Benjamin Lauth (born 4 August 1981) 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 ...

who played as a striker. He is most commonly known for his two spells at

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

. At international level, he represented Germany at under-18 and under-21 youth levels. Playing for the senior

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

, he earned five caps scoring three goals.

Club career

1860 Munich

Born in

Hausham Hausham is a municipality in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany. Geography geographical classification Hausham is located approximately 45 km south of Munich, between Miesbach and Schliersee. It is surrounded to the south by mou ...

, Bavaria, Lauth began his career with

in 1992, where he had played in his youth years. He gradually established himself as their leading striker. In 2002, he scored the German ''Goal of the Year'' with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

Hamburger SV

In 2004, 1860 Munich was relegated, and he moved to

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thr ...

. However, his progress was hampered by a string of nagging injuries, limiting him to only ten appearances in the 2004–05 season. However, he regained his form and earned himself a starting place in the HSV attack for much of the 2005–06 season.

VfB Stuttgart (loan)

On 25 January 2007, Lauth was loaned to

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

, playing his first Bundesliga game against

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

on 30 January. That season Stuttgart went on to win the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

, earning Lauth a medal.

Hannover 96

On 3 July 2007, he moved to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betw ...

. At Hannover he played the last 21 of his 140 German top-flight matches.

Return to 1860 Munich

In July 2008, he returned to 1860 Munich. In December 2012, the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...

suspended Lauth for four matches after ruling he had elbowed

Marcel Reichwein Marcel Reichwein (born 21 February 1986) is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward. Career Reichwein began his career with Bayer Leverkusen, and made his debut (and scored) for the reserve team as a substitute for Gio ...

VfR Aalen Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a German football club based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, table tennis, and chee ...

in a 1–1 draw on 30 November. In April 2014, 1860 Munich decided not to renew his contract. His final goal came against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundesli ...

on 4 May 2014. In September 2015, Lauth announced his retirement.

International career

Lauth scored one goal in one appearance for the Germany under-18 youth team. For the Germany under-21s, he scored four goals in eight matches. He made his senior international debut for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

on 16 December 2002, in a charity match between the national team and a selection of foreign players of the

. He scored twice in the 4–2 win. In total, he earned five caps but did not score for "the Mannschaft".

Personal life

Lauth is subject of the song ''Lauth anhören'' (a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

of ''laut anhören'', listen loudly) by

Sportfreunde Stiller Sportfreunde Stiller () is a German indie rock band from Germering near Munich, Bavaria. History The band was founded by Peter Brugger (guitar, vocals), Florian "Flo" Weber (drums), and Andi Erhard (bass). They initially wanted to name themsel ...

, who are avid

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

n football fans. Lauth was talented for tennis and skiing, at a young age he was offered the opportunity to go the young German academy for skiing.

Career statistics

Honours

Hamburger SV *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

VfB Stuttgart *

: 2006–07 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

runner-up: 2006–07 Ferencváros *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

: 2014–15 *

Hungarian League Cup The Hungarian League Cup ( hu, Magyar Ligakupa) was an annual football tournament contested by clubs in the Hungarian League. It was created in 2007 and the competition only lasted for 8 seasons, being cancelled in 2015/2016. Ligakupa Finals The ...

: 2014–15 Individual *

Goal of the Year (Germany) The Goal of the Year in Germany is, like the '' Goal of the Month'' ( Tor des Monats), the ''Goal of the Decade'' and ''Goal of the Century'', an individual football award selected by spectators of the '' Sportschau'' ( ARD German TV), among spec ...

: 2002

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauth, Benjamin 1981 births People from Miesbach (district) Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria Living people Association football forwards German footballers Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers TSV 1860 Munich players TSV 1860 Munich II players Hamburger SV players VfB Stuttgart players Hannover 96 players Ferencvárosi TC footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hungary German expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Footballers from Bavaria