Ft gern philipp lahm autobiography

Considered by many to be one of the greatest full-backs of all time, Lahm was the longtime captain of Bayern Munich , having led them to numerous honours including the UEFA Champions League as part of the Treble.

Philipp lahm retirement age

He is also a former captain of his national team , which he led to win the FIFA World Cup , before retiring from international football. Lahm developed into a professional football player within the Bayern Munich Junior Team. He joined the team at the age of 11 after a youth coach, Jan Pienta, had scouted him several times while he was playing for the local youth team in his hometown Gern, Munich.

He was already considered very talented; one of his coaches, Hermann Hummels, even stated that "If Philipp Lahm will not make it in the Bundesliga , nobody will anymore. His former amateur coach Hermann Gerland considers Lahm to be the most talented player he has ever coached and made him the captain of the B team during his second season.

Up to this point Lahm played as a defensive midfielder , right midfielder or right full-back. On 13 November , Lahm made his debut for the Bayern Munich first team as a 92nd-minute substitute in a 3—3 draw with RC Lens in the group stage of the Champions League. However, since Willy Sagnol and Bixente Lizarazu were established as Bayern's first choice full-backs, and the club's midfield was also well-staffed, Lahm made no further appearances during the —03 season and was loaned to VfB Stuttgart for the —04 and —05 seasons to gain first team experience in the Bundesliga.

Lahm was originally signed as a back-up for Andreas Hinkel , who played as right back, but coach Felix Magath moved him to the left back position, on which he toppled the German international Heiko Gerber. He made his Bundesliga debut on the first day of the season —04 against Hansa Rostock as he came in as a substitute left back in the 76th minute for midfielder Silvio Meissner.

He made his first professional start as a left back on the fourth matchday as a 63rd-minute substitute for Gerber and his first game over the full 90 minutes followed on the sixth matchday against Borussia Dortmund. Thereafter he established himself as a regular left back for Stuttgart. During the —04 season Lahm appeared for Stuttgart in 31 Bundesliga and seven Champions League matches overall and came second in the election for the Germany Footballer of the year.

During his second season in Stuttgart, Lahm had substantially more difficult time. After the Euro tournament and the resulting shorter vacation and pre-season training, he had difficulties getting off the ground and also in conforming with the tactics and system of the new coach Matthias Sammer. However, he still made 16 Bundesliga appearances for Stuttgart before the Christmas break, 14 of them over the full 90 minutes, and six appearances in the UEFA Cup.