Michael Ballack - 289.40 Performance Pts
Born: 26/09/1976 Gorlitz, Germany
Position: Midfielder Height: 1.88m Weight: 85kg
2002 was a
key year for Ballack, although it was laced with disappointment. His club side,
Bayer Leverkusen, were runners-up in 3 competitions - the Bundesliga, the
German Cup and the Champions League. At the World Cup that year, winning goals
from Ballack helped Germany to victory in the quarter-final against the USA,
and the semi-final against South Korea, but a booking in the semi-final meant
he was suspended for the final as Germany ended up as runners-up. His club
career started at lower league Chemnitzer before joining Kaiserslautern, and he
was a Bundesliga champion in his first season (1998). The 2002 year of
disappointment with Leverkusen wasn't the only near miss with them. They
suffered defeat to SpVgg Unterhaching in 2000 on the final day of the season,
partly thanks to a Ballack own-goal, and Bayern Munich pipped them. Ballack
signed for Bayern in and won 3 Bundesliga titles in 4 seasons before embarking
on his 4-year spell in the Premier League with Chelsea. 2008 gave Ballack a
sense of deja vu as Chelsea were runners up in the Premier League, the League
Cup and the Champions League, then Germany, with Ballack as captain, were
runners up at Euro 2008. The Blues won the Double in 2010, his final year
there, before he returned to Bayer Leverkusen. They were runners up yet again,
in 2011, and Ballack retired the following year. He played for 4 top division
sides during his career, winning titles with 3 of them (Leverkusen being the
exception), and never finished outside the top 5. There were also lots of ups
and downs in his international career. He won 98 caps and played in 5 major
tournaments with Germany; he missed out on appearing at the 2010 World Cup
because of an injury sustained in Chelsea's FA Cup victory that year. As well
as the runners up medals from 2002 and 2008 he was part of the German side that
came 3rd at their home World Cup in 2006.
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