Schalke 04

Wappen of Schalke 04
Full name	Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V.
Nickname(s)	Die Königsblauen (The Royal Blues) Die Schlacke (The Slag) Die Knappen (The Miners)
Founded	4 May 1904; 108 years ago  (1904-05-04)
Ground	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen (Capacity: 61,673[1])
President	Clemens Tönnies
Coach	Huub Stevens
League	Bundesliga
2011–12	Bundesliga, 3rd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as simply FC Schalke 04 or Schalke (German pronunciation: [ˈʃalkə]), is a German association-football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Schalke has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major successes have been rare since the club's heyday in the 1930s and early 1940s. The football team is the biggest part of a large sports club with more than 100,000 members (August 2011) making it the second largest sports club in Germany. Other activities offered by the club include basketball, handball, and track and field.

Schalke won its first major European trophy in 1997 by defeating Internazionale on penalty kicks in the final of the UEFA Cup. Since 2001, Schalke's stadium is the Veltins-Arena. Schalke holds a long-standing rivalry with Borussia Dortmund, and matches between the two teams are referred to as the Revierderby. The mascot of the club is called Erwin (also Ährwin.)

History[link]

Schalke's early years[link]

The club was founded on 4 May 1904 as Westfalia Schalke by a group of high school students and first wore the colors red and yellow. The team was unable to gain admittance to the Westdeutscher Spielverband and played in one of the "wild associations" of early German football. In 1912, after years of failed attempts to join the official league, they merged with the gymnastic club Schalker Turnverein 1877 in order to facilitate their entry. This arrangement held up until 1915 when SV Westfalia Schalke was re-established as an independent club. The separation proved short-lived and the two came together again in 1919 as Turn- und Sportverein Schalke 1877. The new club won its first honours in 1923 as champions of the Schalke Kreisliga. It was around this time that Schalke picked up the nickname Die Knappen –from an old German word for "miners"– because the team drew so many of its players and supporters from the coalmine workers of Gelsenkirchen.

In 1924, the football team parted ways with the gymnasts once again, this time taking the club chairman along with them. They took the name FC Schalke 04 and adopted the now familiar blue and white uniforms from which their second nickname would derive – Die Königsblauen (English: The Royal Blues). The following year, the club became the dominant local side, on the basis of based on a style of play that used short, sharp, man-to-man passing to move the ball. This system would later become famous as the Schalker Kreisel (English: spinning top; gyroscope). In 1927, it carried them into the top-flight Gauliga Ruhr, onto the league championship, and then into the opening rounds of the national finals.

Rise to dominance[link]

The popular club built a new stadium, the Glückauf-Kampfbahn, in 1928, and acknowledged the city's support by renaming themselves FC Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04. They won their first West German championship in 1929, but the following year were sanctioned for exceeding salary levels set by the league and, in an era that considered professionalism in sport to be anathema, found themselves banned from play for nearly half a year.

However, the ban had little impact on the team's popularity: in their first game after the ban against Fortuna Düsseldorf, in June 1931, the team drew 70,000 to its home ground. The club's fortunes begun to rise from 1931 and they made a semi-final appearance in the 1932 German championship, losing 1–2 to Eintracht Frankfurt. The year after, the club went all the way to the final, where Fortuna Düsseldorf proved the better side, winning 3–0.^[2]

With the re-organisation of German football in 1933, under Nazi Germany, Schalke found themselves in the Gauliga Westfalen, one of sixteen top-flight divisions established to replace the innumerable regional and local leagues, all claiming top status. This league saw Schalke's most successful decade in their history: from 1933 to 1942 the club would appear in 14 of 18 national finals (10 in the German championship and 8 in the Tschammerpokal, the predecessor of today's German Football Association Cup) and win their league in every one of its eleven seasons.

The club never lost a home game in Gauliga Westfalen in all these eleven seasons and only lost six away games, while remaining entirely unbeaten in the seasons 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1940–41 and 1942–43; a clear sign of the club's dominance.^[3]

The championship years 1934–42[link]

Schalke's first national title came in 1934 with a 2–1 victory over favourites Nuremberg. The next year, they successfully defended their title against VfB Stuttgart in a 6–4 win. The club missed the 1936 final, but would make appearances in the championship match in each of the next six years, coming away victorious in 1937, 1939, 1940, and 1942. Three of those national finals were against Austrian teams –Admira Vienna, Rapid Vienna, and First Vienna– which played in Germany's Gauliga Ostmark after Austria's incorporation into the Reich through the 1938 Anschluss.

Die Königsblauen also made frequent appearances in the final of the Tschammerpokal, but enjoyed much less success there. They lost the inaugural Tschammerpokal 0:2 to Nūrnberg in 1935. They also made failed appearances in the 1936, 1941, and 1942 finals with their only Cup victory coming in 1937 against Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Over a dozen seasons, from 1933 to 1945, Schalke won 162 of 189 Gauliga matches, drawing 21 and losing only 6. On the way, they scored 924 goals and gave up just 145. From 1935 to 1939, they did not lose a single league match. The club's dominance throughout this period led them to be held up for propaganda purposes by the Nazi regime, as an example of "new Germany". This was despite the fact that many players were descended from Polish immigrants, most notably the two stars of the team, Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kuzorra.

Post-war football[link]

With Germany in chaos towards the end of World War II, Schalke played just two matches in 1945. They resumed regular play following the war and, for a time, continued to compete as a strong side. They set a record in a national championship round match with a 20–0 drubbing of SpVgg Herten, but that spoke more to the weakened condition of German football than the ability of the team. Schalke's play fell off and the best they could manage in the new Oberliga West in 1947 was a sixth place finish: within two years they slipped to 12th place.

It would take Schalke until the mid-50s to recover their form. They finished third in a tight three-way race for the 1954 Oberliga West title, decided on the last day of the season. The following year, they appeared in the German Cup final, where they lost 2–3 to Karlsruher SC. The club's next German championship came in 1958, with a 3–0 victory over Hamburger SV.

This is Schalke's last national-championship title to date.

Entry to the Bundesliga[link]

Schalke continued to play well, delivering a number of top four finishes, in the years leading up to the 1963 formation of the Bundesliga, West Germany's new federal, professional league. Those results earned them selection as one of sixteen sides admitted to the top-flight league.

Their first years in the Bundesliga were difficult. In 1965, they escaped relegation only through the expansion of the league to eighteen teams. A number of finishes at the lower ends the league table followed, before a marked improvement in 1972, culminating in a second place finish to Bayern Munich and after having led the league for much of the season. In the same season, Schalke won the German Cup for the second time in its history.

The Bundesliga Scandal of 1971[link]

Despite their improved results, the seeds of a major reversal had already been sown. A number of the team's players and officials were accused of accepting bribes as part of the widespread Bundesliga scandal of 1971. Investigation showed that Schalke had deliberately played to lose their 17 May, 28th-round match against Arminia Bielefeld by a score of 0–1. As a result, several Schalke players were banned for life, including three —Klaus Fischer, "Stan" Libuda and Klaus Fichtel— who were with the German national team of the time.

Even though the penalties were later commuted to bans ranging from six months to two years, the scandal had a profound effect on what might have possibly become one of the dominant German teams of the 1970s.

Crisis and recovery[link]

Schalke players celebrate winning the DFB-Pokal in 2002

In 1973, the club moved to the Parkstadion, newly built for the 1974 World Cup and having a capacity of 70,000 spectators. In the wake of the scandal, the club's performance was uneven. They managed another second place result in 1977, finishing just one point behind champions Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the early 1980s Die Knappen ran into trouble and found themselves relegated to the second division of the Bundesliga for the 1981–82 season and, after promotion, again in 1983–84. They returned to the top flight in 1984 but slipped once more to the second tier in 1988. They returned to the Bundesliga in the 1991–92 season and have stayed in the top flight ever since.

The club earned their first honours since the German Cup win of 1972 with a victory in the final of the 1997 UEFA Cup over Italian side Internazionale on penalties. Coached by the dutch coach Huub Stevens, the 1997 Schalke squad earned the nickname "Euro Fighters", which is still in use among fans. Stevens, who was widely unknown in Germany at the time, quickly earned himself a cult following among the Schalke supporters.

Stevens successfully implemented a system of rigid discipline, especially in the defense. His Motto Die Null muß stehen. (engl.: The Nil has to be), emphasizing the importance of not conceeding any goals, has found its way into everyday language in Germany.

The turn of the millennium has seen much stronger performances from Schalke. During the 1990s and early 2000, the club underwent a successful transformation into a modern, commercial sports organization and established itself as one of the dominant teams of the Bundesliga. Schalke captured consecutive German Cups in 2001–02, and earned second place finishes in the Bundesliga in 2001, 2005 and 2007. The 2001 season finish was heartbreaking for Schalke's supporters as it took a goal in the 4th minute of injury time by Bayern Munich away to Hamburg to snatch the title from Die Königsblauen.

Current[link]

Fans displaying their colours at Veltins-Arena.

The last few years have been more successful for Schalke, who finished in the second place in 2005, a result that led to Schalke making its second appearance in the UEFA Champions League. There, Schalke finished in 3rd place during the group stage and continuing into the UEFA Cup, where they were eliminated by the eventual winners Sevilla in the semi-finals. In 2006, Schalke finished in 4th place in the Bundesliga and a year later they once again finished as runners-up (for the 3rd time in 7 seasons).

Raúl is the all-time top goalscorer in all European club competitions

In the 2007–08 season, Schalke progressed past the Champions League group stage for the first time and advanced to the quarter-finals after beating Porto on penalties in the round of 16. They were stopped by FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals, losing both home and away games 0–1.

On 9 October 2006, Russian oil company Gazprom became the club's new sponsor. The company stated it expects to invest as much as €125 million in the club over a 5½ year period.^[4] Gazprom's sponsorship has been seen by some analysts as a politically motivated attempt to buy friendship in Germany.^[5] Within this sponsorship, Schalke 04 and FC Zenit Saint Petersburg signed a "partnership agreement." Both clubs intend to work closely on improving football-related issues.

On 13 April 2008, the club announced the dismissal of manager Mirko Slomka after a heavy defeat at the hands of Werder Bremen and elimination from the Champions League. Former players Mike Büskens and Youri Mulder were put in charge of the first team on an interim basis.

For the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, Schalke signed a new head coach, Fred Rutten, previously the manager of Dutch team Twente. Rutten signed a contract running until June 2010.^[6] In March 2009, Rutten was sacked and, once more, Mike Büskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck took over the helm.

On 1 July 2009, Felix Magath, who had led VfL Wolfsburg to the top of the table in the Bundesliga, became Head Coach and General Manager of the Royal Blues. On 16 March 2011, Magath was sacked and replaced with Ralf Rangnick, who previously, between 2004 and 2005, had a brief spell being in charge of the team. Within just weeks of his appointment, Rangnick masterminded a 5–2 victory over Inter Milan at the San Siro during the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Schalke advanced to the semifinals where they lost 2–0 to Manchester United in the first leg and 4–1 in the second leg.^[7]

On 22 September 2011, Ralf Rangnick announced his immediate resignation as head coach of Schalke 04 due to long-term exhaustion.^[8] Assistant coach Seppo Eichkorn coached the team as Interim Manager until the appointment of Huub Stevens on 27 September 2011. Stevens' contract is to run until 30 June 2013.^[9]

Despite having legendary status among Schalke supporters, Stevens' return to Schalke was met with some scepticism as fans feared that Stevens, who coached Schalke to the 1997 UEFA Cup win with a rigidly defensive system, could ditch Rangnicks system of attacking play in favour of returning to the 1997 defensive antics. ^[10] The doubts of the supporters proved unfounded. Although Schalke played a somewhat inconsistent season, they reached third place in the Bundesliga and therefore direct qualification for the UEFA Champions League.

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Stadium[link]

The Veltins-Arena

Schalke's stadium, known as the Veltins-Arena under a sponsorship agreement with Veltins brewery, was completed in the summer of 2001 and has a capacity of 61,673 spectators. Schalke regularly draws sell-out crowds to what is widely regarded as one of the most modern and best multi-use facilities in Europe. The facility was previously known as the Arena AufSchalke and replaced the Parkstadion (capacity 62,000) built in 1973. Prior to this the club had played its matches in the Glückauf-Kampfbahn constructed in 1928 with a capacity of 35,000. The facility was used for amateur matches during its latter years with a reduced capacity of just 5,000.

Club songs[link]

Blau und weiß, wie lieb ich Dich ("Blue and White, How I Love You") and Königsblauer S04 ("Royal Blue S04") are the official club songs.

Popular, unofficial chants are

• Ein Leben lang, Blau und Weiß ein Leben lang ("a life-long, blue and white a life-long"),
• Kennst du den Mythos vom Schalker Markt?! ("Do you know the Myth of the Schalke Market?!"), sung to the melody of "Haben Sie Gehört Das Deutsche Band" from The Producers.
• Opa Pritschikowski ("Grandpa Pritschikowski"),
• Wir sind Schalker ("We are Schalke"),
• Schalke ist die Macht ("Schalke is the Power"), and
• Steht auf, wenn ihr Schalker seid ("Stand up if you're Schalke"), sung to the melody of "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys (itself a cover of a Village People song).

Honours[link]

2002 German Cup trophy, damaged during celebrations of Schalke's victory.

German championship

• Winners – 1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1941–42, 1957–58
• Runners-up – 1932–33, 1937–38, 1940–41, 1971–72, 1976–77, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10

DFB-Pokal

• Winners – 1937, 1972, 2001, 2002, 2011
• Runners-up – 1935, 1936, 1941, 1942, 1955, 1969, 2005

DFL-Supercup

• Winners – 2011
• Runners-up – 1940, 2010

DFB-Ligapokal

• Winners – 2005
• Runners-up – 2001, 2002, 2007

UEFA Cup

• Winners – 1997

UEFA Intertoto Cup

• Winners – 2003, 2004

2. Fußball-Bundesliga

• Winners – 1981–82, 1990–91

Fuji-Cup (unofficial tournament)

• Winners – 1996

Coppa delle Alpi (Tournament of the Italian Association)

• Winners – 1968

Oberliga West

• Winners – 1951, 1958

Western German football cup

• Winners – 1955

Western German football championship

• Winners – 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933
• Runners-up – 1927

Ruhrbezirk Championship

• Winners – 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933

Gauliga Westfalen

• Winners – 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944

Westphalia Cup

• Winners – 1943, 1944

Youth[link]

• Under 19 Fußball-Bundesliga
  • Champions: 1976, 2006
  • Runners-up: 1975, 1980, 1981
• Under 17 Fußball-Bundesliga
  • Champions: 1978, 2002
  • Runners-up: 1977, 1980
• Under 19 Bundesliga West
  • Champions: 2006

Players[link]

Current squad[link]

For recent transfers, see List of German football transfers summer 2011 and List of German football transfers winter 2011–12. Manager: Horst Heldt

Coach: Huub Stevens

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Ralf Fährmann 2 DF Hans Sarpei 3 DF Sergio Escudero 4 DF Benedikt Höwedes (captain) 6 DF Tim Hoogland 7 FW Raúl González (vice-captain) 8 FW Ciprian Marica 10 MF Lewis Holtby 11 MF Alexander Baumjohann 12 DF Marco Höger 13 MF Jermaine Jones 14 MF Kyriakos Papadopoulos 17 FW Jefferson Farfán 18 MF José Manuel Jurado 19 FW Chinedu Obasi 20 FW Teemu Pukki

No. Position Player 21 DF Christoph Metzelder 22 DF Atsuto Uchida 23 DF Christian Fuchs 24 MF Peer Kluge 25 FW Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 26 FW Andreas Wiegel 28 MF Christoph Moritz 30 MF Levan Kenia 31 MF Julian Draxler 32 MF Joël Matip 33 GK Mathias Schober 34 GK Timo Hildebrand 35 DF Sead Kolasinac 36 GK Lars Unnerstall 40 GK Robin Himmelmann

Players out on loan[link]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 9 FW Edu (at Beşiktaş J.K.) 16 MF Jan Morávek (at FC Augsburg) 19 FW Mario Gavranović (at 1. FSV Mainz 05) 27 MF Ciprian Deac (at Rapid Bucureşti)

No. Position Player 40 MF Anthony Annan (at Vitesse) DF Carlos Zambrano (at FC St. Pauli) MF Vasileios Pliatsikas (at MSV Duisburg)

Retired numbers[link]

7 - Raúl, Forward (2010-12) ^[11]

FC Schalke 04 U23 squad[link]

Manager: Bernhard Trares

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Christian Görres GK Robin Himmelmann DF Frank Fahrenhorst (captain) DF Alban Sabah DF Jeffrey Volkmer DF Kenan Kedem DF Richard Ziff DF Nils Zander MF Dominik Ernst MF Felix Frank MF Nadav Müller MF Zlatko Muhović

No. Position Player MF Kevin Rodrigues Pires DF Daniel Vale MF Dominik Stommel MF Eren Taskin MF Manuel Torres FW Jonas Erwig-Drüppel FW Philipp Hofmann FW Ideal Iberdemaj FW Alexander Langlitz FW David Loheider FW Timmy Thiele FW Andreas Wiegel

Notable former players[link]

To celebrate the 100th birthday of the club, the supporters voted for Schalker Jahrhundertelf, the "Team of the Century":^[12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Norbert Nigbur DF Klaus Fichtel DF Rolf Rüssmann DF Olaf Thon MF Marc Wilmots MF Fritz Szepan MF Ernst Kuzorra MF Ingo Anderbrügge FW Stan Libuda FW Klaus Fischer FW Rüdiger Abramczik

Records[link]

Most appearances     Player Apps 1 FichtelKlaus Fichtel 477 2 NigburNorbert Nigbur 355 3 RüssmannRolf Rüssmann 304 4 FischerKlaus Fischer 295 5 ThonOlaf Thon 295 6 LütkebohmertHerbert Lütkebohmert 286 7 AsamoahGerald Asamoah 277 8 BüskensMike Büskens 257 9 NemecJiří Němec 256 10 EigenrauchYves Eigenrauch 229

Top scorers     Player Goals 1 FischerKlaus Fischer 182 2 SandEbbe Sand 74 3 KuranyiKevin Kurányi 70 4 HuntelaarKlaas-Jan Huntelaar 61 5 ThonOlaf Thon 52 6 KremersErwin Kremers 50 7 AnderbruggeIngo Anderbrügge 46 8 KremersHelmut Kremers 45 9 AbramczikRüdiger Abramczik 44 10 AsamoahGerald Asamoah 44

In popular culture[link]

Schalke has been subject of a feature-length film called Fußball ist unser Leben ("Football is our life"), shown in 1999. Actors Uwe Ochsenknecht and Ralf Richter, both of whom were in the award-winning film Das Boot played the main roles, while many persons associated with Schalke had cameo roles, such as manager Rudi Assauer, coaches Huub Stevens and Helmut Schulte, and player Yves Eigenrauch. Also featured were prominent fans like Manfred Breuckmann, Ulrich Potofski or DJ Hooligan.^[13] The film is a comedy about "Hans", a Schalke fanatic, and his three pals who somehow get involved in kidnapping and trying to bring back to form the team's new star player "Di Ospeo" and in the process bet Hans' house that their idol will score in the final game.^[13] Some critics considered Football is our life to be "one of the worst German comedies ever."^[13]

"Schalke" is mentioned in the film Das Boot when the bosun tells the crew in their ward room "I got bad news for you men. Schalke lost 5–0, looks like we won't be in the final this year."

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: FC Schalke 04

• Official website (English) (German) (Russian)
• FC Schalke 04 on Facebook
• Official site of Schalke's Veltins Arena
• The Abseits Guide to German Soccer

Kevin-Prince Boateng

Kevin-Prince Boateng in October 2011.
Personal information
Full name	Kevin-Prince Boateng
Date of birth	(1987-03-06) 6 March 1987 (age 25)
Place of birth	Berlin, Germany
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Milan
Number	27
Youth career
1994	Reinickendorfer Füchse
1994–2005	Hertha BSC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2007	Hertha BSC II	29	(5)
2005–2007	Hertha BSC	42	(4)
2007–2009	Tottenham Hotspur	14	(0)
2009	→ Borussia Dortmund (loan)	10	(0)
2009–2010	Portsmouth	22	(3)
2010–	Milan	45	(8)
National team‡
2001–2002	Germany U15	4	(1)
2002–2003	Germany U16	10	(3)
2003–2004	Germany U17	10	(1)
2004–2005	Germany U19	9	(4)
2005–2006	Germany U20	2	(0)
2006–2007	Germany U21	6	(0)
2010–2011	Ghana	9	(1)
Honours Football Tottenham Hotspur Winner League Cup 2008 A.C. Milan Winner Serie A 2011 Winner Supercoppa Italiana 2011
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 6 May 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 June 2011

Kevin-Prince Boateng ( /ˈboʊtɛŋ/ BOH-teng) (born 6 March 1987), is a German-born Ghanaian professional footballer, who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Milan.^[2] Boateng plays with his middle name, Prince, on his shirt.^[3] He played nine games for Ghanaian national team after appearing for Germany's under-15s to their under-21s; he retired from international football on 4 November 2011.^[4] Boateng is known for his strength, footspeed, ball-juggling tricks and offensive abilities.^[5][6] Boateng has received praise from George Weah for his attributes^[7] and Dejan Savićević has branded him as one of Europe's best footballers.^[8]

Club career[link]

Hertha BSC II and Hertha BSC[link]

Boateng started his career with the youth club Reinickendorfer Füchse and was with Hertha from 1 July 1994, when he was just seven years old, to 31 July 2007.

2004–05 season

After emerging from the youth team set-up, he played for the reserves for two seasons. He was twice sent off during his term with the reserves and then won a call-up to the first team squad in the 2005–06 season.

2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons

Boateng made his first team debut against Eintracht Frankfurt in the second round of the 2005–06 Bundesliga season, being brought on at the beginning of the second half, he then impressed during the game, and was on the fringe of the first team from then on, despite barely being 18 years old at the time. Boateng continued his rise, and started his first Bundesliga match in the 2–2 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 14th round of the Bundesliga season.

Boateng stated that he identifies Pelé and Rivaldo as his role models, occasionally imitating the Brazilian duo with crowd-pleasing moments while he was with Hertha.^[5][10] His love of playing to the gallery would draw applause, but had also attracted a fair share of criticism too. The Germany Under-19 coach, Uli Stielike criticized him for it. Boateng has since cut down on those antics.^[5]

On 27 July 2006, Boateng was awarded the Fritz Walter Gold Medal in the Under-19 category. The medal is awarded on the basis of performances for the German Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 national teams. A jury consisting of German Football Association (DFB), youth coaches, and members of the DFB Board, put Boateng top of the poll.^[11] Sport director Matthias Sammer and DFB coach Horst Hrubesch honored the talented player with the gold prize winner award and the €20,000 prize-money^[12] at the Stadtbauraum, Gelsenkirchen in Germany on 16 August 2006. Boateng also won the Bronze Medal Award in the Under-18 category in 2005.

Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund (loan)[link]

Boateng signed a contract with Tottenham Hotspur in July 2007, for a reported fee of £5.4 million.^[13][14] He played his first match in the Premier League on 3 November 2007, against Middlesbrough. With the departure of Tottenham manager Martin Jol, and the arrival of Juande Ramos and several high profile players, Boateng was pushed out of the first team and into the reserves.^[15] Boateng returned to the first team the following season under new coach Harry Redknapp^[16] before being loaned out during the January transfer window of 2009 to Borussia Dortmund for the remainder of the season.^[17] Boateng then returned to Tottenham at the end of the 2008–09 season. His last game for Tottenham came as a substitute in the club's 5–1 win in the Football League Cup over Doncaster Rovers in August 2009.^[18]

Portsmouth[link]

Boateng signed a three-year contract with Portsmouth in August 2009, for a fee of £4 million.^[19][20] He scored his first Portsmouth goal in a 3–2 loss against Bolton Wanderers^[21] and was named Portsmouth's Player of the Month in September 2009.^[22]

With Portsmouth, Boateng reached the 2010 FA Cup Final, where they met Chelsea. In the 1–0 defeat Boateng fouled Michael Ballack,^[23] causing partially torn right ankle ligaments^[24] which ruled the German captain out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup,^[25] which as a result was also the end of Ballack's international football career. Boateng then had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Petr Čech in the 54th minute of the match.^[26] At end of the match Boateng apologized for the tackle on Ballack.^[27]

Milan[link]

Boateng transferred to Italian Serie A club Genoa C.F.C. on 17 August 2010, for €5.75 million,^[28] and immediately joined Milan on loan.^[29][30] However, as anticipated by Milan CEO Adriano Galliani, the contract was later switched from loan to co-ownership, for €5.25 million (in cash plus player deal). As part of the contract, Giacomo Beretta moved to Genoa C.F.C., in co-ownership deal for €4 million.^[31]

Boateng made his competitive debut for Milan on 29 August 2010 in their 4–0 win against Lecce after coming on in the 75th minute. On 15 September 2010, Boateng made his debut in the UEFA Champions League for Milan in their 2–0 win against AJ Auxerre at the San Siro, coming on in the 15th minute for Massimo Ambrosini. His first goal for the club came in a 3–0 win against Brescia. In May 2011, Milan purchased full economic rights to Boateng from Genoa.^[32][33] On October 23 he scored three goals for Milan against Lecce in a comeback after going down 0-3 at half time. Milan won the match 4-3. On 23 November, Boateng scored a spectacular goal in a Champions League match against F.C. Barcelona at the San Siro. On 15 February, Boateng scored the opening goal in a 4–0 home win against Arsenal at the San Siro in the Round of 16 of UEFA Champions League 2011-12.

Career statistics[link]

As of 13 May 2012.