Christian Lell (born 29 August 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 ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Bayern Munich

Early career

Born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Lell started his training with FC Alemannia München, He earned a place in Bayern's youth section in 1993, and played there for eight years. For the 2001–02 season, Lell was a part of Bayern's reserve team. In his first season at the senior level, the right-wingback made 10 appearances in the Regionalliga Süd. He would make 31 league appearances and a cup appearance during the 2002–03 season. He made 20 appearances for the reserve team during the 2003–04 season. Lell made his

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 ...

debut on 4 October 2003 in a 4–1 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 ...

where he came on as a substitute for

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He won the German Footballer of ...

in 84th minute. He made three subsequent appearances for Bayern in Bundesliga play and a cup appearance during the 2003–04 season.

Loan to 1. FC Köln

upLell warming up for a match with Köln To the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Lell was loaned to 2. Bundesliga club

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

, where he had a disappointing season. After the 4–2 loss to Wacker Burghausen on the second matchday, Lell fell out of favour with manager

Huub Stevens Hubertus Jozef Margaretha "Huub" Stevens (; born 29 November 1953) is a Dutch former professional Manager (association football), football manager and player. Playing career Stevens was born in Sittard. While active, he played for Fortuna Sittar ...

. He earned a mere sixteen league appearances over the course of the season. The season however wasn't entirely without successes for Lell. In Köln's second league match against Wacker Burghausen he scored a goal. Beyond that, he earned two caps in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

, and eight for the reserves in the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

. After the "Billy goats'" successful return to the Bundesliga for the 2005–06 season, Lell earned considerably more appearances, especially during the latter half of the season, during which he advanced to the regular starting formation. He finished the season with 26 league appearances and a cup appearance.

Return to Bayern Munich

For the 2006–07 season, Lell returned to Bayern, appearing 16 times for the first team and eight times for the reserve team. The

2007–08 Bundesliga The 2007–08 Bundesliga was the 45th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 10 August 2007 and ended on 17 May 2008. VfB Stuttgart were the defending champions. Competition format Every team played two games a ...

season meant a lot to Lell. Because of the injury problem to vice-captain and starting right-back

Willy Sagnol Willy David Frédéric Sagnol (born 18 March 1977) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of the Georgia national team. Sagnol spent much of his professional career p ...

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player and a former manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

decided to put Lell into the starting line-up as the right fullback. In this season, Lell earned 29 appearances in the Bundesliga, scored his first Bundesliga goal. In the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, 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 Bundes ...

, he played eight matches, in the

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 ...

, he played 11 matches and scored one goal, and three times in the league cup. During the 2008–09 season, under coach

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (; born 30 July 1964) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco FC, Monaco, Tottenham Hot ...

and interim coach

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. For the majority of his playing career he was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won m ...

, Lell made 28 appearances in all competitions. On 1 September 2009, just before the transfer window closed, Bayern and

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

came to an agreement for Lell transfer to England. However, the deal failed when no one was able to contact Lell and inform him about it. As a result, the transfer window closed before Lell could agree to the transfer. In the 2009–10 season, new Bayern coach

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...

relegated Lell to the reserves, where he made an appearance. He almo made an appearance in the cup for the first team.

Hertha BSC and Levante

Seven years after making his debut with first team, he left the Bavarian side and signed for

on 23 June 2010. This ended a 17-year connection dating back to 1 July 1993 when he joined Bayern Munich's

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

. His contract in Berlin ran for one year, and was automatically extended for an additional two as Hertha earned promotion to the Bundesliga. Lell quickly established himself as an important part of Hertha's defense, starting almost every fixture and assuming vice-captaincy of the team. He finished the 2010–11 season with 33 league appearances and two cup appearances. He would go on to 28 league appearances, two cup appearances, and an appearance in the relegation playoff. On 7 June 2012, Lell was released along with

Patrick Ebert Patrick Ebert (born 17 March 1987) is a German former professional footballer who played as a winger. Playing career Hertha Born in Potsdam, East Germany, Ebert started playing football for TuS Gaarden in Kiel at the age of four. He completed h ...

, Andreas Ottl, and Andre Mijatovic. The decision to part company with Lell came a day after he was given a five-match ban for insulting referee Wolfgang Stark during a relegation play-off match against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

. Lell signed for Levante on 11 August 2012. The contract is for a season plus a one-year option. He would go on to score two goals in 28 appearances in 2012–13 season and no goals in five appearances in the 2013–14 season.

International career

Christian Lell represented Germany on the Under-20 team at the

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 14th FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. Brazil claimed their fourth title, becoming the first country to simultaneously ho ...

. Lell also holds Austrian citizenship. After voicing desire to play for the Austria national team, he was found not eligible.

Personal life

Lell's sister died in April 2014 at the age of 27 from

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

. He started a foundation for cystic fibrosis in 2009.

Career statistics

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2007–08, 2009–10 *

DFB Liga-Pokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

: 2007 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

runner-up: 2009–10 1. FC Köln * 2. Bundesliga: 2004–05

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lell, Christian 1984 births Living people Footballers from Munich German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers German people of Austrian descent German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football fullbacks Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players La Liga players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers 1. FC Köln players 1. FC Köln II players Hertha BSC players Levante UD footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain 21st-century German sportsmen