Bastian Schweinsteiger (born August 1, 1984 in
Kolbermoor, Bavaria, Germany) is a professional
footballer from Germany who currently plays in
midfield for Bayern Munich. Bastian's older brother,
Tobias, currently plays for the German third
division club VfB Luebeck.
Schweinsteiger signed for Bayern Munich as a youth
team player on July 1, 1998 and rose through the
club's youth sides. A talented youth ski racer, he
had to decide between pursuing a professional career
in skiing and football at the age of 14. Having won
the German youth championship in July 2002,
Schweinsteiger quickly earned a place in the
reserves, producing a string of solid third division
displays.
A left midfielder, He has a hard shot and is a
specialist at set pieces. After just two training
sessions with the first team, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld
gave Schweinsteiger his debut as a late substitute
in a UEFA Champions League game against RC Lens in
November 2002, and the youngster made an immediate
impact, creating a goal for Markus Feulner within
minutes. He signed a professional contract the
following month and went on to appear in 14
Bundesliga games in 2002-03, helping Bayern to a
league and cup double. The next season he played 26
Bundesliga games.
Schweinsteiger scored his first Bayern goal against
VfL Wolfsburg in September 2003.
Surprisingly sent back to Bayern's amateurs by new
coach Felix Magath at the beginning of the 2004-05
season despite his international exploits of the
summer in the Confederations Cup, Schweinsteiger
swiftly returned to play a role in the
double-winning campaign and scored in Bayern's
Champions League quarter-final first-leg defeat at
Chelsea FC.
He made his international debut in 2004 in a
friendly against Hungary. Bayern's number 31 earned
rave reviews for his Euro 2004 performances in
Portugal, showing combative skills and even setting
up the opening goal for Bayern teammate Michael
Ballack in Germany's 2-1 loss against the Czech
Republic.
He scored his first two international goals on June
8, 2005 against Russia and scored his first goal at
a major tournament against Tunisia on June 18, 2005
at the Confederations Cup in Germany. This was
followed up by two strikes in the third place
play-off game at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, also in
his home country. He almost performed a hat-trick
with his two goals and a Portuguese own goal, also
off his shot, by Petit, which led the Germans to a
third place win over Portugal in the 2006 FIFA World
Cup.
During Euro Cup 2008 qualifiers, he scored two goals
enroute to a 13-0 win over San Marino in San Marino.
He scored the third goal in Germany's 4-1 win over
Slovakia in Bratislava.
At the age of 22, he had already played 41 matches
for the German national team which is a record for
any German player, but it was broken by Lukas
Podolski. At the same age, Lothar Matthäus (German
all-time record holder with 150 caps) had only
played 13 times for the national team.
Schweinsteiger's 22-year-old teammate and friend
Lukas Podolski is coming close behind with currently
44 caps.
