Christian Lell (born 29 August 1984) 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 le ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Bayern Munich

Early career

Born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Lell started his training with FC Alemannia München, He earned a place in Bayern's youth section in 1993, and played there for eight years. For the 2001–02 season, Lell was a part of Bayern's reserve team. In his first season at the senior level, the right-wingback made 10 appearances in the Regionalliga Süd. He would make 31 league appearances and a cup appearance during the 2002–03 season. He made 20 appearances for the reserve team during the 2003–04 season. Lell made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

debut on 4 October 2003 in a 4–1 against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

where he came on as a substitute for

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He is among the top goal scorers in the history of the German national team. Ballack wore the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for, except 1. FC ...

in 84th minute. He made three subsequent appearances for Bayern in Bundesliga play and a cup appearance during the 2003–04 season.

Loan to 1. FC Köln

upLell warming up for a match with Köln To the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Lell was loaned to

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

, where he had a disappointing season. After the 4–2 loss to

Wacker Burghausen SV Wacker Burghausen is a German football club based in Burghausen, Bavaria and is part of one of the nation's largest sports clubs with some 6,000 members participating in two dozen different sports. History The club was founded on 13 Novemb ...

on the second matchday, Lell fell out of favour with manager

Huub Stevens Hubertus Jozef Margaretha "Huub" Stevens (; born 29 November 1953) is a Dutch former professional football manager and player. Playing career Stevens was born in Sittard. While active, he played for Fortuna Sittard and PSV. During his time at P ...

. He earned a mere sixteen league appearances over the course of the season. The season however wasn't entirely without successes for Lell. In Köln's second league match against Wacker Burghausen he scored a goal. Beyond that, he earned two caps in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

, and eight for the reserves in the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

. After the "Billy goats'" successful return to the Bundesliga for the 2005–06 season, Lell earned considerably more appearances, especially during the latter half of the season, during which he advanced to the regular starting formation. He finished the season with 26 league appearances and a cup appearance.

Return to Bayern Munich

For the 2006–07 season, Lell returned to Bayern, appearing 16 times for the first team and eight times for the reserve team. The

2007–08 Bundesliga The 2007–08 Bundesliga was the 45th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 10 August 2007 and ended on 17 May 2008. VfB Stuttgart were the defending champions. Competition format Every team played two games a ...

season meant a lot to Lell. Because of the injury problem to vice-captain and starting right-back

Willy Sagnol Willy David Frédéric Sagnol (born 18 March 1977) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the manager of the Georgia national team. Sagnol spent much of his professional career playing for ...

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player ( striker) and manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich ...

decided to put Lell into the starting line-up as the right

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

. In this season, Lell earned 29 appearances in the Bundesliga, scored his first Bundesliga goal. In the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, he played eight matches, in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, he played 11 matches and scored one goal, and three times in the league cup. During the 2008–09 season, under coach

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

and interim coach

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. The majority of his player career was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won many nati ...

, Lell made 28 appearances in all competitions. On 1 September 2009, just before the transfer window closed, Bayern and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

came to an agreement for Lell transfer to England. However, the deal failed when no one was able to contact Lell and inform him about it. As a result, the transfer window closed before Lell could agree to the transfer. In the 2009–10 season, new Bayern coach

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...

relegated Lell to the reserves, where he made an appearance. He almo made an appearance in the cup for the first team.

Hertha BSC and Levante

Seven years after making his debut with

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

, he left the Bavarian side and signed for

on 23 June 2010. This ended a 17-year connection dating back to 1 July 1993 when he joined Bayern Munich's

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. His contract in Berlin ran for one year, and was automatically extended for an additional two as Hertha earned promotion to the Bundesliga. Lell quickly established himself as an important part of Hertha's defense, starting almost every fixture and assuming vice-captaincy of the team. He finished the 2010–11 season with 33 league appearances and two cup appearances. He would go on to 28 league appearances, two cup appearances, and an appearance in the relegation playoff. On 7 June 2012, Lell was released along with

Patrick Ebert Patrick Ebert (born 17 March 1987) is a German professional footballer who plays as a right winger. Club career Hertha Born in Potsdam, East Germany, Ebert started playing football for TuS Gaarden in Kiel at the age of four. He completed his dev ...

Andreas Ottl Andreas Ottl (; born 1 March 1985) is a German former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He signed his first professional contract for Bayern Munich on 1 July 2005. He played for Germany's U-21 Team. Ottl is a highly versatile p ...

, and Andre Mijatovic. The decision to part company with Lell came a day after he was given a five-match ban for insulting referee

Wolfgang Stark Wolfgang Stark (born 20 November 1969) is a German former football referee who is based in Ergolding. He refereed for DJK Altdorf of the Bavarian Football Association. Refereeing career In addition to German domestic competitions, Stark officiat ...

during a relegation play-off match 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 ...

. Lell signed for Levante on 11 August 2012. The contract is for a season plus a one-year option. He would go on to score two goals in 28 appearances in 2012–13 season and no goals in five appearances in the 2013–14 season.

International career

Christian Lell represented Germany on the Under-20 team at the

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. U20 Brazil claimed their fourth title. The 2003 championship was the 14th contested. The tournament was originally planned to be ...

. Lell also holds Austrian citizenship. After voicing desire to play for the Austria national team, he was found not eligible.

Personal life

Lell's sister died in April 2014 at the age of 27 from

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

. He started a foundation for cystic fibrosis in 2009. Lell is married.

Legal issues

Lell was arrested in January 2014 after his wife filed a report with the police. In 2018, Lell was charged with possession of cocaine that was in his luxury estate.

Career statistics

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2007–08, 2009–10 *

DFB Liga-Pokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

: 2007 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

runner-up: 2009–10 1. FC Köln *

: 2004–05

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lell, Christian 1984 births Living people Footballers from Munich German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers German people of Austrian descent German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Men's association football fullbacks Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players La Liga players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers 1. FC Köln players 1. FC Köln II players Hertha BSC players Levante UD footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain