdaric • 15 Kehl • 16 Jeremies • 17 Ziege • 18 Ernst • 19 Schneider • 20 Podolski • 21 Lahm • 22 Frings • 23 Hildebrand • Coach: Völler