Germany has produced some of the greatest footballers the world has ever had the privilege of watching.
The likes of five-time World Cup player Lothar Matthaus, dual Ballon d’Or winner Franz Beckenbauer and record World Cup goalscorer for 32 years Gerd Muller have graced the football pitch and captured the imaginations of a proud football nation and the world.
Another name that may join this echelon of legendary players may be Michael Ballack.
What else is there to say of him? An inspirational captain and footballer of the highest order, he was the face of German football for a decade. He defined an era and bore the hopes of a nation with aplomb every time he wore the famous and revered German shirt.
A player cruelled by injury and fate, he has endured a career that has had more than its fair share of heartache and near misses.
While his more acclaimed counterparts from bygone eras may have basked in the glory of unprecedented success, the German number 13 has been the glue that held together a team undergoing a period of transition who were fancied to achieve much.
While his halcyon days may be behind him, he is still enjoying his second stint with Bayer Leverkusen. Regardless, Michael Ballack’s not-so-glorious, yet consummate, international career has come to a premature end.
Unjust fate has deprived him of achieving greatness as a player where that ever-elusive Champions League title continues to elude him.
A brilliant individual player, he has never quite received the plaudits or accolades nor the trophies to cement his place as not only his country’s but one of the world’s finest.
With the benefit of hindsight, 2002 can be seen as the story of his career: match-winning performances, near misses, heartache and more heartache. He came runner-up in the Bundesliga, DFB Pokal, UEFA Champions League, and heartbreakingly the World Cup to top off a torrid year.
To make matters worse, he was suspended for the final after scoring the winners in the quarter- and semi-finals.
It was the ultimate disappointment for a proud man who had put everything in to bring Germany its fourth World Cup. German Footballer of the Year in 2002, 2003 and 2005, he is a Bayern Munich legend, having won three doubles with them in four years, and was a critical part of Chelsea’s continued successes, where further heartbreak came in Moscow 2008 in a penalty shootout.
They say it’s perhaps the hardest thing to achieve in football, and that is to captain your team to glory at a World Cup on home soil. That is what faced Ballack in 2006, and while Germany were one of the less fancied teams even at home, their captain led them to third.
Once again, unfancied in Euro 2008 he captained them to a final where the emerging might of Spain and Fernando Torres’ lone strike continued to leave him trophyless at international level.
He was part of Chelsea’s first double-winning team in 2010, then one Kevin Prince-Boateng crippled Ballack’s last chance at glory in South Africa, missing the opportunity to lead his nation into another World Cup.
It has been an extraordinary career for many reasons, and while those who achieve glory are often remembered more vividly and celebrated more, Michael Ballack stood out as clearly the finest player of his generation.
His was the level against which fellow stars Dietmar Haman, Bernd Schneider and Torsten Frings and later Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philip Lahm and Thomas Hitzlsperger, would be measured.
Although he never led Germany to any trophies, Michael Ballack has to be applauded for turning a period of imminent decline into a great period of relative success having shouldered the burden of a nation throughout his whole career.
A player who possesses superb vison, awareness, positioning and leadership as well as a physique, he belied his natural position as a box-to-box midfielder.
His technical qualities and a fearsome right foot – as his 42 international goals would attest – makes him the prototype for the modern day player.
A free-kick genius, humble, and never one to put himself before the team, Michael Ballack’s CV and brilliance as a player form only part of the argument that should entitle him him legendary status.
A career blighted by injury and misfortune, Michael Ballack is a footballing icon recognised in Pele’s 125 greatest living players and although he may have fallen short of greatness while leading his team, he has left an everlasting legacy that continues to spur today’s German stars to achieve greatness.
It has personally been painful for me to see such a champion of the game not given his due respect and be shown the door by German coach Joachim Low, but that’s sport, and his legacy is still intact.
Where do you think he stands among Germany’s greats?
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