.JPG) Metzelder in 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christoph Tobias Metzelder[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1980-11-05)5 November 1980 (age 45) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Haltern, West Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre-back | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1995 | TuS Haltern | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Schalke 04 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | Preußen Münster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Preußen Münster | 32 | (4) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2007 | Borussia Dortmund | 126 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2010 | Real Madrid | 23 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2013 | Schalke 04 | 52 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | TuS Haltern | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 234 | (8) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Germany U21 | 9 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2008 | Germany | 47 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Christoph Tobias Metzelder (born 5 November 1980) is a German former professionalfootballer who played as acentre-back.[3]
Most of his professional career, which was spent mostly atBorussia Dortmund, was blighted by injuries. He did manage, however, to appear 47 times for theGermany national team, representing the country at twoWorld Cups andEuro 2008.
Metzelder also played three seasons apiece forReal Madrid andSchalke 04, amassingBundesliga totals of 178 matches and four goals over one full decade.
Metzelder was born inHaltern,North Rhine-Westphalia. In the summer of 2000 he signed withBorussia Dortmund fromSC Preußen Münster, and he was an instant success. At the end ofhis first season in theBundesliga he won his firstcap forGermany, playing the second half of a 5–2friendly win inHungary on 15 August 2001.[4][5]
The second campaign atDortmund brought Metzelder the2002 national title and 14 matches with Germany, all the way to the2002 FIFA World Cup final with the latter. However, he missed the entire2003–04 due to anAchilles tendon injury,[6] and only took part in 16 league games inthe following season.[7]
After over two years out of the national squad, Metzelder was called by new bossJürgen Klinsmann for a friendly withChina, in October 2005.[8] He also scored his first two league goals, in 1–1 draws againstMainz 05[9] andHamburger SV,[10] and would be Germany's undisputed starter at the2006 World Cup, partnering withSV Werder Bremen'sPer Mertesacker.[11]
On 18 April 2007, after failing to renew his contract at Borussia,[12] Metzelder transferred toReal Madrid at the end of the season on afree transfer.[13][14] In February 2008, after managing to be injury-free in the first months of his Spanish adventure, he had surgery on the sole of his foot, resulting in him missing nearly 60 days of action;[15] on 11 May, after having already missed theUEFA Champions Leagueround-of-16 clash againstA.S. Roma, he returned and played the full 90 minutes againstReal Zaragoza (2–2 away draw).[16]
Despite his lack of playing time, Metzelder featured in all of Germany's matches atUEFA Euro 2008, again partnering Mertesacker.[17] In2008–09'sLa Liga, he was the main beneficiary of a ten-match suspension handed to Real'sPepe; after a stellar performance in a 4–2 win atSevilla FC[18] he also started in the 6–2 home defeat at the hands ofFC Barcelona, for a career-best – in Spain – 12 appearances.[19]
Metzelder left Real Madrid after his contract expired on 30 June 2010.[20]
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On 27 April 2010, prior to the end of the campaign, Metzelder announced his return to Germany, agreeing on a three-year contract withFC Schalke 04, with which he had already played youth football 15 years earlier.[21] His first two league games with the club, the first of2010–11, ended with 2–1 losses, to Hamburger SV andHannover 96.[22][23]
Metzelder appeared in ten complete matches inthe season's Champions League, in an eventual last-four run. He added five inthe domestic cupvictorious campaign, including the semi-finals againstFC Bayern Munich (1–0 win)[24] andthe final againstMSV Duisburg (5–0).[25]
In May 2013, 32-year-old Metzelder announced his retirement from professional football at the end ofthe campaign.[26] In July 2019, he was hired as a pundit by public broadcasterARD.[27] At the time of coming under criminal investigation in September 2019 he was a pundit forSky Sports.[28]
Metzelder's younger brother,Malte, was also a footballer (and a centre-back), and both played for Borussia Dortmund.[29]
He has one daughter, Emma (born 17 October 2009), with girlfriend Julia Gödicke.[30]
In 2006 he founded an organisation helping socially disadvantaged German youth and continues to run it.[28]
Metzelder was being investigated for the potential distribution of child pornography,[31][32] which led him to step down from his role as president of his former club TuS Haltern am See in September 2019.[33]
On 4 September 2020, the district court of the city ofDüsseldorf announced that an official charge had been filed against Metzelder by the prosecutor.[34] The prosecutor did not express any specific suspicions. The district court stated in a press release that one female witness received 10 child pornographic pictures, another female witness received 16 child pornographic pictures and two child pornographic videos and a third female witness received one child pornographic picture—all distributed by using Metzelder'sWhatsApp account. The statement also mentioned nearly 300 media files with child pornographic content having been found on Metzelder's confiscated cell phone. Metzelder himself had the allegations denied by his lawyers.[35] On 14 September, it was reported that the Düsseldorf court's decision "indirectly stated" that Metzelder had confessed.[36] His trial was on 29 April 2021 and he was sentenced to a ten-month suspended prison sentence for owning and distributing child pornography.[37] Giving evidence at trial, he admitted he had collected and disseminated child pornography, and that he engaged in "extreme fantasies in chats."[28]
In April 2021, Metzelder's lawyer stated Metzelder was in therapy for "certain issues such as sexuality or dealing with women in certain situations" but was "obviously not" a paedophile.[28]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Other[a] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 2000–01 | Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 21 | 0 | |
| 2001–02 | Bundesliga | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 0 | |
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 16 | 0 | ||
| 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 2 | |
| 2006–07 | Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 19 | 0 | ||
| Total | 126 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 158 | 2 | ||
| Real Madrid | 2007–08 | La Liga | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 2008–09 | La Liga | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
| 2009–10 | La Liga | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | ||
| Schalke 04 | 2010–11 | Bundesliga | 32 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 48 | 1 |
| 2011–12 | Bundesliga | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | |
| 2012–13 | Bundesliga | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | ||
| Total | 52 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 74 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 201 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 263 | 4 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 2001 | 1 | 0 |
| 2002 | 14 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 47 | 0 | |
Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid
Schalke 04
Germany
Individual
Germany squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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