|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
German Michael Ballack began his football career at the young age of just seven,
with BSG Motor. He trained with this team and eventually entered their youth team in 1983.
Having impressed in the first season, he went on to score a massive 57 goals in 16
games in his third season. Ballack then moved on to a bigger club, Karl-Marx Stadt,
which later became Chemitz FC. During this period, he was nurtured by coaches Juergen
Haeuberer and Eberhard Schuster. He had a superb run with the under-19 championship
of the federal state.
Ballack signed his first professional contract in 1995, which earned him
the nickname ‘Little Kaiser’. However, he hit a bad patch and made only
15 appearances in his first season as a professional and Chemnitz was
relegated to the regional third division.
In 1996, Ballack made his debut for the German under-21 team. It was then
a successful season for Ballack and he became a regular in the Chemnitz team.
He eventually attracted the attention of Kaiserslautern, who signed him on in 1997.
Ballack made 16 appearances for the side in his first season for the club.
Ballack also made history by helping the team become the first ever newly
promoted team to win the Bundesliga.
The 1998-99 season saw Ballack becoming a regular with the club, steering
it to the Champion’s League quarter finals. Two months after making his full
international debut, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen. He went on to become
the core of this team, protecting the back four, and marshalling the midfield.
The season though ended on a sour note with the team, needing just a draw
in their final game to secure a title, seeing a self goal from Ballack thus
losing the title. In 2001-02, Leverkusen finished second again and lost out
in the finals of both the Champions' League and German Cup. In 2002,
Ballack was named German Footballer of the Year. But soon after, his
team lost against Brazil in the 2002 World Cup final.
In the same year, Ballack signed up with Bayern Munich in a deal worth 12.9 million Euros.
He helped the team win the Bundesliga and scored twice in a German Cup final,
winning it 3-1. In his four years with Bayern, he won three league and cup doubles,
scoring 44 goals in 107 matches. During this period, he was named German Footballer
of the Year two more times.
In 2006, Ballack signed up for Chelsea on a free transfer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
