Daniel Van Buyten

Daniel Van Buyten (born February 7, 1978 in Chimay) is a Belgian international footballer who currently plays as a defender (football) and also as an emergency striker for FC Bayern Munich, following a June 2006 transfer from Hamburger SV.

His father Franz was a popular catcher/wrestler in Europe from 1960 to 1980. His mother Renate is German. In the 2003-04 season Van Buyten, then of Olympique de Marseille, had a short term loan spell in England with Manchester City F.C. but did not make a full time move to the Premiership. In June of 2006, Bayern Munich announced it had acquired Van Buyten from Fußball-Bundesliga rival Hamburger SV, and signed him to a contract lasting through the 2009-10 season.

Bayern Munich

Van Buyten has had a highly successful first season at the Bavarian club, forming a formidable Centre-Back partnership with Brazilian Lucio. Van Buyten scored his first goal for Bayern Munich against Energie Cottbus on 9 December2006. Bayern ran out 2-1 winners and it was Van Buyten's goal which secured the win. Van Buyten then scored his second goal for the club in the loss to Borussia Dortmund. However, Van Buyten's most valuable contribution came against AC Milan on 3 April2007, in the first-leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. Van Buyten scored two priceless away goals to level the match and giving Bayern Munich the advantage in the tie (see below). The two close range efforts doubled his tally to 4 goals for the season.

In Europe

In the first leg of the UEFA Champions League 2006-07 quarter-final encounter against AC Milan at the San Siro, he scored twice with his left foot, once in the 78th minute to take Bayern to 1-1. Then he scored a stoppage time half-volley. This takes his tally to 3 total UEFA Champions League goals. He scored one for Marseille in 2003 against Real Madrid C.F.

Victim of Bank Theft

Whilst he was with Manchester City, he, along with players Djamel Belmadi and Vicente Matías Vuoso, was the victim of a theft by two bankers. In total, bank workers at the Co-operative Bank stole more than £350,000 from the accounts of the three players.

In January 2006, the bank workers, Paul Sherwood, a cashier, and Paul Hanley, his supervisor, were jailed for 32 months and 12 months respectively.

Club Stats