 Ricken in 2014 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lars Ricken | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1976-07-10)10 July 1976 (age 48) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Dortmund,West Germany | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Borussia Dortmund (CEO for Sport) | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1986 | TuS Eving-Lindenhorst | ||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1990 | Eintracht Dortmund | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1993 | Borussia Dortmund | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–2007 | Borussia Dortmund | 301 | (49) | ||||||||||||||
| 2003–2009 | Borussia Dortmund II | 39 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 340 | (57) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1998 | Germany U21 | 17 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 1997–2002 | Germany | 16 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Lars Ricken (born 10 July 1976) is a German retiredfootballer and current managing director ofBorussia Dortmund.[1] From 2008 to 2024, he was the youth coordinator at Dortmund.
Ricken represented Borussia Dortmund during his entire professional career, which spanned 15 years. He was the youngest player to ever appear for the club in an official match, a record later broken byNuri Şahin. Anattacking midfielder, he won three Bundesliga titles (1994–95,1995–96,2001–02) and scored in the1996–97 Champions League final which Dortmund won.
AGerman international for five years, Ricken represented the country at the2002 World Cup and the1999 Confederations Cup.
Born inDortmund, Ricken joined localBV Borussia at an early age, and made hisBundesliga debut on 8 March 1994 in a 1–2 home defeat againstVfB Stuttgart, aged not yet 18. Fromthe following season onwards, he became a regular.[2]
Ricken scored a memorable long-distance goal inthe final of the1996–97 UEFA Champions League edition againstJuventus FC, which stood as the fastest in a final of the competition by asubstitute, finding the net after just 16 seconds on the field.[3][4] He also contributed with 8 goals in 47 matches in the team's back-to-back national titles (1994–96).
In the following years, Ricken's success was hampered by a series of injuries. He gained his firstcap forGermany on 10 September 1997,[5] in a1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier againstArmenia, but missed that major international tournament as well asUEFA Euro 2000. Later, he restored his form, helping Dortmund to claim the league title in2002 by scoring a career-best six goals and being selected by national coachRudi Völler for the squad atthat year's World Cup; he did not play in the competition, however, as Germany emerged runners-up.
Ricken's injury woes returned after the World Cup and, as a consequence, he failed to earn recognition at both European or international level. In early April 2007, he was demoted tothe reserve team by managerThomas Doll, due to substandard performance.[6]
In November 2007, Ricken announced his retirement from football. In an attempt to return to football, he briefly attended a training camp in February 2008 with theColumbus Crew of theMajor League Soccer, but returned to Germany and Dortmund after a few days.
On 11 June 2008, Borussia Dortmund sport directorMichael Zorc, also a former club footballer, announced that Ricken was to be hired as youth coordinator with immediate effect, while still appearing for the amateur side inRegionalliga West. However, on 16 February 2009, he announced his retirement from professional football.[7]
On 22 April 2024, Ricken was announced to take over the duties of CEO for Sport at the Borussia Dortmund fromHans-Joachim Watzke, beginning from 1 May 2024.[1]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 1993–94 | Bundesliga | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 2[a] | 1 | — | 7 | 2 | ||
| 1994–95 | Bundesliga | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 7[a] | 1 | — | 28 | 3 | |||
| 1995–96 | Bundesliga | 26 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | 7[b] | 2 | — | 36 | 9 | |||
| 1996–97 | Bundesliga | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 9[b] | 4 | 1[c] | 0 | 34 | 6 | ||
| 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 25 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 2[d] | 0 | 36 | 5 | |
| 1998–99 | Bundesliga | 28 | 5 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 30 | 5 | ||||
| 1999–2000 | Bundesliga | 29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11[e] | 0 | — | 43 | 4 | ||
| 2000–01 | Bundesliga | 29 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | 32 | 7 | ||||
| 2001–02 | Bundesliga | 28 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15[e] | 4 | — | 46 | 10 | ||
| 2002–03 | Bundesliga | 24 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11[b] | 0 | — | 37 | 5 | ||
| 2003–04 | Bundesliga | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5[e] | 2 | — | 32 | 4 | ||
| 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 17 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 2[f] | 0 | — | 20 | 5 | |||
| 2005–06 | Bundesliga | 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 11 | 4 | ||||
| 2006–07 | Bundesliga | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 14 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 301 | 49 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 74 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 405 | 69 | ||
| Borussia Dortmund II | 2002–03 | Regionalliga Nord | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 2003–04 | Regionalliga Nord | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 2004–05 | Regionalliga Nord | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 4 | 2 | |||||
| 2006–07 | Regionalliga Nord | 11 | 5 | — | — | — | — | 11 | 5 | |||||
| 2007–08 | Regionalliga Nord | 19 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 19 | 1 | |||||
| 2008–09 | Regionalliga West | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 39 | 8 | — | — | — | — | 39 | 8 | ||||||
| Career Total | 340 | 57 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 74 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 444 | 77 | ||
Borussia Dortmund
Germany
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