Lars Ricken

Lars Ricken

Personal information
Full name	Lars Ricken
Date of birth	10 July 1976 (1976-07-10)
Place of birth	Dortmund, West Germany
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–2008	Borussia Dortmund	301	(49)
2002–2008	Borussia Dortmund II	39	(8)
National team
1995–1998	Germany U21	17	(8)
1997–2002	Germany	16	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Lars Ricken (born 10 July 1976 in Dortmund) is a retired German footballer. The skilled midfielder represented Borussia Dortmund during his entire professional career, which spanned 15 years.

He was the youngest player to ever appear for Borussia in an official match, a record later broken by Nuri Şahin.

Football career

Ricken joined BV Borussia Dortmund at an early age, and made his Bundesliga debut on 8 March 1994 (not yet 18), in a 1–2 home defeat against VfB Stuttgart. From the following season onwards, he became a regular, scoring a memorable long distance goal in the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League final against Juventus FC. That goal made him the youngest goalscorer (&1000000000000002000000020 years, &10000000000000322000000322 days) and scorer of the fastest goal in a final of the competition, finding the net after just 16 seconds on the field as a substitute. He also combined for 47 matches and eight goals in the side's back-to-back national titles (1994–96).

In the following years, Ricken's success was hampered by a series of injuries. An international since 10 September 1997, in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Armenia, he missed that major international tournament, as well as UEFA Euro 2000. Later, he restored his form, helping Dortmund to claim the league title in 2002, scoring a career-best six goals, and being selected by national coach Rudi Völler for the German squad at that year's World Cup. Ricken did not play in the tournament, as Germany emerged runners-up.

Ricken's injury woes returned after the World Cup and, as a consequence, he failed to earn recognition at both European or international level. In early April 2007, he was demoted to the reserve team by then Dortmund coach Thomas Doll, due to substandard performance.

In November 2007, Ricken announced to retire from football. In an attempt to return to football, he briefly attended a training camp in February 2008 with the Columbus Crew of the Major League Soccer, but returned to Germany and Dortmund in a few days.

On 11 June 2008, Borussia Dortmund sport director Michael Zorc, also a former club footballer, announced that Ricken was to be hired as youth coordinator, with immediate effect, while still appearing for the club's amateur side, in Regionalliga West. However, on 16 February 2009, he announced his retirement from professional football.

Honours

Club

• UEFA Champions League: 1996–97
• Intercontinental Cup: 1997
• German League: 1994–95, 1995–96, 2001–02
• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2001–02
• German Cup: Runner-up 2007–08
• German League Cup: Runner-up 2003

Country

• FIFA World Cup: Runner-up 2002

See also

• List of one-club men

External links

• Career stats at Fussballdaten (German)
• Lars Ricken at National-Football-Teams.com