Thorsten Legat

Thorsten Legat (born 7 November 1968) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Thorsten Legat
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-11-07) 7 November 1968
Place of birth Bochum, West Germany
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
0000–1984 TuS Vorwärts Werne
1984–1986 VfL Bochum
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1991 VfL Bochum 107 (9)
1991–1994 Werder Bremen 70 (4)
1994–1995 Eintracht Frankfurt 22 (2)
1995–1999 VfB Stuttgart 40 (0)
2000–2001 Schalke 04 4 (0)
Total 243 (15)
National team
1988 West Germany U21 1 (0)
Teams managed
2005–2006 Werder Bremen (youth)
2008–2009 TuRa Rüdinghausen
2011 Bergisch Gladbach 09 (youth)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He only competed in the Bundesliga during his 15-year senior career, amassing totals of 243 games and 15 goals and representing mainly Bochum (five years) and Stuttgart (four).

Football career

Born in Bochum, Legat started professionally at hometown's VfL Bochum, making his Bundesliga debut on 6 September 1987 (not yet 19) in a 1–1 home draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and became an essential first-team member in the following seasons.

After a spectacular 1990–91 – 31 matches, seven goals, being crucial in helping Bochum retain its top division status – Legat signed with SV Werder Bremen: facing stiffer competition, he still managed to play nearly 100 official games in three seasons, and also helped the club win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in his debut campaign, although he did not play in the final against AS Monaco FC.

Legat then spent one season at Eintracht Frankfurt, playing as a defensive complement to Augustine Okocha, then moved south for VfB Stuttgart. With the latter, he began suffering from injuries, undergoing two Achilles tendon surgeries.

Additionally, Legat was involved in a racist incident with Guinean Pablo Thiam, a teammate, in early 1999.[1] He was immediately released, only appearing 40 times in four years combined, and spent two more injury-ravaged years at FC Schalke 04, subsequently retiring.

In 2005–06, Legat spent one year coaching Werder's under-19 side. The following year, he would be involved in another incident, in which he brandished a samurai sword to a group of youngsters after being threatened alongside his wife, slightly hitting one in the head.[2]

Off the field

Violence

In his time as an active player, Legate's career was overshadowed several times by derailments off the court. So he put a man into the hospital, for example, in New Year's Eve 1996/97 in Bochum after he had threatened him.[3]

In June 2007, Legat made headlines when he fell in the parking lot of a Remscheid fast food chain branch in dispute with a group of young people who allegedly molested him. As a result, Legat pulled a Samurai sword, which earned him a legal proceeding for attempted dangerous bodily injury. The proceeding was stopped in December 2008 against a payment of an amount of 1000 euro to a charitable institution.[4]

TV appearances

In April 2014, Legat participated in the celebrity cooking show Hell's Kitchen and reached the final. In autumn of the same year he joined the celebrity boxing event Promiboxen, where he won his fight against the rapper Trooper Da Don. He has participated in several ProSieben events, including TV Total Stock Car Crash Challenge in November 2014 and October 2015 and Die große ProSieben Völkerball Meisterschaft in April 2016.

In January 2016, Legate was candidate in the tenth season of the RTL Television reality game show Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! and finished third. In June 2016, he worked together with his wife Alexandra at Das Sommerhaus der Stars – Kampf der Promipaare. In July 2016, he was participant in the summer specials of Grill the Henssler and Ninja Warrior Germany, and in August 2016 he took part in the show Bauer sucht Frau – Die große Bauernolympiade in the team of celebrities. In December 2016, he lost his challenge to his competitor Detlef Soost at Schlag den Raab, where he also presented a tattoo translating to "Blood, Honour, Pride & Family", which strongly resembles the Nazi slogan Blood & Honour [5]. In January 2017 he strengthened the "Team Football" at Duell der Stars – Die Sat.1 Promiarena.

Private

Legat grew up with his three brothers in the parents in Werne, a district of Bochum. In the 1990s he married Alexandra, with whom he has two sons today. He and his children have been living in Wermelskirchen in Bergisches Land for years.[6]

According to his autobiography, published in 2014, Wenn das Leben foul spielt, Legat attributes his own outbursts of violence to years of sexual abuse as well as brutal and humiliating attacks by his often-drunk father to both him and the rest of the family during his childhood.[7][8] The father died in 2005.

Honours
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References
  1. "Sporting Digest: Football". The Independent. 4 December 1999. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  2. "Former German star attacks with samurai sword". Sports by Brooks. 20 December 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  3. "Thorsten Legat: Skandale, harte Fouls und andere Entgleisungen". Welt Online (in German). WeltN24. 2014-09-02. Retrieved 2016-01-25. 9 Seiten/Bilder
  4. "Thorsten Legat: Ex-Bundesligaprofi: Schwertattacke war Notwehr". Express (in German). DuMont Rheinland Media24. 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  5. "Längstes „Schlag den Star" ever: Schlag den Star: Legat postet Entschuldigung an Kerber nach Beleidigung". Osnabrücker Zeitung (in German). 10 December 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  6. Jürgen Stahl (2014-09-07). "Fußball: Ex-Profi Thorsten Legat enthüllt – wurde als Kind sexuell missbraucht". WAZ (in German). Funke Medien NRW. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  7. Thorsten Legat (2014), Wenn das Leben foul spielt (in German) (2. ed.), Göttingen: Verlag Die Werkstatt, pp. 11 ff, ISBN 978-3-7307-0138-6
  8. Annette Langer (2014-09-02). "Thorsten Legat: Ex-Fußballstar als Kind vom Vater sexuell missbraucht". Spiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 2016-01-26.
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