Thomas Hitzlsperger

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] He appeared at the 2005 Confederations Cup, and also at the 2006 World Cup, where he failed to make it into Klinsmann's starting eleven, playing just 11 minutes of the third-place play-off match against Portugal. He scored his first international goals on 6 September 2006, in a European Championship qualifying game against San Marino. Hitzlsperger came on as a second half substitute to score Germany's 9th and 11th goals in the 13–0 win, [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500397&action=showSchema&lang=E&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat856&cHash=0e42f4d606
title = Statistics - San Marino 0:13 Germany
accessdate = 2008-04-22
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund] a record victory in European Championship qualifying matches. [Cite news
title = San Marino 0-13 Germany
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/5322128.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2006-09-06
accessdate = 2008-04-23]

Germany's coach Joachim Löw included Hitzlsperger in his squad for the finals of Euro 2008, but did not start him in any of the three group games. Hitzlsperger came on as a second-half substitute in the victories over Poland and Austria, and did not feature at all in the defeat to Croatia. [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500395&action=showSchema&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat882&lang=E&cHash=eb89f10a39
title = Statistics - Germany 2:0 Poland
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund] [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500395&action=showSchema&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat883&lang=E&cHash=d0af1140f9
title = Statistics - Croatia 2:1 Germany
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund] [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500395&action=showSchema&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat884&lang=E&cHash=7315d37455
title = Statistics - Austria 0:1 Germany
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund] In the knockout stages however, he started all three matches, helping his team to overcome Portugal in the quarter-finals and setting up Philipp Lahm for a 90th minute winner against Turkey in the semi. [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500395&action=showSchema&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat901&lang=E&cHash=d4de3a9755
title = Statistics - Portugal 2:3 Germany
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund] [cite web
date = 2008-06-25
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2008/7363524.stm
title = Germany 3-2 Turkey
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = BBC Sport] Germany were defeated 1–0 by Spain in the final, in which Hitzlsperger was substituted in the second half. [cite web
url = http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500395&action=showSchema&liga=Nationalmannschaft&matchid=dfbat904&lang=E&cHash=cd640c5b90
title = Statistics - Germany 0:1 Spain
accessdate = 2008-07-13
publisher = Deutscher Fußball-Bund]

International goals

::"Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:"

Life outside football

Hitzlsperger has an interest in economics, and whilst in England studied investment strategies, although he did not complete the course.Cite news
last = Honigstein
first = Raphael
title = Small Talk: Thomas Hitzlsperger
url = http://sport.guardian.co.uk/smalltalk/story/0,,2227220,00.html
publisher = guardian.co.uk
date = 2007-12-14
accessdate = 2008-04-21] He regularly visited the Bank of England to discuss finance with the bank's governor, Mervyn King, a lifelong Aston Villa fan. [Cite news
last = Chittenden
first = Maurice
title = Bank governor's secret sessions kept German player on the ball
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article706119.ece
publisher = TimesOnline
date = 2006-04-16
accessdate = 2008-04-21]

Hitzlsperger has blogged for "Störungsmelder", a site that encourages debate about xenophobia and racism in Germany.

In June 2007, Hitzlsperger split from his long-term girlfriend Inga, just one month before they were due to get married. [Cite news
title = Ein Monat vor Hochzeit: Liebes-Aus!
url = http://www.rp-online.de/public/article/gesellschaft/leute/446390/Ein-Monat-vor-Hochzeit-Liebes-Aus.html
publisher = Rheinische Post
date = 2007-06-08
accessdate = 2008-04-23
language = German]

Honours

With Stuttgart:
* Bundesliga (2006–07)

With Germany:
* Confederations Cup – 3rd place (2005)
* World Cup – 3rd place (2006)
* European Championships - Runner-up (2008)

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=21492|name=Thomas Hitzlsperger
* [http://fussballdaten.de/spieler/hitzlspergerthomas/ Career stats at fussballdaten.de] de icon
* [http://blog.zeit.de/stoerungsmelder/thomas-hitzlsperger Blog at Störungsmelder]