Manuel Wilhelm (born 15 December 1980 in
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...
) is a German
international rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player, playing for the
RG Heidelberg
The RG Heidelberg (', literally "Heidelberg Rowing Club") is a List of rugby union clubs in Germany, German rugby union club from Heidelberg, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga. Apart from rugby, the club also offers the sport of Rowing (sp ...
in the
Rugby-Bundesliga
The Rugby-Bundesliga is the highest level of the league system for rugby union in Germany, organised by the German Rugby Federation.
The league has a mix of professional, semi-professional and amateur players, with four club in the league bein ...
and the
German national rugby union team.
Manuel Wilhelm plays rugby since 1986, first for RG Heidelberg, later he spent one season with league rival
SC Neuenheim, before he went back to his club of origin RG Heidelberg. After his military service Wilhelm played one season for
CAU Valencia in the first Spanish division, before returning to RG Heidelberg. He won two German championships (15s) with the later, in 2006 and 2007, five 7s-championships in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2009 and the German cup in 2004. He also plays beach rugby for ''The Romantics B.R.F.C.''.
[Manuel Wilhelm profile totalrugby.de]
accessed: 28 February 2010
He was first called up for the German national team in 2000 but could not play because of injury and did not make his debut for Germany until 2003, in a game against Sweden.
[Deutschland vs. Schweden: Rugby-Nationalspieler Manuel Wilhelm im Porträt]
published: 3 April 2013, accessed: 27 April 2013
He is the founder of Germany's biggest rugby website, TotalRugby.de.
In 2012, Wilhelm proposed a reform of the German league system which was approved at the ''Deutsche Rugby Tag'', the annual general meeting of the ''DRV'', in mid-July 2012. The new system will see the number of clubs in the Bundesliga increased from ten to 24, the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each and the finals series expanded from four to eight teams.
DRT
'' DRV'' website, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012
Wilhelm's father is from Ghana while his mother is German.
Honours
Club
* German rugby union championship
** Champions: 2006, 2007
** Runners up: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2008
* German rugby union cup
** Winners: 2004
National team
* European Nations Cup - Division 2
** Champions: 2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
Stats
Manuel Wilhelm's personal statistics in club and international rugby:
Club
* ''As of 4 December 2013''
National team
European Nations Cup
Friendlies & other competitions
* ''As of 4 December 2013''
References
External links
Manuel Wilhelm
at scrum.com
*
Manuel Wilhelm
at totalrugby.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelm, Manuel
1980 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Ludwigsburg
German sportspeople of Ghanaian descent
German rugby union players
Germany international rugby union players
SC Neuenheim players
RG Heidelberg players
Rugby union locks