Roberto Jan Hilbert (born 16 October 1984) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. At international level, he earned eight caps with the Germany national team and twelve caps with the U21 team.

Club career

Born in

Forchheim Forchheim () is a Town#Germany, town in Upper Franconia () in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative Forchheim (district), district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Fr ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, Hilbert played for local club

SpVgg Jahn Forchheim The SpVgg Jahn Forchheim is a German association football club from the town of Forchheim, Bavaria. Forchheim is located in Upper Franconia but the club competes in the football leagues of neighbouring Middle Franconia. Apart from football, the c ...

In his youth before playing for the youth teams of 1. FC Nürnberg and

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following r ...

. In 2002, he was transferred to 1. SC Feucht in the fourth-tier

Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Ob ...

, where he was one of the key players and started his professional career. After his club was promoted to the third-tier

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

the following season, he scored ten goals in 26 games. On the basis of this performances at Feucht, Greuther Fürth re-signed him where he played in the 2. Bundesliga. In the 2005–06 season, he played in 34 games, scoring three times. In the summer of 2006, Hilbert joined top Bundesliga side

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. In his first season at Stuttgart, he became a regular in the first team which won the club's first championship in 15 years in May 2007. He usually played in right midfield, but is some times used as a right-back. After the injury of key striker

Mario Gómez Mario Gómez García (; born 10 July 1985) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He represented the Germany national football team, Germany national team ...

in the final phase of the 2007 championship, Hilbert played a more offensive part for several weeks and scored a number of decisive goals. He finished as Stuttgart's third best goalscorer, scoring seven times, like his teammate

Thomas Hitzlsperger Thomas Hitzlsperger (born 5 April 1982) is a German football executive and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently board member at Serie A club Hellas Verona. In February 2019, he was appointed Head of Sport at VfB ...

. On 22 June 2010, Hilbert signed a three-year contract with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

. He scored his first goal for Beşiktaş against

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

in the first leg of

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match on 17 August 2010. On 12 July 2013,

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

announced on their homepage that they signed Hilbert on a free transfer. Hilbert was given a two-year contract. At the end of the 2016–17 season, he left the club after four years. In October 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Hilbert joined former club Greuther Fürth for a second stint there, signing a two-year contract. On 6 January 2019, it was announced that Hilbert finished his active professional career and from now on would play for the reserve team of Greuther Fürth. He was also going to do an apprenticeship as an athletic trainer.

International career

Hilbert has also made twelve appearances in the Germany U21 team, scoring three times. He made his international debut for the Germany national team in a friendly against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 28 March 2007.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

: 2006–07 Beşiktaş *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hilbert, Roberto 1984 births Living people People from Forchheim Footballers from Upper Franconia Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers SpVgg Greuther Fürth players VfB Stuttgart players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century German sportsmen