Thomas Hitzlsperger

Thomas Hitzlsperger (born April 5, 1982 in Munich) is a Germany Association footballer who plays for VfB Stuttgart as a midfielder and is their current captain. He spent the early part of his career playing for Aston Villa F.C. in England, and has also represented the Germany national football team.

Club career

Aston Villa

Hitzlsperger, the son of a Bavarian farmer, grew up alongside his five brothers and one sister. In August 2000 he joined Aston Villa F.C. on a free transfer from Bayern Munich Junior Team, where he was a player in the youth team. He had a short trial period with Celtic F.C. after leaving Bayern Munich, but he opted to join Villa.

He made his Villa debut in a 3–0 home defeat to Liverpool F.C. on 13 January 2001; it was his only appearance during his first season in England. Whilst at Aston Villa, Hitzlsperger was briefly loaned out to Chesterfield F.C. during the 2001-02 in English football season, making his debut against Kidderminster Harriers F.C. in the LDV Vans Trophy. In all he made six appearances for the Spireites, five of which were in the league. Hitzlsperger moved into the Aston Villa first team following the arrival of new manager Graham Taylor. He would go on to play a significant part in the Aston Villa side that would finish 6th under David O'Leary, before falling out of favour the following season. He left Aston Villa as a fan favourite, and stated that he might return to the club when the opportunity comes. Hitzlsperger gained the nickname 'der Hammer' ('the hammer') during his time at Villa Park, due to his powerful left-foot shot from long-range. A fluent speaker of English, he acquired an unusual Birmingham/German hybrid accent during his spell at Villa.

Stuttgart

Hitzlsperger signed for VfB Stuttgart in the summer of 2005, having left Aston Villa F.C. on a Bosman free transfer. He became a regular for Stuttgart, particularly in his second season in which the team won the Bundesliga title. Hitzlsperger made a large contribution to their success, playing in 30 of the team's 34 league matches and scoring seven times. He scored a crucial equaliser in the 27th minute of Stuttgart's final match of the season against FC Energie Cottbus - had Stuttgart lost that match, FC Schalke 04 would have won the title. In the end, a 63rd minute goal by Sami Khedira secured the title for Stuttgart.

On 14 August 2007, he extended his contract until the summer of 2010.

On July 22, 2008 Hitzlsperger was appointed the new captain of VfB Stuttgart by manager Armin Veh following the departure of former club captain Fernando Meira.