Simon Rolfes
Simon Rolfes in June 2011
Simon Rolfes ( born January 21, 1982 in Ibbenbüren ) is a German football player. He is since 2005 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen under contract.
Life
Rolfes was born as the youngest of four sons of a teacher married couple. He first visited the Overberg Primary School in his hometown distance and then the Fürstenberg -Gymnasium. His high school, he took off in Bremen on Hermann -Böse -Gymnasium.
Football career
Association
Rolfes started in 1986, first during the Westphalian home club TuS Recke to play football. In 1999 he moved into the A- youth from Werder Bremen. 2001 Rolfes was awarded the Mercedes- Benz Junior Cup as the best player of the tournament. He quickly rose through the U-18 selection and amateur team in the first team of Werder. There, however, he could not sit down and was loaned out 05 in January 2003 for a mid- series to the then second division side SSV Reutlingen, for he graduated from 13 games. In the 2003 /04 season he returned to Bremen and became German champion and cup winner, without having been used, however, in the first team. The Regional Team Bremen he had hitherto denied 100 games and scored 18 goals. That Rolfes could not prevail in Bremen, he later founded with the rapidity of his ascent before: "I was too determined and impatient. "
The consequence was his turn of 2004 to the second division Alemannia Aachen. In the time at Alemannia he improved his physical toughness by special layers lodged with the 400-meter runners Lars Figura and Jens Dautzenberg. In Aachen, he quickly became a regular player and scored in 28 second division games three goals. The association was considered as a potential intermediate, the season 2004/ 05 ended, however, with seven points adrift of third parties in sixth place. This season Alemannia Aachen also played in the UEFA Cup, because the club had reached the DFB Cup final against Werder Bremen in the previous year. In the UEFA Cup Aachen survived the group stage with victories against OSC Lille and AEK Athens. However Rolfes ' team failed in the second round of the Dutch representatives AZ Alkmaar.
For the 2005/06 season Rolfes joined Bayer 04 Leverkusen. He could fight for a place in midfield under coach Michael Skibbe. Both in the 2006/07 season and in the 2007/ 08 season he was the only actor in Leverkusen, who played all 34 Bundesliga games. With eight goals, he was also the most successful team in the midfield. Since the beginning of the season 2008/ 09 he is captain of Leverkusen. The last season game on May 17, 2008 was also his 100th Bundesliga game at Bayer jersey. In the following season Rolfes Bayer led the team in the DFB Cup to the final, which they lost against Werder Bremen before he extended to 2013 in May 2009, his contract with Leverkusen ahead to three years. In resistant first four years in Leverkusen, he missed only three season games. Then came the 2009/10 season, however, a " plague years ". An internal ligament tear in the knee followed by other problems, including a cartilage damage, so that he could not play much of the first round and almost the entire second half. The following year, he made the connection to the starting eleven laboriously restored and it took until the ninth game day, until he first time was back in the starting lineup. In the second round he was then back to the seeded players and won with the team the runner-up - his biggest success in the jersey of Bayer Leverkusen. His contract he extended until 30 June 2015.
National
Rolfes ' national career began in the youth teams. He graduated from eight games in the U-18 (1 goal ), five games in the U-20 and a game in the U-21 national team. He also played three times for the team in 2006. On 28 March 2007 he was first used by Germany coach Joachim Loew in the game against Denmark in the senior team.
Rolfes was appointed on 16 May 2008 in the preliminary squad for the 2008 European Championship. His first try at the tournament he completed on 19 June 2008 at the quarter-final against Portugal, when he replaced the injured Torsten Frings. In the World Cup qualifier in Liechtenstein on 6 September 2008, he scored his first international goal in a 3-0 scoreboard. Participation in the 2010 World Cup had to cancel Rolfes due to a knee injury. After his convalescence he was back to the DFB squad, but missed the nomination for the European Championship in 2012. Löw was his performance in the previous season as insufficient.
Personal
Rolfes has been married since June 12, 2009. On May 24, 2010 and on November 27, 2012 his wife Jenny gave each a daughter to the world.
Remarkable
Rolfes is one of four representatives of the Bundesliga and first leagues in gamers council of the players union union of the contract footballers ( VdV ).
Achievements
- Vice European Champion 2008 with the German national team
- German Vice Champion 2011 with Bayer Leverkusen