Philipp Lahm

As glorious as Philipp Lahm’s career was to become, his start was a struggle. According to his great mentor at FC Bayern, Hermann Gerland, he was ‘as unappealing as sour beer’. When the then 19-year-old wasn’t quite good enough for the star-studded Munich side, Gerland put his contacts to work. Initially, with modest success. “Too short,” said some; “too slight,” was the view elsewhere. One of the scouts who had travelled to watch the 1.70 m-tall full-back even wanted – according to Gerland – to be reimbursed for his travel expenses. Only Felix Magath trusted Gerland’s judgement and appreciation of this exceptional talent and gave him a chance in his young team at VfB Stuttgart, which then, with Lahm’s contribution, caused a sensation in the group stage of the 2003–04 Champions League season with victories over Manchester United, Glasgow Rangers and Panathinaikos Athens. From then on, nothing could stop Lahm’s rise to become one of the world’s best full-backs, not even a cruciate ligament tear or an arm injury immediately before the 2006 World Cup on home soil. He was fit again in time for the opening match and, with the tournament’s first goal against Costa Rica, provided the spark that set the so-called ‘Summer Fairy Tale’ alight. Even at a young age, Lahm developed leadership qualities through his consistently reliable and virtually error-free style of play. In 2010, at the World Cup in South Africa, he was promoted to captain of the national team in the absence of the injured Michael Ballack and, in that role, four years later completed the ‘Golden Generation’s’ legacy by winning the World Cup title in Brazil alongside long-standing teammates such as Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose, the “Golden Generation”’s legacy by winning the World Cup title in Brazil. Philipp Lahm started every one of his 113 international matches. Following his retirement, he was appointed honorary captain of the national team by the DFB. Lahm also enjoyed tremendous success at club level, winning the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup (formerly the Intercontinental Cup) with Bayern Munich in 2013. The man who was initially considered too small is now one of the greatest figures in German football.