Michael Ballack: the epitome of a model professional

Hardly anyone doubts Michael Ballack is the best German football player. The former manager of Ballack’s old club Bayer Leverkusen, Reiner Calmund has even compared the midfielder to Franz Beckenbauer because of his consummate elegance.

Calmund called the man from Saxony “The Little Kaiser” when he moved to the Rhine from 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1998. In the meantime, Ballack, who was born on 26 September 1976 in Görlitz close to the Polish border, has put his exceptional abilities to the test playing for Bayern Munich and the German national team. Experts are agreed, the role as captain of the German national is tailor-made for “Balle”.

After the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Michael Ballack, captain of the German national team, will move to Chelsea FC London after four years with Bayern Munich. (Photo: GES/Augenklick)

In July 2002 after the FIFA World Cup™ in Japan and Korea, Ballack was transferred for 6.3 million Euro from Leverkusen to Bayern. Bayer 04 only managed to finish the season in the runners-up spot or as losing finalists but in Munich the midfielder once again gained German Championship and DFB Cup winner’s medals. Just like at the start of his professional career in Kaiserslautern. But his biggest target is the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. The playmaker would like to accomplish something he was not able to achieve at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™. “To win the FIFA World Cup™ would be a dream,” said the captain after he led the German Football Association’s (DFB) team to third place at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005.

He was forced to watch the final against Brazil (0-2) in Yokohama on 30 June 2002 from the stands, as he was handed a yellow card in the semifinal against South Korea. It was bitter for him and almost even more so for the whole team as he had scored both goals in the 1-0 quarterfinal and semifinal wins against USA and South Korea respectively. Not only German fans feel that, had he played, a win against the Brazilians might well have been possible. Ballack is also miles away from making such predictions for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ after the FIFA World Cup™ runner-up’s none too convincing performances in their friendly matches. In the meantime, he is cautious about Germany’s FIFAWorld Cup™ chances: “We’ll see how mature the young team is.”

He has moved on to become the central figure in Germany’s international team. Head coach Jürgen Klinsmann appointed him captain of the last FIFA World Cup’s losing finalists in summer 2004. Ballack is the strategist, driving force and goal-scorer all in one person. Some experts consider him to be the only world class German outfield player. Franz Beckenbauer is not the only person that says he is currently the international game’s most dangerous goal-scoring midfielder. Ballack is especially dangerous with his head.

At the European Championships 2004, Ballack even had to act as “disguised front man” due to a lack of strikers. Whereby Ballack is at his strongest when coming from the deep as he can hit long telling passes from there. But there is a dispute as to his ideal role. At Bayern, coach Felix Magath also selected him in various positions when winning the 2005 championship. Ballack does not really mind where he plays. The main thing is that he can take on responsibility. Since he has been captain of the national team, his battling play has been even more exemplary than before. The term “model professional” seems to have been invented for Michael Ballack.

In spite of his exceptionally big popularity, the German behaves in a pleasantly “normal” manner off the pitch. Conceitedness is totally foreign to the intelligent man, who graduated from high school in Chemnitz with excellent grades. He not only fulfils the expectations of a “model athlete” and could seriously also cut a good figure as a mannequin on Haute Couture’s catwalks – but Ballack himself is indifferent to it all. Compliments please him but the best paid German footballer (estimated yearly income approx 9 million Euro) defines himself through success. It is why he will probably seek a new challenge after the 2006 FIFA World Cup™: officials at Bayern Munich are expecting him to move to Chelsea.

"FIFA WM" / "The World Cup Winners" - Germany

Here you can find more information about the trainer of the team from Germany...