Benjamin Kirsten (born 2 June 1987) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He spent much of his active career with

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig.

Early life

Kirsten was born in

Riesa Riesa is a town in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany. It is located on the river Elbe, approximately northwest of Dresden. History The name ''Riesa'' is derived from Slavic ''Riezowe''. This name, romanised as "Rezoa", appears first i ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In 1989, at the age of two, he began to play football at

and in July 1990 left with his father

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

for

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

where he played the following 16 years with the club's youth team.

Career

In July 2006, Kirsten was promoted to the Bayer Leverkusen reserve squad in the

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...

. He played two games for the team who were coached by his father Ulf. In January 2008, he left Bayer Leverkusen after 17 years and six months to join

Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of over ...

. On 16 June 2008, after only half a year with Waldhof he returned to

, where he made his debut – his first professional game – on 2 May 2009 against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. Kirsten played the entire ninety minutes, conceding one goal. In his first two years, Kirsten regularly featured for Dynamo Dresden II. He was part of the team that won the

Sachsenliga The Sachsenliga, formerly referred to as ''Landesliga Sachsen'', is the sixth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Saxony (German: ''Sachsen''). Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was ...

and

Sachsenpokal The Saxony Cup (''Sachsenpokal'') is a regional German football competition established in 1991 for clubs from Saxony who play in the 3. Liga, Regionalliga Nordost, the NOFV-Oberliga, the Landesliga Sachsen (the Saxon League), the four Landeskl ...

in 2009. Kirsten was involved in a controversy after the cup win, when he was seen lighting

fireworks Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...

on the pitch. Dynamo had previously been punished for similar incidents from their fans, and Kirsten was suspended for three games and fined €4,000 (about £3,500). On day 25 of the 2010–11 season team manager

Matthias Maucksch Matthias Maucksch (born 11 June 1969) is a German former footballer who played as midfielder or defender and worked as a manager in different Teams of Germanys 4th and 3rd leagues. Playing career Maucksch came through the youth system at Dynam ...

made Kirsten the regular first-choice keeper of Dynamo Dresden. With his persuasive performances Kirsten had a major part in that Dynamo reached the third place at the end of the season and after beating

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The cl ...

in the relegation matches promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. Following this success, Kirsten remained Dynamo's substitute keeper behind

Wolfgang Hesl Wolfgang Hesl (born 13 January 1986) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Hesl joined Hamburger SV in 2004 and was part of the club's first team since the beginning of the 2005–06 season. After making o ...

but was promoted to the team's starting eleven in February 2012. He remained in this role for most of the 2012–13 through 2014–15 seasons, with his team being re-relegated to the 3. Liga in 2014. Kirsten eventually left Dynamo in 2015, after which he spent a season with Dutch side

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

; he appeared in six games for them. Returning to Germany, Kirsten joined

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany as well as West Berlin. It i ...

team

Lok Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side VfB Lei ...

in November 2016. After spending five years with the club, Kirsten retired in 2021, citing continuing issues related to his

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

. In January 2022, Kirsten was hired as a youth coach at his former club,

Personal life

Benjamin Kirsten is the

son of A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

former Germany national team

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and three-time Bundesliga top scorer

. He was trained as a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

in sports and fitness at Dynamo Dresden.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirsten, Benjamin 1987 births Living people German footballers Association football goalkeepers Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Footballers from Dresden Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden II players SV Waldhof Mannheim players NEC Nijmegen players 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Eredivisie players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands German expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands