.jpg) Wiese withGermany in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Tim Wiese[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1981-12-17)17 December 1981 (age 43)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1989 | DJK Dürscheid | ||
| 1989–1999 | Bayer Leverkusen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1999–2001 | Fortuna Köln | 23 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern II | 15 | (0) |
| 2002–2005 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 65 | (0) |
| 2005–2012 | Werder Bremen | 194 | (0) |
| 2012–2014 | 1899 Hoffenheim | 10 | (0) |
| 2017 | SSV Dillingen | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 308 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 2003–2005 | Germany U21 | 13 | (0) |
| 2008–2012 | Germany | 6 | (0) |
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Tim Wiese (German pronunciation:[tɪmˈviːzə]; born 17 December 1981) is a German former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
Having progressed through the youth teams at DJK Dürscheid andBayer Leverkusen, Wiese started his professional career atFortuna Köln, and went on to play for1. FC Kaiserslautern andWerder Bremen before signing for1899 Hoffenheim in 2012.[2]
Wiese made 13 appearances for theGerman under-21 squad between 2003 and 2005, before making his full international debut three years later againstEngland. He went on to win five further caps[3] and was part of theGerman2010 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not make an appearance in that tournament.
Following Wiese's retirement from football in 2014, he gained a significant amount of muscle mass and was subsequently linked to a career in professional wrestling, eventually having a match inWWE in 2016.
Wiese started his playing career at DJK Dürscheid, in 1987. Two years later, he moved toBayer Leverkusen's youth system, before moving toFortuna Köln, where he made his first-team debut in theRegionalliga in 2000.
Wiese moved to Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern in the winter break of the2001–02 season and initially played for their reserve squad in the third division and served as backup forGeorg Koch andRoman Weidenfeller in the first team. Following Weidenfeller's transfer toBorussia Dortmund, he fought with Koch for the place of the first goalkeeper and made his Bundesliga debut at the beginning of the2002–03 season, being replaced by Koch after conceding four goals in two matches. After the winter break, however, he managed to secure himself the position of the first-choice goalkeeper and established himself as one of the most talented new keepers in the Bundesliga. He was considered first-choice throughout the2003–04 season, despite being sent off during the second match of the season (the first of two red cards he has received during his league career). He remained the first goalkeeper for Kaiserslautern until late November 2004, when he lost his place to veteranThomas Ernst.
.jpg)
Wiese moved toWerder Bremen in 2005 and was favoured to replace the agingAndreas Reinke, but tore hiscruciate ligaments twice and missed the entire first part of the season. Following Reinke sustaining an injury in a match againstVfB Stuttgart in February 2006, Wiese made his Bundesliga debut for Werder Bremen, and remained their first goalkeeper for the rest of the2005–06 season.
Wiese, who is often compared to former German goalkeeperOliver Kahn for his emotional outbursts, had a shaky start, with an error againstJuventus in the second round of theUEFA Champions League on 7 March 2006 being of particular note. With only two minutes of the game left to play, and Bremen on course to reach the quarter-finals, he made a routine catch, but then dropped the ball as he rolled on the ground, allowingEmerson to score and Juventus to progress. He has stabilized since then, however, and was vital for Bremen's late surge that moved them past rivalsHamburger SV to claim second place during the 2005–06 season.
In the2006–07 season, Wiese eventually established himself as the first goalkeeper at Werder Bremen and only missed three Bundesliga matches throughout the season. In the2008–09 DFB-Pokal semi-final against Hamburg, Wiese helped Werder Bremen progress to the final when he saved three consecutive penalties.
On 2 May 2012, Wiese signed for1899 Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee,[4][5] and was made club captain in August.[6] A poor start to the season saw Wiese conceding 15 goals in four games, resulting in Hoffenheim's managerMarkus Babbel issuing a statement defending the goalkeeper.[7] In November 2012, it was announced that Wiese had injured his knee in a training session and would be unavailable until January.[8] Following the signing ofHeurelho Gomes fromTottenham Hotspur on loan at the end of January 2013, Wiese was dropped from the squad, with Hoffenheim's managerAndreas Müller stating, "Tim doesn't have a chance in the current situation. No matter what he does, he doesn't have an opportunity to be assessed sensibly."[9] Wiese and teammateTobias Weis were fined an undisclosed amount following an incident at a carnival party on 11 February 2013, where the two players were ejected by security.[10] In March 2013, Müller announced that Wiese could leave the club on a free transfer if they were relegated,[11] prompting several of his teammates to come to his defence, including Weis and team captainSejad Salihović.[12] During the season, Wiese made ten appearances for Hoffenheim, conceding 25 goals, with his last appearance coming in a 2–1 defeat againstEintracht Frankfurt on 26 January.[13] Hoffenheim avoided relegation to the2. Bundesliga, prompting further speculation about Wiese's future at the club.[14]
His contract with Hoffenheim was mutually terminated on 21 January 2014, making him afree agent, after it was revealed that his body was in a bodybuilding style, unsuited to professional football.[15][16]
Wiese earned his first international cap forGermany againstEngland on 19 November 2008, when he came in as a substitute forRené Adler at the beginning of the second half.[17]
Wiese was a squad member for Germany in the2010 FIFA World Cup, but was the only player not seeing any action as an understudy toSchalke 04 goalkeeperManuel Neuer and was denied an appearance in the third-place playoff due to injury, enablingBayern Munich veteranHans-Jörg Butt to step in.
Wiese announced his retirement from professional football on 17 September 2014, stating, "I am not a dreamer, but a realist and I assume that I have my best years behind me and I will no longer play as a professional." In March 2017, Wiese returned to football for a one-off match with German eighth-division side SSV Dillingen of theKreisliga Schwaben-Nord.[18][19] Dillingen lost the match 2–1 to TSV Haunsheim on 1 April 2017.
In September 2014, Wiese claimed he had been offered a development contract byWWE to join theirNXT division.[20] He appeared as a guest timekeeper at aWWE live event inFrankfurt.[21] On 7 June 2016, it was reported that Wiese acceptedTriple H's invitation to train at WWE's developmental facility, theWWE Performance Center.[22] Wiese made his professional wrestling debut at a WWE live event inMunich on 3 November 2016, teaming withSheamus andCesaro to defeatThe Shining Stars andBo Dallas.[23] Wiese left the WWE in 2017.[24]
Wiese has been married to his longtime spouse Grit Freiberg since 20 December 2010, and has a daughter.[25] He completed hisRealschulabschluss at acomprehensive school inKürten.[26]
| Club[27] | Season | League | DFB-Pokal | DFL-Ligapokal | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Fortuna Köln | 2000–01 | Regionalliga Nord | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 21 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 0 | ||||
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern II | 2001–02 | Regionalliga Süd | 11 | 0 | – | – | – | 11 | 0 | |||
| 2002–03 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 15 | 0 | – | – | – | 15 | 0 | |||||
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 21 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 2[a] | 0 | 33 | 0 | |||
| 2004–05 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 65 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 73 | 0 | |||
| Werder Bremen | 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[b] | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| 2006–07 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 44 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 12 | 0 | 46 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10 | 31 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 10[c] | 0 | 47 | 0 | |||
| 2010–11 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 7[b] | 0 | 37 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 194 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 266 | 0 | ||
| 1899 Hoffenheim | 2012–13 | Bundesliga | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | ||||
| SSV Dillingen | 2016–17 | Kreisliga Schwaben-Nord | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 308 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 390 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany[28] | 2008 | 1 | 0 |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 6 | 0 | |
Werder Bremen
Germany
Individual
Germany squads | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
