Heiko Westermann

Heiko Westermann (born 14 August 1983) is a former German footballer who played as a central defender.

Heiko Westermann
Westermann at practice with HSV in 2012
Personal information
Full name Heiko Westermann[1]
Date of birth (1983-08-14) 14 August 1983
Place of birth Alzenau, West Germany
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position(s) Centre back
Youth career
1988–1994 SG Schimborn
1994–1998 1. FC Hösbach
1998–2000 FC Bayern Alzenau
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2003 Greuther Fürth II 37 (1)
2002–2005 Greuther Fürth 83 (2)
2005–2007 Arminia Bielefeld 67 (5)
2007–2010 Schalke 04 92 (12)
2010–2015 Hamburger SV 159 (9)
2015–2016 Real Betis 20 (1)
2016–2017 Ajax 4 (0)
2016–2017 Ajax II 4 (0)
2017–2018 Austria Wien 19 (0)
National team
2003–2004 Germany U20 3 (0)
2003–2004 Germany U21 2 (0)
2008–2014 Germany 27 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:50, 28 April 2018 (UTC)

Club career

Greuther Fürth

Westermann began his professional career with 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth. He joined the senior squad in July 2002 but did not make his first appearance until 26 January 2003 in a 1–0 win over MSV Duisburg. He played a total of 83 league games in his three seasons with the club, scoring two goals.[2]

Arminia Bielefeld

Following the 2004–05 season, Westermann signed for recently promoted Bundesliga club Arminia Bielefeld. In his first season, he played in every single game for Bielefeld, including 34 league and five DFB-Pokal matches. The following season Westermann remained an integral part of the team, missing only one match.[3]

Schalke 04

He was transferred to Schalke in 2007 for a fee of €2.8 million. He played his first game for Schalke on 24 July in a Ligapokal fixture against 1. FC Nürnberg. Schalke won 4–2 with Westermann contributing one goal. Missing Schalke's first two league games through injury, Westermann made his Bundesliga debut for the club on 26 August 2007. He was substituted on in the 79th minute for Rafinha in a third round match against VfL Wolfsburg. For the remainder of the season, Westermann started all 31 of Schalke's Bundesliga matches. He was also instrumental in Schalke's Champions League campaign, being the only outfield player for the club to play every single minute.[4]

With new coach Fred Rutten taking charge of Schalke for the 2008–09 season, combined with his keen eye for goal, Westermann has often been positioned in midfield. The current season has been Westermann's highest scoring yet. He scored both goals in a 2–0 DFB-Pokal win over Hannover 96. He also scored a goal in three consecutive Bundesliga matches including the equalizing goal in a 1–1 draw against Werder Bremen and a game-winning goal against VfL Bochum.

Hamburg

In July 2010, Westermann agreed to a transfer to Hamburger SV, reportedly in the region of €7.5 million.[5] Despite being a new signing, he was named new captain by then HSV coach Armin Veh.[6] On 9 April 2013, following a run of bad results, including a 9–2 drubbing by Bayern Munich, Rafael van der Vaart was announced as Westermann's successor as the club's captain, in a bid to relieve him of mounting pressure.[7][8] On 25 June 2015, Hamburg confirmed Westermann's contract would not be renewed for the 2015–16 campaign.[9]

Betis

On 6 August 2015 Westermann signed a two-year deal with Real Betis, newly promoted to La Liga.[10] He received his first ever career red card on 28 November 2015 after his second bookable offence against Levante.[11]

Ajax

On 14 July 2016, it was announced that Westermann had signed a two-year deal with Eredivisie side Ajax.[12] However, he was used sparingly, so he worked as a youth coach during his time there.[13]

Austria Wien

Shortly after his contract with Ajax had been dissolved, Westermann signed a two-year deal with Austrian side Austria Wien.[14]

He announced his departure from the club along with the end of his active player career in April 2018.[15]

International career

On 31 January 2008, Westermann was first called up by Germany's manager Joachim Löw for the friendly on 6 February 2008 at Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion against Austria.[16] Germany won the match 3–0 and Westermann was in the starting eleven and played 90 minutes.[17] Westermann was part of the German team that finished in second place at Euro 2008. On 2 June 2009, Westermann scored the first international goal in Germany's 7–2 rout against United Arab Emirates national football team. He was part of Germany's preliminary selection for the World Cup 2010, but had to pull out because of an injury suffered in a friendly against Hungary.[18] He has been capped 27 times by Germany and has scored four goals for them since 2008.[19]

International goals
Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first.
GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.6 September 2008Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein Liechtenstein6–06–02010 FIFA WCQ
2.2 June 2009Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates1–07–2Friendly
3.7 September 2010RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany Azerbaijan1–06–1Euro 2012 Q
4.2 June 2013RFK Stadium, Washington, USA United States1–23–4Friendly

Career statistics

Club
As of matches played on 5 December 2017.
ClubSeasonLeagueCup1Continental2Other3Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Greuther Fürth2002–032. Bundesliga16000—160
2003–0434041381
2005–0633221353
Totals83262—894
Arminia Bielefeld2005–06Bundesliga34250—392
2006–0733310345
Totals67560—735
Schalke 042007–08Bundesliga3243110021476
2007–083364281—459
2009–1027241—313
Totals92121141812112318
Hamburger SV2010–11Bundesliga34220——362
2011–1233131362
2012–1334310353
2013–143033020353
2014–152802110311
Totals1599112—3017311
Real Betis2015–16La Liga20100——201
Ajax2016–17Eredivisie40103080
Jong Ajax2016–17Eerste Divisie40—40
Austria Wien2017–18Bundesliga (Austria)1002070190
Career totals439293782815150939
Reference:[20]

Honours

International
Germany

Club
Ajax

Personal

Westermann's wife is named Irina, they married in June 2007.[21] In May 2008, the couple had their first daughter, Lana.[21] In October 2010, Nikita, their second daughter was born.[22]

gollark: Are you sure they don't just unconditionally print that?
gollark: Hmm. It is possible that trying to use the smallest possible implementation ever is NOT perfect and without flaw.
gollark: Well, I would have to release it publicly because, you know, it would go on my website and all.
gollark: Where is it?
gollark: I could really use it, for purposes.

References
  1. "H. Westermann". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  2. Arnhold, Matthias (28 August 2018). "Heiko Westermann - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  3. "Heiko Westermann match log". soccerway.com. March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  4. "5 - Heiko Westermann". UEFA. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  5. "Westermann leaves Schalke to join Hamburg". ESPN Soccernet. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
  6. "kicker.tv: K-Frage beantwortet – Westermann HSV-Kapitän". kicker TV (in German). 13 August 2010. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
  7. "Van der Vaart handed Hamburg captaincy". espnfc.com. 9 April 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  8. "Van der Vaart neuer HSV-Kapitän". kicker (in German). 9 April 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  9. "Vielen Dank und alles Gute, Heiko!". Hamburger SV (in German). 25 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  10. "El Real Betis firma a Westermann para las dos próximas temporadas" [Real Betis signs Westermann for the following two seasons] (in Spanish). Betis' official website. 6 August 2015. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  11. "European football: Unwanted records and Suarez set in stone". BBC Sport. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  12. "Ajax contracteert Heiko Westermann". Ajax (in Dutch). 14 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  13. Aalbers, Dave (8 May 2019). "Heiko Westermann over autoritjes met De Ligt en bankzitten bij Ajax". vice.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  14. "Westermann verlaat Ajax en tekent bij Austria Wien". NOS (in Dutch). 3 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  15. "Heiko Westermann beendet seine Karriere". mopo.de. 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  16. "Löw holt Westermann". kicker online (in German). 31 January 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  17. "Löw-Elf ohne Glanz". kicker online (in German). 6 February 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  18. "World Cup 2010: Germany defender Heiko Westermann ruled out with foot injury". Telegraph. 31 May 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2009.
  19. Arnhold, Matthias (28 August 2018). "Heiko Westermann - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  20. "Heiko Westermann » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  21. "So tickt der neue HSV-Star". Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  22. "Glückwunsch: Westermann zum zweiten Mal Papa". Hamburger SV (in German). 20 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Mladen Krstajić		 Schalke 04 captain
2009-2010		 Succeeded by
Manuel Neuer
Preceded by
David Jarolím		 Hamburg captain
2010-2013		 Succeeded by
Rafael van der Vaart
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