Holger Badstuber

Holger Felix Badstuber (born 13 March 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or left-back.

From 2002 to 2007, Badstuber progressed through the youth setup at Bayern Munich.

He had scored four goals in 23 appearances in the Regionalliga Süd during the 2007–08 season and three goals in 32 appearances in the 3. Liga during the 2008–09 season.

Badstuber, along with teammate Thomas Müller, having been an unused substitute in a number of first-team matches in the 2008–09 season.

Badstuber made his debut in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the 2009–10 season, at the age of 19.

He played for Bayern's reserve team before signing professional terms in July 2009.

He made his debut in the first league game of the 2009–10 season, against 1899 Hoffenheim and has been a regular in defence.

He scored his first senior goal, a powerful free kick, against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 4 December 2009.

A centre-back by trade, he has been playing out of position at left back.

The youngster impressed in his first season, and started all league games in the 2009–10 domestic campaign.

He finished the 2009–10 season with a goal in 49 appearances.

He played nearly every game that year and helped the club win the league and cup double and reached the UEFA Champions League final the same year, before eventually earning a call up to the Germany national team for the World Cup in 2010 and later the Euro 2012.

He won over 30 caps for Germany.

Former Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal stated in 2010 that Badstuber was the best left footed defender in Germany.

On 4 February 2010, Bayern Munich announced that Badstuber had signed a new contract that would keep him at the club until 2014.

Throughout the 2010–11 season he made 32 appearances in all competitions for Bayern.

During the 2010–11 season, Badstuber endured a tumultuous relationship with coach Louis van Gaal, who despite stating that he has high trust in Badstuber, strongly criticized him following a number of poor performances.

As a result of his poor form he found himself out of the starting eleven several times throughout the season.

With the arrival of Jupp Heynckes, Badstuber was reinstated at the left of central defense, where he enjoyed a fruitful relationship with fellow international Jérôme Boateng, and helped Bayern maintain 11 clean sheets in a row.

He made 50 appearances across all competitions during the 2011–12 season.

Additionally, he was integral to the Bayern Munich defensive line which lead the team to the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, beating Real Madrid, Napoli and Manchester City along the way, before losing out to English side Chelsea in the final.

Badstuber injured his anterior cruciate ligament against Borussia Dortmund on 1 December 2012 and re–injured it on 19 May 2013, missing the entire 2013–14 season.

He had played in 18 matches up until the injury during the 2012–13 season.

This was his first goal since December 2009 and also his first start in Champions League since 20 November 2012 against Valencia.

On 3 February 2013, Badstuber signed a contract extension with Bayern, keeping him at the club until 2017.

He returned to first–team training on 5 May 2014 and played in his first match since his injury on 18 July 2014 in a friendly match against FC Memmingen, which Bayern won 3–0.

It had been 594 days since the injury.

Badstuber began the 2014–15 season as a starting player in Bayern's first three Bundesliga fixtures.

However, a thigh injury sustained against VfB Stuttgart on 13 September kept him out for the rest of the year.

He finished the 2014–15 season with 16 appearances.

He returned to the starting line-up for an 8–0 defeat of Hamburger SV on 14 February 2015 and re-established himself as a first choice player in Pep Guardiola's Bayern team.

On 11 March 2015, Badstuber scored a goal in the 63rd minute in a Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk in a 7–0 win.

It was announced on 23 April 2015 that Badstuber had ruptured his quadriceps muscle in a 6–1 Champions League quarter-final second leg win against Porto and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

He finished the 2015–16 season with nine appearances.

On 10 January 2017, Badstuber joined Schalke 04 on loan until the end of the 2016–17 Bundesliga season.

Badstuber made his debut for the Königsblauen on 4 February 2017 against his parent club, playing 59 minutes as Bayern were held to a 1–1 draw in Munich.

On 1 March 2017, Badstuber was sent off for two yellow card offences on his second return to the Allianz Arena as Schalke lost 3–0 to Bayern in the quarter-final of the DFB-Pokal.

On 4 August 2017, a few weeks after being released by Bayern Munich, Badstuber announced his return to VfB Stuttgart, the club for whom he played as a young teenager, on a free transfer.

On the same day, it was confirmed by FC Bayern that Badstuber had signed a contract extension with the club lasting until 2018.

In the first half of the season, Badstuber had made only one Bundesliga appearance, one DFB-Pokal appearance, and one Champions League appearance for Bayern.