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{{Cleanup|date=June 2008}}
{{POV|date=June 2008}}
{{Football player infobox| playername= Michael Ballack
| image = | image = <!-- DO NOT replace this image with a fair use image, see Misplaced Pages:Fair use-->]
| fullname = Michael Ballack
| nicknames =
| height = {{height|m=1.89}}
| dateofbirth = {{birth date and age|1976|9|26}}
| cityofbirth = ]
| countryofbirth = ]
| currentclub = ]
| clubnumber = 13
| position = ]
| youthyears = 1983–1995
| youthclubs = ]
| years = 1995–1997<br>1997–1999<br>1999–2002<br>2002–2006<br>2006–
| clubs = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]
| caps(goals) = {{0}}15 {{0}}(0) <br>{{0}}46 {{0}}(4)<br>{{0}}79 (27)<br>107 (44)<br>{{0}}44 (11)<!-- LEAGUE APP's AND GOAL's ONLY -->
| nationalyears = 1996–1998<br>1999–
| nationalteam = ]<br>]
| nationalcaps(goals) = {{0}}19 {{0}}(7)<br>{{0}}87 (38)
| pcupdate = ] ]
| ntupdate = ] ]
}}
'''Michael Ballack''' (born ], ] in ], ]) is a ] ]. A ], he is the current captain of the ], and plays club football for ] in the ].
==Career==
===Chemnitz===
His parents sent him to train with the side when he was seven years old. He later moved on to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (renamed ] in 1990). His father had played second-division football himself in Germany. Unusual for his early age was Ballack's ability to use both feet with equal authority.


''''''
In ], Ballack earned his first professional contract, thanks to his impressive performances in the role of central midfielder. He was dubbed the ''"Little Kaiser,"'' in reference to ], who was nicknamed ''"The Kaiser."'' His professional debut came on ], ], on the first day of the new ] season. Chemnitz lost the game 2-1, against ].

At the end of the season, during which Ballack made fifteen appearances, Chemnitz were relegated to the multi-tiered, regional ]. For Ballack himself, however, that season held one great success: on ], ], he made his debut for ].

The following season, Ballack became a regular first-team player as Chemnitz missed out on an immediate return to the Bundesliga. He did not miss a game and scored ten goals for the "Sky Blues". It was not enough for Chemnitz to go up, but Ballack managed to win his own, personal promotion: in the summer of 1997, decorated German coach ] of just-promoted ], signed Ballack at their return to top flight football.

===Kaiserslautern===
It was during the seventh game of the ] season, away to ], that Rehhagel decided to throw Ballack into the Bundesliga for the first time, if only for the final five minutes of the encounter. On ], ], Ballack made his first-team debut against ].

Ballack made sixteen appearances for his new team during the season as the club became the first-ever newly promoted team to lift the league title. In the following season, Ballack became both a regular (he made 30 appearances, scoring four goals) and one of the side's leading players. Kaiserslautern reached the quarter finals of the Champions League, but were knocked out by Bayern Munich.

On ], ], Ballack moved to Bayer Leverkusen at the age of 22, for a transfer fee of ]4.1 million.

===Bayer Leverkusen===
It was at Bayer Leverkusen that Ballack made his big breakthrough. Coaches ] and ] granted him an attacking role in the midfield. Ballack was instrumental to the success of Leverkusen, scoring 27 goals in the league and 9 in Europe over the course of his three seasons at the ].

] was a season of disappointment for ]. In the German ] the team surrendered a five point lead at the top of the table over the last three games of the season to finish second behind ], lost the Champions League final 2-1 to ], and lost the ] final 4-2 to ]. These three runners up finishes were dubbed ].

Ballack and Leverkusen teammates ], ], and ] were even beaten finalists with Germany in the ], although Ballack was suspended for the Final itself. Ballack finished with 17 league goals, and his remarkable season led to him being voted into the uefa.com users' Team of 2002 as well being named ].

===Bayern Munich===
]
In spite of Spanish giants ]'s interest, Ballack decided to sign with ] in a ]12.9 million deal in 2002 after his impressive performances in the World Cup. Bayern won the Bundesliga in his first season with 75 points, they also won the ]. In his second season however, Bayern lost their Bundesliga crown to ] along with the cup.

In his third season with the Bavarian giants, Ballack enjoyed success in the ] season as Bayern Munich completed another double. New coach ] stated he was the only automatic starter in their midfield.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=IQHQLL3FDUNN5QFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/sport/2006/03/07/sfnbal07.xml | title = Balanced Ballack is the finished article | accessdate = 2008-03-14 | date = ] | publisher = telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> In four seasons at Bayern, Ballack won three Bundesliga and German Cup doubles and scored 47 goals in 135 matches. Between 1998 and 2005, Ballack notched up 61 goals in his domestic league.

However, Ballack's critics noted his frequent ] in important ] matches. This resulted in open public criticism from club general manager ], communications director ] and club president ] (all former Bayern players). Beckenbauer later went as far as to accuse Ballack of "saving his strength" for prospective employers after Ballack turned in an average performance in the ] final against ].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sportinglife.com/football/premiership/chelsea/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/06/04/29/SOCCER_Ballack.html&TEAMHD=chelsea | title = Rummenigge: Ballack Deal Done | accessdate = 2008-03-14 | publisher = sportinglife.com}}</ref>

===Chelsea===
Ballack agreed to join ] on a ] on ], ].<ref>{{cite news|date=] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/4769763.stm |title=Chelsea announce Ballack capture |publisher=] |accessdate=2006-05-15}}</ref> During his last season as a Bayern player there were rumours of interest from ], ] and ],<ref>{{cite news | date=] | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4442022.stm | title=Ballack to keep suitors waiting | publisher=] | accessdate=2006-05-15}}</ref> but Ballack instead chose to go to ]. Shortly after arriving at Chelsea, Ballack stated that he hoped to end his career at ].

Ballack's debut for Chelsea came on Monday ], ], during a practice match at UCLA's intramural football pitch. Chelsea presented him to the media the following day where the club also gave him his favoured number 13 shirt, worn throughout his career. On ], ], Ballack earned his ] debut for Chelsea against ], and his UEFA Champions League debut for Chelsea against ].

Ballack scored his first goal for Chelsea on ], ] in the Champions League group stage match against ]. He received his first straight red card of his career in Chelsea's 1-0 win over ] on ], ], after being judged to have stamped on ]'s leg. Ballack scored his first goal in the English League on ], ] against ] at home with a header. His first ] goal came in the 109th minute in a match against Blackburn Rovers on ], ]. This goal resulted in Chelsea progressing into the ] final. He scored eight goals in all competitions for the club in the 2006&ndash;07 season, including a fantastic free-kick against Everton at Goodison Park, as well as a superb half-volley against ] which sent Chelsea through to the quarterfinals of the ].

On ], ], Chelsea released a statement on their official website, informing fans that Ballack had undergone ankle surgery in ]. As a result of the surgery, Ballack did not play in the ] against Manchester United, which Chelsea won 1–0 through ]'s extra time goal. This was Ballack's second trophy this season, his first being the Carling Cup.

Chelsea left Ballack out of their Champions League squad for the 2007-08 group stage as they realised that his injury would prevent him from playing any useful part and preferred to select the fully-fit ]. The German international had an ankle operation in the summer and Chelsea could not take the risk of him not regaining full fitness before the end of the Group Stage. Thus, Ballack could not play in the Champions League before the knockout stages began in February.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/6977063.stm | title = Blues omit Ballack from Euro list | accessdate = 2008-03-14 | date = ] | publisher = BBC Sport}}</ref> The club was only able to select 23 out of a possible 25 players for their Champions League squad due to the new UEFA regulations on 'association-trained players' and 'club-trained players'. Due to this regulation Chelsea were also unable to select young player ] and could only pick 23 players as their only 'club-trained player' was ]. For this reason it was deemed unwise to gamble on Ballack being fit at some point.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.chelseafc.com/xxchelsea180706/index.html#/page/ArchiveNews/list_2210603_170 | title = The Official Chelsea FC Website | accessdate = 2008-03-14}}</ref>

He was absent for eight months with an ankle injury, during which he feared that his football career might be in danger of ending as he was getting older. He made his return to the side in Chelsea's 2–0 Carling Cup win over Liverpool on ].
Ballack tallied an assist late in the game to striker ]. On ], Ballack made his league return in a thrilling game against Aston Villa which ended 4–4. He came on for ] in the 26th minute after the latter had picked up a thigh injury. In first-half stoppage time, he won a penalty after being brought down in the box by Zat Knight which Andriy Shevchenko converted. In the 88th minute, with the scores tied at 3–3, Ballack stepped up to take a free-kick which he buried into the bottom left corner of the goal, capping off an excellent league return, but the match ended in a 4–4 draw.

Ballack captained the Chelsea team in the absence of captain ], vice captain ] in a 2–1 win over Newcastle on ], ]. Ballack then played his 50th game in a Chelsea shirt in a 2–1 win against ] in which he scored the winning goal for Chelsea. He also scored the only goal that won the match for ] against Reading to extend the blues' winning streak to a record of 9. Ballack has since become an influential player at ] and is credited with the new dawn of ]. Despite initial doubts over the partnership with Frank Lampard in midfield, the pair seemed to have shrugged off the initial problems and they are working well together. Michael Ballack is now part of the new look Chelsea.
On ] Ballack scored against West Ham in Chelsea's 4–0 win. And, on March 5, he scored again, this time against ] in the ] Round of 16 in a 3-0 win.

With Chelsea's progress to the 2007–2008 Champions League Quarter-Finals, Michael Ballack is the only player to have reached the Champions League Quarter-Finals with four different clubs.
He scored the winning goal in the 2-0 win in the 2nd leg of the Quarter-Finals against ], a victory that secured Chelsea a place in the Semi-Finals.

Ballack continued to score vital goals and on ], ], he scored a header and a penalty to give Chelsea a 2-1 win over ]. He was named Man of The Match for his performance. It brought the two teams level in the race for the ] title only two matchdays before the end of the ].

The season ended on a low note for Ballack as ] finished runners up in the Carling Cup, ] and ]. This completed a ] for Chelsea and Ballack. On ] ] Germany, captatined by Ballack, lost to Spain 1-0 in the final of Euro 2008. This became the second season in Ballack's career that he was runner up for four major trophies.

==International career==

]
On ] ], Ballack debuted for the national U21 team's encounter with Denmark, shortly after signing for Chemnitz. In all, he played 19 matches for this side, scoring four goals. Then, following his move to Kaiserslautern, national coach ] called him up to the senior team.

Ballack's first appearance, however, did not come until ] ], when he came on as a substitute for ] in a match against ].

Ballack only played 63 minutes at ]. In the ] he scored in matches against ] and ] during the knock-out rounds as Germany reached the final, from which he was suspended.

Following ], Jürgen Klinsmann replaced Rudi Völler at the helm of the national team and made Ballack the side's captain. Ballack is one of three national team captains in the current Chelsea team, along with ] (Ivory Coast captain) and ] (Ukraine captain).
In the ] he was unable to start in Germany's first game against ] due to a calf strain, but appeared in the following five matches. Germany were eliminated in the semi-finals, but they managed to clinch 3rd place. He was named Man of the Match in the games against Ecuador and Argentina,<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/player/177667_BALLACK_Michael.html
|title=Player Profile Page - BALLACK Michael
|publisher=fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
|accessdate=2006-07-09
}}</ref> and was included in FIFA's ].

On ] ], Ballack played his first match since returning from injury in a 3-0 friendly win over ].

Ballack started and captained ]'s first game of the ] tournament against ]. He scored a powerful free kick against Austria to secure Germany a 1-0 win and a place in the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals he scored against Portugal to make the score 3-1 in their 3-2 win after feed by ] free kick in 60th minute. He muscled his way past his ] teammate ] for his goal and helped Germany to the semi-finals of the 2008 European Champioships. He captained ] in the ] of ], losing 1-0 to ]. He was named to ]'s Team of the Tournament.

==Statistics==
===Club===
{{Football player statistics 1|NY}}
{{Football player statistics 2|GER|NY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="2"|]||]||15||0||||||colspan="2"|-||15||0
|-
|]||]||34||10||||||colspan="2"|-||34||10
|-
|]||rowspan="2"|]||rowspan="2"|]||16||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||18||0
|-
|]||30||4||2||0||5||0||37||4
|-
|]||rowspan="3"|]||rowspan="3"|]||23||3||0||0||2||2||25||5
|-
|]||27||7||2||0||5||1||34||8
|-
|]||29||17||4||1||15||7||48||25
|-
|]||rowspan="4"|]||rowspan="4"|]||26||10||5||4||7||1||38||15
|-
|]||28||7||3||2||8||0||39||9
|-
|]||27||13||4||3||9||2||40||18
|-
|]||26||14||5||1||6||1||37||16
{{Football player statistics 2|ENG|NY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="2"|]||rowspan="2"|]||26||4||9||1||10||2||45||7
|-
|]||18||7||0||0||4||2||21||9
{{Football player statistics 3|2|GER}}281||85||27||11||57||14||365||110
{{Football player statistics 4|ENG}}44||11||9||1||14||4||66||16
{{Football player statistics 5}}325||96||36||12||69||18||429||126
|}

===National team===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align: center;"
|+ '''<big>All-time national team performance</big>'''
|- style="background:beige"
!rowspan="2"|National team
!rowspan="2"|Year
!colspan="2"|Friendlies
!colspan="2"|International<BR>competition
!colspan="2"|Total
|- style="background:beige"
!App
!Goals
!App
!Goals
!App&nbsp;
!Goals
|-
|rowspan="10" align=center valign=center|''']'''
|align="center"|2008
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|4
!8
!6
|-
|align="center"|2007
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|0
!2
!0
|-
|align="center"|2006
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|2
!14
!6
|-
|align="center"|2005
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|4
!11
!7
|-
|align="center"|2004
|align="center"|10
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|1
!13
!8
|-
|align="center"|2003
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|2
!5
!2
|-
|align="center"|2002
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|8
|align="center"|5
!11
!6
|-
|align="center"|2001
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|6
!9
!6
|-
|align="center"|2000
|align="center"|5
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|0
!9
!0
|-
|align="center"|1999
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|0
!3
!0
|- style="background:lemonchiffon"
! Total !! !! 41 !! 17 !! 44 !! 24 !! 85 !! 41
|-
|}

== Honours ==

'''Personal'''
*] : 2002,2003,2005
*] : 2002
* Selected in ]
*Soccer Digest World Player of the Year : 2002

'''Club teams'''

First place
*] : ] 1998, ] 2003,2005,2006
*] : ] 2003,2005,2006
*] : ] 2007
*] : ] 2007

Runner Up
*] : ] 1999,2000,2002, ] 2004
*] : ] 2002
*] : ] 2002, ] 2008
*] : ] 2008
*] : ] 2007,2008

'''German National team'''
*] : Runner Up 2002
*] : Runner Up 2008
*] : Bronze medallist 2006
*] Bronze medallist: ]

{{start box}}
{{succession box|title=]|before=] |after=]|years=2001&ndash;02}}
{{succession box|title=]|before=]|after=]|years=], ]}}
{{succession box|title=]|before=]|after=]|years=]}}
{{succession box|before=]|title=] captain|years=2004–Present|after=Incumbent}}
{{end box}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons2}}
*
*
*
*{{soccerbase|id=19935|name=Michael Ballack}}
* {{de icon}}
* {{de icon}}

{{Germany Squad Euro 2000}}
{{Germany Squad 2002 World Cup}}
{{Germany Squad Euro 2004}}
{{Germany Squad 2006 World Cup}}
{{Germany Squad 2008 Euro Cup}}
{{Chelsea F.C. Squad}}

<!-- Metadata: see ] -->

{{BD|1976| |Ballack, Michael}}

{{Persondata
|NAME= Ballack, Michael
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Ballack, Michael
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= footballer
|DATE OF BIRTH= 1976-9-26
|PLACE OF BIRTH= ], ]
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}
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Revision as of 16:26, 3 July 2008

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Michael Ballack: Difference between revisions Add topic