Sebastian Toni Deisler (; born 5 January 1980) 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 midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. A

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

youth product, he played one season with the club during which it was relegated from 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 ...

. He joined

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 ...

in 1999 before leaving for

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in 2002. He also represented the Germany national team between 2000 and 2006. Having been hailed as the future of German football at the turn of the millennium, Deisler could never manage to reach his full potential due to several

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

ruptures and other major injuries, as well as depression. Deisler retired from professional football in January 2007 at the age of 27.

Club career

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Deisler joined his first club, FV Turmringen, when he was six. At age 15, he was scouted and signed by the

outfit

and played for the club at junior level from 1995 to 1998. He started his professional career at the club in 1998, making his Bundesliga debut against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

on 8 September. During the 1998–99 season he made 17 Bundesliga appearances and scoring one goal, in a 2–0 win over

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

. However the ''Foals'' finished in last place and were relegated to the second division.

Hertha BSC

As Borussia Mönchengladbach were relegated at the end of the season, Deisler moved on to

for 4.5 million DM. The

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

club offered a participation in the 1999–2000 Champions League. Although only 19 at his arrival and handicapped by a cruciate ligament rupture in 1999, Deisler established himself in the Hertha BSC midfield and was about to become Dariusz Wosz's replacement as the central figure in Hertha's offence when he tore a

synovial membrane Synovial () may refer to: * Synovial fluid * Synovial joint A synovial joint, also known as diarthrosis, joins bones or cartilage with a fibrous joint capsule that is continuous with the periosteum of the joined bones, constitutes the outer bou ...

in his right knee in October 2001 and missed the rest of the season. Almost simultaneously, German tabloid ''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

'' made known that an agreement had been reached between the player and

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. Deisler was to join Bayern at the beginning of the 2002–03 season and had received a sum of DEM 20 million from the club. Deisler faced immense critique from the fans and the media for not having announced the agreement earlier as well as accepting the payment. Deisler later stated that he was asked to keep silent by the Hertha BSC manager

Dieter Hoeneß Dieter Hoeneß (born 7 January 1953) is a German former professional football player and executive. A forward during his playing career, Hoeneß was primarily associated with Bayern Munich. After retiring, he remained involved in football, work ...

to avoid unrest. During his time at Hertha, Deisler helped the club win the 2001 DFB-Ligapokal.

Bayern Munich

left, Deisler during training with Bayern Munich, 2005 In July 2002, Deisler joined Bayern on a four-year contract. Deisler arrived at Bayern injured as he had injured his right knee the season before. Unfortunately, Deisler's time at the club was a turbulent one as Deisler only managed 62 league appearances in four and a half years. Due to his injuries, he was unable to establish himself as a constant starter over a longer period of time. At the same time, Deisler struggled to endure the pressure he was exposed to at Bayern and developed a depression for which he was treated as a stationary patient in a Munich clinic from November 2003. After several months, Deisler rejoined the squad, but suffered a relapse in October 2004. Deisler looked to finally break into Bayern's first team from 2004–05 on and was able to play for the most part of 2005. After

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 ...

's departure to Chelsea, Deisler was about to become the chief in the Bayern midfield. However, he damaged the

in his right knee again in March 2006 and missed the World Cup on home soil. Although Deisler came back in November, he felt exhausted and, citing his lack of confidence in ever regaining the necessary stability in his often-injured knee, he announced his retirement on 16 January 2007. Bayern general manager

Uli Hoeneß Ulrich "Uli" Hoeneß (; born 5 January 1952) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a forward. He played for the West Germany at one World Cup and two European Championships, winning one tournament of each ...

stated that Deisler's contract, which ran until 30 June 2009, would not be dissolved but instead be in abeyance. Deisler later stated that he came to the conclusion that he was not made for the football business.

International career

Deisler played for the Germany national team between 2000 and 2006, winning 36 international caps and scoring three goals. He made his debut for the team in a friendly match against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on 23 February 2000 and was also part of the German squad at the

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

finals four months later, appearing in all three group matches before the Germans disappointingly exited the competition in the first round. On 2 September 2000, he scored his first goal for Germany as he opened their 2–0 win over

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

qualifying. Due to injuries, he missed both the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

s, the latter being held in Germany, as well as

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

. In 2005, he appeared in all of the German team's five matches at the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup association football, football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FI ...

in Germany. His last match for the Germany national team was a friendly against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 1 March 2006.

Personal life

Deisler has a Brazilian wife named Eunice dos Santos Santana. The couple have a son named Raphael. The level of formal education he reached is

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

. He mentions basketball, food, music and movies as his hobbies. In September 2007, Deisler stated that he was in the process of writing a book. The book was released in 2009. As of 2014, he lived in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Deisler goal''.

Honours

Hertha BSC *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German association football, football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five t ...

: 2001 Bayern Munich *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

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 ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 *

: 2004 Germany U18 * European Under-18 Football Championship runner-up: 1998 Germany *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

third place:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

External links

* * *
Observer Sport Extra: Deisler the danger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deisler, Sebastian 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Lörrach Footballers from Freiburg (region) German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Bayern Munich footballers Hertha BSC players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Bundesliga players 21st-century German sportsmen