Philipp Lahm

Philipp Lahm
Personal information
Full name	Philipp Lahm
Date of birth	November 11 1983 (1983-11-11) (age 24)
Place of birth	Munich, Germany
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position	Left-back / Right-back
Club information
Current club	Bayern Munich
Number	21
Youth clubs
?–1995 1995–2003	FT Gern München Bayern Munich Junior Team
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2003 2003–2005 2005–2006 2005–	FC Bayern Munich II → VfB Stuttgart (loan) FC Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich	61 (3) 53 (2) 02 (0) 64 (1)
National team2
2004–	Germany	37 (2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 December 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 25 November 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Philipp Lahm (born November 11, 1983 in Munich, Bavaria) is a German footballer who currently plays as a defender for Bayern Munich and Germany at Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He scored the opening goal of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is considered one of the best young fullbacks in the world, as is shown by his inclusion in the Mastercard All Star Team. He is well known for his pace and dribbling.

Career

Philipp Lahm developed into a professional football player within the Bayern Munich Junior Team. As Bixente Lizarazu was the main left back for Bayern Munich, Philipp Lahm was loaned to Stuttgart for the 2003/04 and 2004/05 seasons. In July 2005, Philipp Lahm returned to Bayern Munich. However, just before his return to FC Bayern, he suffered a torn cruciate ligament and would have to go on rehabilitation. He made his return to Bayern in December 2005. Although Lahm is right-footed, and while he played as a right wing-back as a youth, today he is almost exclusively played as a left wing-back. The reason for this is partly because good left-footed wing-backs are rare in German football, and his signature move (running with the ball from the left flank and then dribbling towards the centre over his strong right foot) is so effective that putting Lahm onto the "correct" side would rob him of his best offensive weapon. He scored the opening goal of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany against Costa Rica in the 6th minute, cutting inside the area and launching a right foot shot into the top-right corner of the net. He was also the only German player to play all 690 minutes of the 2006 World Cup. Lahm was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year 2006 following his outstanding performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was in contention alongside fellow Germans; Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose and Jens Lehmann, but the award was won on 18 December 2006 by the Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro. However, he was chosen as the left back for the UEFA Team of the Year 2006. In June 2007, FIFA announced that Lahm and Owen Hargreaves would visit South Africa in advance support for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[1] In January 2008 it was rumoured in the national press that English Champions Manchester United were interesting in signing the 24 year old as cover for their own left sided full-back Patrice Evra. Also Barcelona are said to be interested in Lahm for the summer.

Honors

Club Titles

• Bundesliga: 2003, 2006
• German Cup: 2003, 2006
• German Super Cup: 2007

National Team

• Confederations Cup Bronze medallist: 2005
• World Cup Bronze medallist: 2006

Career stats

All-Time Club Performance

External links

• Official Site (German)
• Career stats at fussballdaten.de (German)

•  • 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