Christian Gentner (born 14 August 1985) is a German professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

official and a former player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He works as a head of the professional player department at

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 ...

. He won the

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 ...

twice, with

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. He was also called up five times to the senior Germany national team.

Club career

Before joining

, Gentner played at TSV Beuren and VfL Kirchheim. In the 2004–05 season, he played 28 times and scored six times for the

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 ...

(third division)

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...

of VfB Stuttgart. In the same season, he had his

debut against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

on 20 February 2005 (1–0). He scored his first goal in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

game against

Domžale Domžale (; )''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Domžale in Slovenia. The town lies ne ...

on 25 September 2005. In 2006, Gentner's contract in Stuttgart was extended until 2010. On 18 July 2007, he was loaned to

until summer 2009 and on 11 August 2008 Gentner signed a permanent deal with Wolfsburg. On 8 January 2010, Gentner announced that he would be joining

at the end of the season. After seeing out his contract with the Wolves which ended on 1 July 2010, Gentner returned to Stuttgart on a free transfer. On 6 January 2013, Gentner extended his contract with VfB Stuttgart until June 2016 with an option for a further year. Following Serdar Tasci's departure to Spartak Moscow, it was announced that Gentner is to be his successor as the new club captain. In May 2016 Gentner extended his contract with VfB Stuttgart until June 2019. On 5 July 2019, Gentner signed a contract with club

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

. In September 2022, Gentner announced that he would retire from playing at the end of 2022. At the same time,

announced that he would join the club on 1 January 2023 as head of the professional player department.

International career

On 19 May 2009, Gentner was called up to the senior Germany national team for their tour of Asia. He made his début against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on 29 May 2009. Until August 2010 he won five caps in total.

Personal life

His brother Thomas Gentner plays for

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a Football in Germany, German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era ( ...

. On 15 December 2018, Gentner's father died at Stuttgart's stadium, just after Stuttgart had beaten

2–1.

Career statistics

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

: 2006–07 * 2. Bundesliga: 2016–17 VfL Wolfsburg *

: 2008–09 Individual * Bundesliga Goal of the Month: August 2013

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentner, Christian 1985 births Living people Footballers from Nürtingen German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Germany men's B international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's international footballers VfL Kirchheim/Teck players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players VfL Wolfsburg players 1. FC Union Berlin players FC Luzern players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Swiss Super League players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 21st-century German sportsmen