Christian Pander (born 28 August 1983 in
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
) is a German
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 plays as a left back. He is currently a
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
, having most recently served
Hannover 96 of the
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 ...
. He is known for his powerful left-foot free-kicks and willingness to burst up the left wing.
Club career
FC Schalke 04
![Schalke Pander01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Schalke_Pander01.jpg)
Pander spent his youth career at SC Nienberge, 1. FC Gievenbeck, SC Greven 09 and
Preußen Münster
Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia.
It also refers to:
Ships
* ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902
* SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate
* SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship
* , vorpostenboot
...
before becoming a product of the
Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...
youth system. He made his Schalke 04 debut on 19 September 2002 where he played for 17 minutes, in a 4–1 win over
Gomel
Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census).
Etymology
There are at least six narratives of the o ...
in the first round of the UEFA Cup and also made another appearance in the first round of the UEFA Cup the following season, in a 0–0 draw against
Kamen Ingrad.
It was not until 2004 when Pander was promoted to the first team at Schalke 04 and made his Bundesliga debut on 6 August 2004 in a 1–0 away loss to
Werder Bremen
Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...
. However, his debut was a forgettable one when he made a mistake, leading
Nelson Valdez to score the only goal in the game, though manager
Jupp Heynckes praised his debut performance. Pander continued to be in the first team and scored the first goal of his professional career in a 3–2 win over
Borussia Mönchengladbach on 18 September 2004. However, as the 2004–05 season progressed, Pander suffered a knee injury during a 3–0 loss against
Stuttgart on 9 April 2005 and was out for the rest of the season.
Despite signing a contract with the club, keeping him until 2008, the 2005–06 season saw Pander making no appearance as he recovered from his knee injury. In April, it was announced that Pander's return was delayed when he was sidelined for six more months.
In the 2006–07 season, Pander remained sidelined and returned to training from injury in early September 2006. He made his first appearance after eighteen months on 5 November 2006, in a 2–2 draw against
Bayern Munich. After that, Pander played eight of the fourteen matches, which saw Schalke 04 unbeaten between November and February, scoring two goals against
Energie Cottbus
FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...
and
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...
. Pander tore his ligament in training on 26 January 2007 and was sidelined for two months. He returned to the first team on 17 March 2007 in a 1–0 win over Stuttgart and was given a handful of first team appearances until he missed out on the last game of the season, due to injury. He made sixteen appearances and scored two times despite the injuries.
In the 2007–08 season, Pander started the season well when he scored in the first round of 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 considered ...
, in a 9–0 win over
Eintracht Trier
SV Eintracht Trier 05 is a German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. It was formed on 11 March 1948 out of the merger of Westmark 05 Trier and Eintracht Trier 06, on the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of pred ...
on 5 August 2007. On 14 August 2007, Pander signed a contract extension with the club, keeping him until 2011. Four days later on 18 August 2007, he scored and set up one of the goals, in a 4–1 win over Borussia Dortmund. The rest of the 2007 saw Pander again sidelined with injuries. It was not until on 8 March 2008 when he returned to the first team, making his first start in months, in a 2–0 win over
Arminia Bielefeld. After suffering from another injury, Pander made his return to the first team in the last game of the season, where he provided two assists in a 2–0 win over
Nürnberg. He scored two times in twenty-six appearances in all competitions.
![Christian pander 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Christian_pander_1.jpg)
The 2008–09 season saw Pander making a good start to the season by helping the club go unbeaten throughout August. Against
Atlético Madrid in the Champions League qualifier, he scored in the first leg in a 1–0 win, but was sent–off in the second leg, which saw Schalke 04 eliminated from the Champions League. Three weeks later, he was once again sent-off for a second bookable offence, in a 3–3 draw against Borussia Dortmund. Pander scored his first goal of the season on 2 October 2008 in a UEFA Cup match, resulting a 1–1 draw against
APOEL
APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...
. However, Pander's season was overshadowed with injuries. After scoring in the league against Energie Cottbus on 17 April 2009, Pander's last competitive game for Schalke was on 10 May 2009 where he injured his knee against
Borussia Mönchengladbach and had to be taken off in the 16th minute. Despite this, Pander finished the 2008–09 season, making twenty-three appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
Pander missed out nearly the whole 2009–10 season, as he continued to recover from his knee injury despite having hopes of making a comeback attempt. He made his comeback in April. The 2010–11 season saw Pander continue to recover from his knee injury and he returned on 5 December 2010 where he played for 13 minutes in a 2–0 win over Bayern Munich. After a four appearances, Pander suffered a toe injury that saw him sidelined for the rest of the 2010–11 season.
At the end of the 2010–11 season, it was announced that Pander's contract with Schalke 04 would not be renewed following the expiry of his contract.
Hannover 96
Pander agreed to join league rival
Hannover 96 on 19 June 2011, signing a one-year contract.
Pander made his Hannover 96 debut in the opening game of the season in a 2–1 win over
Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191.
History
The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentione ...
. Then in the group stage matches in the UEFA Europa League, Pander scored two goals against
Vorskla Poltava and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. On 23 October 2011, Pander scored his first league goal for the club, in a 2–1 win over Bayern Munich. It was announced on 19 January 2012 that Pander extended his contract with the club until 2015. On 19 February 2012, Pander scored his second league goal of the season and set up two goals in a 4–2 win over Stuttgart. After suffering from an illness, he made his first team return from illness on 3 March 2012, in a 2–2 against
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
. Pander made forty-four appearances and scored four times in all competitions.
In the 2012–13 season, Pander started the season well when he scored his first goal of the season in a 3–0 win over
St Patrick's Athletic in the UEFA Europa League Qualifiers and went on to win 5–0 on aggregate. However, the 2012–13 season saw Pander suffering injuries restricting him to twenty-seven appearances in all competitions.
In the 2013–14 season, Pander appeared in the opening game of the season, in a 2–0 win over
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin.
Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...
. However, he suffered a ligament injury and after an operation, it was announced that he was out for months. It was not until on 7 December 2013 when he returned to the first team in a 4–2 loss against Stuttgart. His return was short-lived as he twisted his knee. This injury kept him again out for months. He made his return against
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
on 12 April 2014. Although his season was disrupted by injuries, Pander went on to make ten appearances in all competitions.
The 2014–15 season was again injury-ridden and restricted his appearances to nine in all competitions.
At the end of the 2014–15 season, he left Hannover as his contract ran out. Pander previously hinted that he would like to end his career in America once he left Hannover 96.
International career
After being featured for the
Germany U20 and
Germany U21, Pander was called up by the national team for the first time on 17 August 2007.
Pander was capped twice for his country. He scored on his debut for
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
on 22 August 2007, a powerful strike from roughly 25 yards against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The game ended with Germany winning 2–1. Pander also made another appearance for the national team, a 2–0 win over
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
on 8 September 2007. It was his last one.
Personal life
Pander's hobbies include listening to
R'n'B
and
hip hop music. Outside of football, Pander is working to become a businessman.
International goals
Honours
Club
;
Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...
*
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 considered ...
:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pander, Christian
1983 births
Living people
German footballers
FC Schalke 04 players
FC Schalke 04 II players
SC Preußen Münster players
Hannover 96 players
Germany international footballers
Germany under-21 international footballers
Germany youth international footballers
Bundesliga players
Association football defenders
Sportspeople from Münster
Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia