Bastian Schweinsteiger

(born 1 August 1984 in Kolbermoor) is a Germany Association football who plays as a midfielder for FC Bayern Munich and Germany national football team.

Career

Club career

Schweinsteiger signed for Bayern Munich as a youth team player on 1 July 1998 and rose through the club's youth sides. A talented youth ski racer, Bastian Schweinsteiger had to decide between pursuing a professional career in skiing or football at the age of 14. Having won the German youth championship in July 2002, Schweinsteiger quickly earned a place in the reserves, producing a string of solid third division displays.

A left midfielder, who can also play on the right, Bastian Schweinsteiger has a hard shot, great dribbling skills and is a specialist at Set piece (football). Bastian Schweinsteiger can also play as a defensive midfielder or just behind the strikers. After just two training sessions with the first team, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld gave Schweinsteiger Bastian Schweinsteiger debut as a late substitute in a UEFA Champions League game against RC Lens in November 2002, and the youngster made an immediate impact, creating a goal for Markus Feulner within minutes. Bastian Schweinsteiger signed a professional contract the following month and went on to appear in 14 Bundesliga games in 2002–03, helping Bayern to a league and cup double. The next season Bastian Schweinsteiger played 26 Fußball-Bundesliga games.

Schweinsteiger scored Bastian Schweinsteiger first Bayern goal against VfL Wolfsburg in September 2003.

Surprisingly sent back to Bayern's amateurs by new coach Felix Magath at the beginning of the 2004–05 season despite Bastian Schweinsteiger international exploits of the summer in the Confederations Cup, Schweinsteiger swiftly returned to play a role in the double-winning campaign and scored in Bayern's Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat at Chelsea F.C..

Over the next three seasons, up until the end of 2007–08, Bastian made 135 appearances in all competitions for Bayern Munich (UEFA Champions League, German Bundesliga and German Cup), scoring 10 goals in the process.

On 15 August 2008, Schweinsteiger scored the first Fußball-Bundesliga goal of the Fußball-Bundesliga 2008–09. Bastian Schweinsteiger extended Bastian Schweinsteiger contract at Bayern until 2012 on 18 November 2008.

International career

Bastian Schweinsteiger made Bastian Schweinsteiger international debut in 2004 in a friendly against Hungary national football team. Bayern's number 31 earned rave reviews for Bastian Schweinsteiger UEFA Euro 2004 performances in Portugal, showing combative skills and even setting up the opening goal for once Bayern teammate Michael Ballack in Germany's 2-1 loss against the Czech Republic national football team.

Bastian Schweinsteiger scored Bastian Schweinsteiger first two international goals on 8 June 2005 against Russia national football team and scored Bastian Schweinsteiger first goal at a major tournament against Tunisia national football team on June 18, 2005 at the Confederations Cup 2005 in Germany. This was followed up by two strikes in the 2006 FIFA World Cup knockout stage Third place game at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, also in Bastian Schweinsteiger home country. Bastian Schweinsteiger nearly scored a hat-trick as Bastian Schweinsteiger caused Armando Petit's own goal to make the score 3-1.

During UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group D, Bastian Schweinsteiger scored two goals en route to a 13-0 win over San Marino national football team in San Marino. Bastian Schweinsteiger scored the third goal in Germany's 4-1 win over Slovakia national football team in Bratislava.

At the age of 22, Bastian Schweinsteiger had already played 41 matches for the German national team, a record for any German player at the time. This record was soon broken, however, by Lukas Podolski who was capped 44 times at the age of 22. At the same age, Lothar Matthäus (the German all-time record holder with 150 caps) had only played 13 times for the German national team. To this day Germany national football team have never lost a game when Bastian Schweinsteiger has scored.

In the UEFA Euro 2008 Bastian Schweinsteiger was sent off in Germany's second match of the tournament against Croatia national football team, which ended in a 2-1 defeat. As in Germany's quest to win European Cup, Bastian Schweinsteiger was again instrumental against Portugal national football team by scoring the first goal in Germany's Euro 2008 Quarter-final match against them. Bastian Schweinsteiger also assisted goals by Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack from free kicks. Germany ended up winning the match 3-2 to advance to the semi-finals. Bastian Schweinsteiger also scored Bastian Schweinsteiger country's first goal in the 3-2 semi-final victory against Turkey national football team. Bastian Schweinsteiger captained the German team in a friendly against the United Arab Emirates national football team.