ABSTRACT
On 2 October 2012, Michael Ballack officially retired from professional football.1
And on Wednesday 5 June 2013, Ballack played his farewell match in Leipzig, alongside many of the game’s brightest stars and biggest names, drawing praise and celebration from many corners. With 98 caps for Germany, Ballack leaves the game as one of the best German midfielders of all time and as a UNAIDS Ambassador.2
His career included Bundesliga titles with Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich, an English Premier League title with Chelsea, three cup wins in both the FA3 Cup (with Chelsea) and the DFB Pokal4 (with Bayern Munich), and 42 international goals for Germany. As a three-time German Player of the Year, Ballack’s career certainly contained many highs, but for every high, there was always something just beyond his reach or something that stood in his way. ‘In Germany, he has been described as a ‘perennial nearly-man’,5 an unvollendeter, an unfulfilled person’.6 Despite making the Champions League final with both Leverkusen and Chelsea, he never won one. He missed major games (the 2002 World Cup Final) and major international tournaments (the 2010 World Cup in South Africa) due to suspension or injury. And his
departure from the German national team was clouded by a controversy about the captaincy.
