Piotr Trochowski

Piotr Trochowski

Trochowski at practice with Hamburg in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Piotr Artur Trochowski
Date of birth	22 March 1984 (1984-03-22)
Place of birth	Tczew, Poland
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sevilla
Number	15
Youth career
1993–1995	SpVgg Billstedt Horn
1995–1997	SC Concordia von 1907
1997–1999	FC St. Pauli
1999–2002	FC Bayern Munich
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2003	FC Bayern Munich (A)	38	(8)
2003–2005	FC Bayern Munich	13	(1)
2005–2011	Hamburger SV	180	(20)
2011–	Sevilla FC	23	(1)
National team‡
2003	Germany U-20	13	(5)
2004–2006	Germany U-21	15	(2)
2006–	Germany	35	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:18, 26 February 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 8 July 2010

Piotr Artur Trochowski (born 22 March 1984 in Tczew, Poland) is a Polish-born German footballer who currently plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga side Sevilla FC and the German national team.

Early life

Trochowski was born in Tczew in Poland. The family, with father Wiesław and mother Alicja, left for Hamburg under the right of return for those of ethnic German ancestry when Piotr was five years old. Being from the historical region West Prussia, inside the German Empire until 1919 (and again from 1939 until March 1945), the Trochowski family, albeit Slavic, had legal German ancestry (i.e. need not to be Germanic), all of his grandparents having held German nationality for some period of time.

Club career

As a nine-year-old boy, Trochowski started his career with Billstedt Horn, then played for SC Concordia and FC St. Pauli, in Hamburg. In 1999, he transferred to FC Bayern Munich, starting with its junior side then progressing to the amateur team. He became frustrated, however, with his lack of playing time.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2005, he moved back to Hamburg to play for Hamburger SV. Team manager Thomas Doll gave him a chance and Trochowski proved his worth. Within two seasons, he played himself into the starting line-up of the team, scoring five goals (including one [and an assist] against former team Bayern Munich, in a 24 September 2005 2–0 home win) in his first full season as Hamburg reached the UEFA Champions League.

On 5 April 2011, Trochowski's agent Roman Grill confirmed that his client would move to Sevilla when his contract expired at the end of the season. Trochowski had been an irregular player for Hamburg during the second half of the season, making just two starts out of 11 possible Bundesliga matches after the winter break.

International career

Piotr Trochowski outside the HSH Nordbank Arena with fans and reporters

Since Trochowski was born in Poland, he was eligible to play for Poland. His mother sent several letters to the Polish Football Association (PZPN), informing it about her talented son and about his willingness to cap for Poland. The PZPN, however, was not interested, which disappointed both Trochowski and his mother, and he chose to play for Germany. Trochowski said in response, "My heart is closer to Poland, but nobody there was interested in me, so I play for the Germans. There was no reply to my mother's letter, and the Germans were interested in me." He said this in an interview in August 2005. In the German daily Die Welt, however, Trochowski said that, "Even back then, I wanted to play for Germany, because here I enjoyed my schooling and gained my footballing skills."

Trochowski played for the German under-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. One year after his move to Hamburg, senior national coach Joachim Löw called him for the first time, and he debuted in an 7 October 2006 friendly against Georgia. After having appeared six times during the qualification matches, Trochowski was selected for the final 23-man squad for Euro 2008. He scored his first goal for Germany on 15 October 2008 in a 2010 World Cup Qualifier against Wales.

Career statistics

Club performance

As of 6 February 2012 (2012 -02-06)

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Germany			League		DFB-Pokal		Premiere Ligapokal		Europe		Total
2001–02	Bayern Munich II	Regionalliga Süd	7	0	0	0	—		0	0	7	0
2002–03			9	1	1	0			0	0	10	1
	FC Bayern Munich	Bundesliga	3	0	0	0			0	0	3	0
2003–04			10	1	1	1			0	0	11	2
	FC Bayern Munich II	Regionalliga Süd	17	6	0	0	—		0	0	17	6
2004–05			5	1	1	0			0	0	6	1
	Hamburger SV	Bundesliga	3	0	0	0			0	0	3	0
2005–06			32	5	3	0			16	2	51	7
2006–07			26	2	1	0			8	1	35	3
2007–08			32	1	4	2			14	3	50	6
2008–09			33	6	3	0	—		5	0	39	5
2009–10			33	4	1	3			13	2	47	9
2010–11			21	2	1	0			0	0	22	2
Spain			League		Copa del Rey		Copa de la Liga		Europe		Total
2011–12	Sevilla FC	La Liga	22	1	3	0	—		2	0	24	1
Career total			231	29	16	6			58	8	305	44

International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	15 October 2008	Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach, Germany	Wales	1–0	1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	2 June 2009	Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	0–3	2–7	Friendly

Personal

Piotr is part of a football family – his three brothers are all semi-professional players: Christoph (plays for SC V/W Billstedt), Slawomir (plays for Hamm United) and Arkadiusz (plays for TuS Hamburg).

His cousin Krystian is a German international rugby union player, playing for the Berliner RC in the Rugby-Bundesliga.

Honours

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga: 2002–03
• DFB-Pokal: 2003

National team

Germany

• FIFA World Cup 2010: Third place – Bronze medal
• UEFA European Football Championship Runner-up: 2008

External links

• Sevilla official profile
• Piotr Trochowski at National-Football-Teams.com
• Transfermarkt profile
• Piotr Trochowski at fussballdaten.de (German)
• 2010 FIFA World Cup profile
• Piotr Trochowski – FIFA competition record