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Oliver Neuville

Personal information
Full name	Oliver Patric Neuville
Date of birth	1 May 1973 (1973-05-01) (age 36)
Place of birth	Locarno, Switzerland
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Mönchengladbach
Number	27
Youth career
1979–1990	FC Gambarogno
1991–1992	FC Locarno
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1992–1996	Servette FC	108 (41)
1996–1997	CD Tenerife	033 0(5)
1997–1999	Hansa Rostock	050 (22)
1999–2004	Bayer Leverkusen	165 (42)
2004–	Mönchengladbach	151 (42)
National team‡
1998–2008	Germany	069 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 December 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 July 2008

Oliver Patric Neuville (born 1 May 1973 in Locarno, Switzerland) is a German footballer currently playing as a striker with Borussia Mönchengladbach. He was born of a German father and an Italian mother.

Club career

Neuville started his career in his native Switzerland with Servette FC. After a brief stint with Spain's CD Tenerife, playing an important part in the Canary Islands's outfit UEFA Cup semifinal run, he moved to Germany, first with FC Hansa Rostock.

In his first Bundesliga season, Neuville netted eight goals in only 17 outings, helping the side from the former East Germany finish sixth, and moving to Bayer 04 Leverkusen after a second season, quickly becoming an essential offensive figure for his new club. He netted 28 goals combined from 2000-02 (including an hat-trick against Hamburger SV, on Saturday 24, 2001^[1]), while also adding five in 15 UEFA Champions League appearances in 2001-02, as Bayer finished second to Real Madrid (Neuville scored one apiece in both legs of the semifinal clash against Manchester United).

Neuville then joined Borussia Mönchengladbach for 2004-05, on a free transfer.^[2] On 17 October 2004, he scored an infamous goal with his hand against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in a 2-0 home win, which was widely reviled and landed him a two-match ban.^[3]

He scored 22 goals combined in his first seasons combined, but appeared scarcely as Borussia dropped down a level in 2007, mainly due to injury.^[4][5] However, Neuville would net 15 times to help the club return to the top flight the immediate campaign after, the competition's sixth-best.

International career

After electing to represent Germany at international level, Neuville made his international debut on September 2, 1998, against Malta, in an away friendly 2-1 win, replacing Mario Basler for the last fifteen minutes. In his first months training with the national team, he needed an interpreter to understand coach Erich Ribbeck's message, while getting his across as well.

Subsequently, Neuville went to collect 69 caps with ten goals, being picked for the squad that finished second at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal in the second round against Paraguay.

After missing selection for Euro 2004, in a first round match of the 2006 World Cup against Poland Neuville, who came on as a substitute for Lukas Podolski, buried a desperate injury-time cross from fellow sub David Odonkor, beating goalkeeper Artur Boruc en route to a 1–0 victory in the 91st minute.^[6]

He didn't score again for the national team until 31 May 2008, when he slid in a Marcell Jansen cross in a Euro 2008 warm-up against Serbia, appearing in the tournament's final stages in the group B match against Austria as a late substitute.

International goals

Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	31 March 1999	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany	Finland	2-0	2-0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
2.	14 November 2001	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany	Ukraine	2-0	4-1	Play-off
3.	27 March 2002	Ostseestadion, Rostock, Germany	United States	2-1	4-2	Friendly
4.	15 June 2002	Jeju World Cup Stadium, Seogwipo, South Korea	Paraguay	1-0	1-0	FIFA World Cup 2002
5.	8 October 2005	Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	1-2	1-2	Friendly
6.	22 March 2006	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany	United States	2-0	4-1	Friendly
7.	27 May 2006	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Luxembourg	6-0	7-0	Friendly
8.	27 May 2006	Dreisamstadion, Freiburg, Germany	Luxembourg	7-0	7-0	Friendly
9.	14 June 2006	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany	Poland	1-0	1-0	FIFA World Cup 2006
10.	31 May 2008	Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany	Serbia	1-1	2-1	Friendly

Club statistics

Honours

Club

• Servette FC:
  • Swiss League: 1993-94

• Bayer Leverkusen:
  • German League: Runner-up 1999-2000, 2001-02
  • UEFA Champions League: Runner-up 2001-02

• Borussia Mönchengladbach:
  • Second Division: 2007-08

National team

• FIFA World Cup: Runner-up 2002
• FIFA Confederations Cup: Third place 2005
• FIFA World Cup: Third place 2006
• UEFA European Football Championship: Runner-up 2008

Personal

• Along with Bernd Schneider, Neuville is one of the two known smokers on the German national team.
• His name (properly pronounced in French – not German – fashion) stems from his Belgian grandfather.
• He has one son, Lars-Oliver (born in 1997).

References

External links

• Official website (German)
• Leverkusen who's who
• Career stats at Fussballdaten (German)

Oliver Neuville - Navigation boxes Germany squad – 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Lehmann • 2 Wörns • 3 Heinrich • 4 Linke • 5 Doğan • 6 Maul • 7 Scholl • 8 Wosz • 9 Marschall • 10 Matthäus • 11 Preetz • 12 Enke • 13 Neuville • 14 Baumann • 15 Ballack • 16 Schneider • 17 Gerber • 18 Ricken • 19 Heldt • 20 Rink • Coach: Ribbeck Germany squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 1 Kahn • 2 Linke • 3 Rehmer • 4 Baumann • 5 Ramelow • 6 Ziege • 7 Neuville • 8 Hamann • 9 Jancker • 10 Ricken • 11 Klose • 12 Lehmann • 13 Ballack • 14 Asamoah • 15 Kehl • 16 Jeremies • 17 Bode • 18 Böhme • 19 Schneider • 20 Bierhoff • 21 Metzelder • 22 Frings • 23 Butt • Coach: Völler Germany squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Lehmann • 2 Jansen • 3 Friedrich • 4 Huth • 5 Kehl • 6 Nowotny • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Hanke • 10 Neuville • 11 Klose • 12 Kahn • 13 Ballack • 14 Asamoah • 15 Hitzlsperger • 16 Lahm • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Schneider • 20 Podolski • 21 Metzelder • 22 Odonkor • 23 Hildebrand • Coach: Klinsmann Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Runners-up 1 Lehmann • 2 Jansen • 3 Friedrich • 4 Fritz • 5 Westermann • 6 Rolfes • 7 Schweinsteiger • 8 Frings • 9 Gómez • 10 Neuville • 11 Klose • 12 Enke • 13 Ballack • 14 Trochowski • 15 Hitzlsperger • 16 Lahm • 17 Mertesacker • 18 Borowski • 19 Odonkor • 20 Podolski • 21 Metzelder • 22 Kurányi • 23 Adler • Coach: Löw