 Bender withBayer Leverkusen in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sven Bender[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1989-04-27)27 April 1989 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Rosenheim, West Germany | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back,defensive midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | SpVgg Unterhaching (interim manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1993–1999 | TSV Brannenburg | ||
| 1999–2002 | SpVgg Unterhaching | ||
| 2002–2006 | 1860 Munich | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2007 | 1860 Munich II | 16 | (2) |
| 2006–2009 | 1860 Munich | 65 | (1) |
| 2009–2012 | Borussia Dortmund II | 4 | (0) |
| 2009–2017 | Borussia Dortmund | 158 | (4) |
| 2017–2021 | Bayer Leverkusen | 107 | (4) |
| Total | 350 | (11) | |
| International career | |||
| 2005–2006 | Germany U17 | 10 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Germany U19 | 11 | (1) |
| 2009 | Germany U20 | 3 | (2) |
| 2010–2013 | Germany | 7 | (0) |
| 2016 | Germany Olympic | 6 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2023–2024 | Borussia Dortmund (assistant) | ||
| 2024– | SpVgg Unterhaching | ||
Medal record | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Sven Bender (German pronunciation:[ˈsvɛnˈbɛndɐ];[3][4] born 27 April 1989) is a German former professionalfootballer who played as acentre-back ordefensive midfielder. He is currently the manager ofRegionalliga clubSpVgg Unterhaching. He is the twin brother of fellow coach and former playerLars Bender.[5][6]
Having been a product of their academy since the age of 4, Bender played from 1993 to 1999 in the youth of TSV Brannenburg. From 1999 to 2002, he was part ofSpVgg Unterhaching youth teams. In summer 2002, Bender moved to the1860 München youth team.[7]
He started his football career on the U-14 team and played for all of 1860 München's youth teams in three years. In November 2007, Bender extended his contract with the club until 2011. In 2009, Munich had to sell both Lars and Sven Bender, due to club's financial problem. Sven moved toBorussia Dortmund and Lars moved toBayer Leverkusen. Sven played 65 games and scored 1 goal for 1860 Munich.[7]
On 1 July 2009, Bender joined Borussia Dortmund, where he signed a four-year contract that tied him to the club until 2013.[8] Bender made his Bundesliga debut on 19 September 2009 in a game againstHannover 96. His biggest rival for the spot in the defensive midfield suffered several injuries and Bender established himself in the starting eleven very quickly. He scored his first Bundesliga goal on 12 February 2011 against1. FC Kaiserslautern and extended his contract until 2017. The years 2011 and 2012 were very successful for Bender, as he was an important player in Dortmund's midfield and helped the team win the national championship in both years as well as theDFB-Pokal in 2012.[8] On 6 January 2013, Bender extended his contract with Dortmund, keeping him at the club until 2017.[9] During the 2012–13 season, he was struggling with several injuries which made Dortmund signNuri Şahin in January 2013. After treatment of his injury, Bender got another opponent for his position. He was on his way to becoming the number one player on his position and shared a place with team's captainSebastian Kehl and helped the team to reach2013 UEFA Champions League Final, although they were defeated by their domestic rivalsBayern Munich. On 27 July 2013, Bender won the2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund 4–2 against Bayern Munich.[10] In February 2014, he suffered injury after a loss againstHamburger SV,[11] which eventually ruled him out for the rest season. On 21 February 2016, Bender signed a five-year contract extension to keep him at the club until 2021.[12]
On 13 July 2017, Bender ended his eight-year stay at Borussia Dortmund,[13] signing a four-year contract with fellow Bundesliga sideBayer Leverkusen until July 2021, and re-uniting with his brother Lars.[14] Nearing the conclusion of the2020–21 season, Leverkusen announced that both Sven and Lars would depart Leverkusen and retire from professional football after the end of the season.[15] On May 2021, Sven Bender started the last match of his career against former club Borussia Dortmund, where he played until coming off for his brother Lars, who later scored a penalty in an eventual 1–3 loss.
At under-19 level, Bender was a part of the team that won the2008 European Under-19 Championship. He and his twin brother Lars were named jointly as players of the tournament.[16] Bender made his debut for thesenior team in a friendly match againstAustralia in March 2011.[17] He appeared in several more friendly games and nominated for theEuro 2012 but did not make the squad's final. In February 2014, Bender suffered anOsteitis pubis injury that ruled him out for the2014 FIFA World Cup. His last internationals therefore were two friendlies in late 2013.[18] In mid-July on 2016, despite not being called up for the senior team since 2013, he made the spot forGermany Olympic football team for the2016 Summer Olympics as one of three over 23 years old players along with his brother andNils Petersen,[19] where Germany won the silver medal.[20]
In June 2022, the German Football Association appointed him as the new assistant coach of the Germany U-16 national team.[21] During the summer of 2023, he became assistant coach of the German U-17s.[22]
On 29 December 2023, Bender left his job at theGerman Football Association[23] and, along with his past teammateNuri Şahin, was appointed as assistant manager toEdin Terzić at their former club Borussia Dortmund, signing a contract until the end of theseason.[24]
He became the interim head coach ofSpVgg Unterhaching in December 2024 for the remainder of the year.[25][26] He took over the same role in March 2025.[27]
| Club | Season | League | DFB-Pokal | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 1860 Munich II | 2006–07 | Regionalliga Süd | 15 | 2 | — | — | — | 15 | 2 | |||
| 2007–08 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | ||
| 1860 Munich | 2006–07 | 2. Bundesliga | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 30 | 1 | ||||
| 2008–09 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 26 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 65 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 1 | ||
| Borussia Dortmund II | 2009–10 | 3. Liga | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2012–13 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 2009–10 | Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7[a] | 0 | — | 39 | 1 | |||
| 2011–12 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 32 | 1 | ||
| 2012–13 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11[b] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | ||
| 2013–14 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 27 | 1 | ||
| 2014–15 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 11[a] | 0 | — | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2016–17 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| Total | 158 | 4 | 18 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 224 | 4 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen | 2017–18 | Bundesliga | 29 | 2 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 34 | 2 | ||
| 2018–19 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | — | 32 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 9[a] | 1 | — | 47 | 4 | |||
| 2020–21 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | |||
| Total | 107 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 133 | 6 | ||
| Career total | 350 | 11 | 35 | 1 | 58 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 446 | 13 | ||
On 20 June 2015, Bender married Simone Dettendorfer, his long time girlfriend since 2008.[29]
Individual
