| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1969-10-27)27 October 1969 (age 56) | ||
| Place of birth | Hilden,West Germany | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Left wing-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Bayern Munich (leader of U12–U16 youths) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1979–1990 | SV Hilden-Nord | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1990–1994 | MSV Duisburg | 134 | (12) |
| 1994–1997 | Karlsruher SC | 81 | (7) |
| 1997–2003 | Bayern Munich | 122 | (8) |
| 2003–2004 | Manchester City | 32 | (3) |
| 2004–2009 | Hannover 96 | 102 | (8) |
| Total | 471 | (38) | |
| International career | |||
| 1996–1998 | Germany | 19 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Michael Tarnat (born 27 October 1969) is a German former professionalfootballer, currently employed byBayern Munich as the leader of the U12–U16 youth teams.[2] A left-footedfull-back, he was also employed as aleft wingback and occasionally as adefensive midfielder. His nickname is "Tanne", meaning "fir" in English. He ended his career withHannover 96, having previously played forMSV Duisburg,Karlsruher SC,Bayern Munich andManchester City. A veteran of 19caps for Germany, Tarnat also participated in the1998 FIFA World Cup. He is renowned for his powerfulfree kicks and similar long-shots with his strong left foot.
Born inHilden, Tarnat started to play football at the clubSV Hilden-Nord before starting his professional career in 1990 when he joinedMSV Duisburg. He made hisBundesliga debut on 2 August 1991 in Duisburg's home match againstVfB Stuttgart and went on to make 58 appearances for the club in the league in the following two seasons, also scoring his first Bundesliga goal in Duisburg's 1–1 draw away againstVfB Leipzig on 27 August 1993. He moved toKarlsruher SC in the summer of 1994 and grew into one of the team's stars, alongsideThomas Häßler andThorsten Fink. His trademark was his super-hard left-footed shot, which made him one of the best free-kick takers of his Bundesliga generation. In three seasons with KSC, Tarnat made 81 Bundesliga appearances and scored seven goals for the club in the league.[3] In 1996, he was called up into theGermany national team for the first time and made his international debut in Germany's1998 World Cup qualifier againstArmenia on 9 October 1996.
In 1997, he got his big break whenBayern Munich bought him along with Fink. He played well on his left flank, good enough to give star left full-backBixente Lizarazu almost a full season on the bench. In the following seasons, trainerOttmar Hitzfeld would often play them both, giving Bayern one of the best left flanks in Europe. Tarnat's Bayern career was extremely successful. He was German champion in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003, won theDFB-Pokal in 1998, 2000 and 2003 and theUEFA Champions League in 2001. Tarnat also played in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final in which Bayern lost 2–1 toManchester United with two stoppage-time goals.
In Bayern Munich's away match againstEintracht Frankfurt in the 1999–2000 Bundesliga season, Tarnat memorably played half an hour in the second half as agoalkeeper. In the match,Oliver Kahn was forced to leave the pitch after sustaining an injury in collision with teammateSamuel Kuffour and his replacementBernd Dreher was also injured after he spent less than ten minutes on the pitch, allowing Tarnat to come off the bench to take his place between the sticks. Very remarkably, Bayern had trailed 0–1, but scored the equaliser only two minutes after Tarnat entered the match and eventually managed to win 2–1 after Kuffour scored the winning goal in the 80th minute.
In the late years, however, Tarnat became somewhat injury-prone, which effectively ended his international career in 1998 after 19caps[4] and caused Bayern to bench him often. In six seasons of playing for Bayern, Tarnat made 122 Bundesliga appearances and scored eight goals for the club in the league. He made a move toManchester City in 2003, making 32Premier League appearances and scoring three goals for the club in the league before returning to Germany by signing withHannover 96 a year later, where he played for the rest of his career. On 17 May 2009, it was announced that he would retire from professional football. He played his last game for Hannover on 29 July 2009 vs Arsenal. In August 2009, Tarnat returned toFC Bayern Munich as a talent scout.[5]
He was also a regular in theGermany national team at the1998 World Cup finals in France, appearing in four out of five matches played by the team at the tournament before they were surprisingly eliminated byCroatia in the quarterfinals. In the group game againstYugoslavia, his free kick led toSiniša Mihajlović scoring anown goal.
Tarnat's sonNiklas Tarnat is also a professional footballer, currently playing forTSV 1860 Munich.
| Club | Season | League | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | ||
| Duisburg | 1990–91 | 2. Bundesliga | 33 | 4 |
| 1991–92 | Bundesliga | 34 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | 2. Bundesliga | 43 | 7 | |
| 1993–94 | Bundesliga | 24 | 1 | |
| Total | 134 | 12 | ||
| Karlsruhe | 1994–95 | Bundesliga | 24 | 3 |
| 1995–96 | 30 | 2 | ||
| 1996–97 | 27 | 2 | ||
| Total | 81 | 7 | ||
| Bayern Munich | 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 32 | 5 |
| 1998–99 | 20 | 1 | ||
| 1999–00 | 26 | 1 | ||
| 2000–01 | 23 | 1 | ||
| 2001–02 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | 11 | 0 | ||
| Total | 122 | 8 | ||
| Manchester City | 2003–04 | Premier League | 32 | 3 |
| Hannover | 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 22 | 2 |
| 2005–06 | 29 | 4 | ||
| 2006–07 | 28 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | 16 | 1 | ||
| 2008–09 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Total | 102 | 8 | ||
| Career total | 471 | 38 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1996 | 3 | 0 |
| 1997 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1998 | 12 | 0 | |
| Total | 19 | 0 | |
Karlsruher SC
Bayern Munich
