Felix Bastians (born 9 May 1988) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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

centre-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 ...

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Early career

Bastians began his career with

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

and

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

before moving to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. In November 2003 at 15 years old he signed for English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

England

Bastians spent most of his time in England on the bench. He played as a defensive midfielder in the earlier stages of his career, always managing to get up for corners and head the ball goalways. Forest boss Colin Calderwood named him as an upcoming talent and already a huge asset to the club. He had a successful debut, assisting a goal in Forest's 3–2 defeat against

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

in November 2005. He joined

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

on loan from

in November 2006, scoring once in four appearances. He then joined Gillingham on 22 March 2007 on a loan until the end of the 2006–07 season. He made his Gillingham debut in the 5–0 away defeat to

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

on 24 March 2007 and scored his first goal in a 3–2 away defeat to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

on 7 April 2007. Bastians was part of the successful Forest reserve side who won the Pontins Holiday League Championship title for the 2006–07 season, beating

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

2–0 in the play-off final, Bastians scored a number of goals throughout the season to help his side lift the title. He joined Chesterfield on a month's loan in October 2007. He impressed in his spell at Chesterfield, scoring one goal in thirteen appearances. His loan spell there ended on 2 January 2008. Bastians signed for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

two days later on a month's loan. On 14 February 2008, he joined another League Two club, MK Dons, once again on a month's loan. He later returned to The Reds, but failed to earn himself a new deal at the club and was released by mutual consent by manager Colin Calderwood on 21 May 2008. Bastians ended his forest career having played 33 games and scoring five goals in the process. He is the third youngest player ever to play for Forest, behind Gary Mills and Craig Westcarr.

Young Boys Bern

Bastians moved to

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side Young Boys Bern in 2008. On 10 August 2008, he scored his first goal for his new team, the equaliser in a 2–1 win against

Neuchâtel Xamax Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, the city has ap ...

in front of over 16,000 supporters at the Stade de Suisse in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

SC Freiburg

After just one year with Young Boys Bern he left on 7 July 2009 in order to transfer to

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

. At Freiburg, Bastians swapped his position from a winger to a defender, being mainly used as a centre back alongside Pavel Krmaš.

Hertha BSC

On 28 January 2012, Bastians completed a move to

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 ...

which would see him there until the summer of 2016.

VfL Bochum

In June 2013, he was loaned out to

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

. After the loan spell, Bastians returned to Hertha Berlin. On 9 October 2014, Hertha released him. On 17 November 2014, VfL Bochum announced the signing of Bastians starting 1 January 2015.

Tianjin Teda

In January 2018 he moved to Tianjin Teda in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

who, managed by countryman

Uli Stielike Ulrich "Uli" Stielike (born 15 November 1954) is a German former footballer and manager. Usually a central midfielder or sweeper, Stielike was well known for his stamina and footballing intelligence.Radnedge, Keir. (2004). The Complete Encyclop ...

whose daughter is reportedly married to Bastian's brother, paid around €1 million for his services.

Rot-Weiss Essen

On 9 November 2023, Bastians's contract with

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

was terminated by mutual consent. He decided to retire from playing shortly thereafter.

International career

Bastians represented Germany at U18, U19 and U21 international levels.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastians, Felix 1988 births Living people Footballers from Bochum German men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers English Football League players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Chinese Super League players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players BSC Young Boys players SC Freiburg players VfL Bochum players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players S.K. Beveren players Rot-Weiss Essen players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland German expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China German expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 21st-century German sportsmen