Roman Weidenfeller facts for kids
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Weidenfeller with Borussia Dortmund in 2014
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 6 August 1980 | ||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Diez, West Germany | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m | ||||||||||||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||
| 1985–1996 | Sportfreunde Eisbachtal | ||||||||||||
| 1996–1998 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | ||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||
| 1998–2002 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern II | 51 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 1998–2002 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2002–2018 | Borussia Dortmund | 349 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2002–2018 | Borussia Dortmund II | 13 | (0) | ||||||||||
| Total | 419 | (0) | |||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||
| 1999–2001 | Germany U21 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2005 | Germany B | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||
| 2013–2015 | Germany | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||
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Honours
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Roman Weidenfeller (born August 6, 1980) is a German former professional footballer. He played as a goalkeeper for famous Bundesliga clubs like 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Borussia Dortmund. He also played for the Germany national football team.
Weidenfeller spent 16 seasons with Borussia Dortmund. During his time there, he won the Bundesliga (Germany's top football league) and the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) twice each. In 2014, he achieved a huge success by winning the FIFA World Cup with the German national team.
Contents
Club Career Highlights
Starting Out in Football
Roman Weidenfeller began his football journey playing for a youth team called Sportfreunde Eisbachtal. He showed great talent early on. After his strong performances at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship, he made his professional debut in 1997.
Time at Kaiserslautern
In 1998, Weidenfeller joined the youth team of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He later played for their second team. For the 2000–01 season, he was moved up to the main first team. However, he only played in six league games over two years.
Joining Borussia Dortmund
In 2002, Weidenfeller moved to Borussia Dortmund, who were the German champions at the time. He joined them for free, hoping to become the main goalkeeper after Jens Lehmann left for Arsenal in 2003. Weidenfeller had not been very happy at Kaiserslautern, where he was mostly a backup player. His first game for Dortmund was on December 17, 2003, against his old club, Kaiserslautern, which they lost 1–0.
In 2005, Roman had surgery on his left knee after an injury during training.
During the 2007–08 season, Weidenfeller faced a three-match ban and a fine. This was because of some comments he made during a match against Schalke 04. He later apologized for his words. He also missed the DFB-Pokal final that season due to a knee injury. His team lost the final to Bayern Munich.
Winning Trophies with Dortmund
Weidenfeller had great success with Dortmund. He helped them win the Bundesliga in 2011. The next season, in 2012, he helped them win both the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal (the German Cup). In the cup final, Dortmund beat Bayern Munich 5–2.
On May 6, 2013, Roman signed a new contract with Borussia Dortmund, which meant he would stay with the club until 2016. On July 27, 2013, he won the 2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund, beating rivals Bayern Munich 4–2.
Later, when a new manager, Thomas Tuchel, joined in 2015, a new goalkeeper, Roman Bürki, became the first choice. Weidenfeller then mostly played in the club's European matches.
He signed new contracts in 2016 and 2017, staying with Dortmund until 2018. At the end of the 2017–18 season, he retired from playing. He played his final game as a substitute for Bürki. Roman announced that he would continue to work for Dortmund in a different role. His special farewell match was held on September 7, 2018, at the Signal Iduna Park. In this game, "Roman & Friends" played against the "BVB All Stars," and Weidenfeller even scored two goals!
After retiring, Roman Weidenfeller stayed with Borussia Dortmund as an international ambassador. This means he helps represent the club around the world.
International Career
From 1999 to 2001, Roman Weidenfeller played three matches for the German national under-21 team.
In 2005, he was part of the German B-national team, also known as Team 2006. This team was created to help develop players for the 2006 FIFA World Cup which was held in Germany. However, he was not chosen for the final World Cup squad.
In November 2013, Weidenfeller was called up to the German national squad for the first time. He played his first game for Germany on November 19, 2013, against England at Wembley Stadium. This made him the oldest goalkeeper to debut for Germany.
He then played in friendly matches against Cameroon (a 2–2 draw) and Armenia (a 6–1 win).
Roman was chosen as a reserve goalkeeper behind Manuel Neuer for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The German team won the World Cup for the fourth time that year! Even though he was part of the winning team, Weidenfeller did not play in any matches during the tournament.
His final game for the German national team was in June 2015, against Gibraltar during the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches. He ended his international career with a total of five appearances for Germany.
Honours and Achievements
Roman Weidenfeller won many important titles during his career:
- Bundesliga (German League):
* Winner: 2010–11, 2011–12 (with Borussia Dortmund)
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup):
* Winner: 2012, 2017 (with Borussia Dortmund)
- German Supercup:
* Winner: 2008 (with Borussia Dortmund)
- DFL-Supercup:
* Winner: 2013 (with Borussia Dortmund)
- UEFA Champions League (Europe's biggest club competition):
* Runner-up: 2013 (with Borussia Dortmund)
- UEFA European Under-16 Championship:
* Bronze medal: 1997 (with Germany U16)
- FIFA World Cup:
* Winner: 2014 (with Germany national team)
See also
In Spanish: Roman Weidenfeller para niños
