Timo Hildebrand

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Personal information
Timo Hildebrand

Date of birth	April 5, 1979 (age 28)
Place of birth	Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	VfB Stuttgart
Number	1
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
July 1994-2007	VfB Stuttgart	188 (0)
National team²
April 2004-present	Germany	5 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 7, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Timo Hildebrand (born April 5, 1979 in Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) is a goalkeeper for VfB Stuttgart and the German national squad.

He has a reputation for impressive reflexes and substantial ability in 1-on-1 situations.

Hildebrand holds a Bundesliga record for keeping a clean sheet for 884 consecutive minutes in 2003/2004.

[edit] Club career

After starting his career at the little known FV Hofheim/Ried, Hildebrand joined the VfB Stuttgart youth team in 1994.

Since summer 2000, he is the number one goal keeper and contributed largely to Stuttgart's successes; particularly as part of what became known as "Stuttgart's young wild ones" team under coach Felix Magath, who, due to financial restraints had to rely on young players. Largely thanks to Hildebrand's steady performances, VfB Stuttgart mananged to be Bundesliga runners-up in 2003 and survived the Champions League group stage the following season.

Despite alleged offers from numerous European top clubs in recent seasons, Timo Hildebrand has stayed with the club and is much valued by the fans for his performances for Stuttgart both on and off the football pitch. However with his contract due to expire at the end of the 2006-07 season, speculation is linking Hildebrand with a move to Valencia CF. Some commentators have claimed that he has agreed a three-year contract with them. The same reports claimed that Hildebrand's compatriot and national team rival Robert Enke of Hannover 96 was being lined up as his replacement with the Swabian side.

In December 2006 he didn't accept the offer of VfB Stuttgart to extend his contract.^{[citation needed]}

After Enke declined the move to Stuttgart, the club signed Raphael Schäfer of Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Nürnberg as a replacement for Hildebrand from next season (2007/08).

[edit] International career

After making his debut for the German squad on 28 April 2004 in a friendly against Romania in Bucharest (which Germany lost 1-5), Hildebrand played his first match in an international tournament for Germany at the 2005 Confederations Cup against Argentina. As of now, Hildebrand has collected a total of 5 international caps, as well as 15 Under-21-caps.

He is considered one of Germany's rising stars and this is evident from the fact that he was selected as Germany's third-choice goalkeeper for the Euro 2004 in Portugal, the Confederations Cup 2005 in Germany, as well as for the 2006 World Cup. With Oliver Kahn having retired from the national team, Hildebrand has stepped up to become Germany's number two goalkeeper behind Arsenal's Jens Lehmann.

[edit] External links

VfB Stuttgart - Current Squad
1 Hildebrand \| 2 Beck \| 3 Osorio \| 5 Babbel \| 6 Meira \| 8 Bierofka \| 9 Streller \| 11 Hitzlsperger \| 12 Gerber \| 13 Pardo \| 14 Farnerud \| 15 Boka \| 16 Lauth \| 17 Delpierre \| 18 Cacau \| 19 Hilbert \| 21 Magnin \| 22 Gentner \| 23 Heinen \| 24 Nehrig \| 25 Da Silva \| 28 Khedira \| 30 Ikeng \| 31 Stolz \| 33 Gomez \| 35 Taşçı \| 41 Langer \| Manager: Armin Veh

	Germany squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Lehmann \| 2 Jansen \| 3 Friedrich \| 4 Huth \| 5 Kehl \| 6 Nowotny \| 7 Schweinsteiger \| 8 Frings \| 9 Hanke \| 10 Neuville \| 11 Klose \| 12 Kahn \| 13 Ballack \| 14 Asamoah \| 15 Hitzlsperger \| 16 Lahm \| 17 Mertesacker \| 18 Borowski \| 19 Schneider \| 20 Podolski \| 21 Metzelder \| 22 Odonkor \| 23 Hildebrand \| Coach: Klinsmann