Jermaine Jones

Jermaine Jones (born November 3, 1981 in Frankfurt am Main) is a Germany-United States association football who plays for FC Schalke 04. His father is an African-American soldier stationed in Germany. In the 2005–06 season, he suffered a serious leg injury that required surgery, and was injured for 8 months, only returning in the first half of the last game of the season.

Jones grew up in Frankfurt-Bonames (Frankfurt am Main). He broke through the Eintracht Frankfurt squad, became a German Under-21 international and a fans' favourite, somewhat due to his flashy outward appearance. A short stint at Bayer Leverkusen proved unsuccessful, and after returning to Frankfurt, he shed his "teen idol" image, established himself as a quality player and recently became captain of the squad.

Jones is a good friend of female soccer player and multiple national champion Steffi Jones. They both started in the same club, SV Bonames (albeit not at the same time).

Controversies

Jones caught flak in 2004 for an interview for popular sports magazine "Sport-BILD". When asked whether there were gay footballers in the Bundesliga, he said "hopefully not".

In March 2007 Jones announced on the official Eintracht bulletin board that he would not extend his contract expiring at the end of the 2006-07 season. This enraged many Eintracht supporters, as Jones cancelled a contract negotiation with chairman Heribert Bruchhagen a few days before because his advisor was on a sudden journey to Brazil. In October 2006, he already had defended himself for turning down a contract offer, underlining he wanted to stay after all the management of the Eagles had done for him during his injuries.