Marcel Schmelzer (; born 22 January 1988) is a German former professional footballer who last played as a left-back for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, serving as captain from 2016 to 2018. He was capped by Germany at international level. A

one-club man List of one-club men may refer to: * List of one-club men in association football * List of one-club men in rugby league * List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise * List of NBA players who have spent ...

, Schmelzer spent his entire professional career at Dortmund.

Club career

Schmelzer was born in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt. He started his professional career with Borussia Dortmund, making his first appearance on 9 August 2008, in the German Cup first-round match against Rot-Weiss Essen. His first league appearance came in the following week, as he played the final twenty minutes of a 3–2 win at Bayer Leverkusen. Schmelzer had his best season for Borussia Dortmund in the 2010–11 season, where he managed to play every minute of the season for the team who went on to win the Bundesliga that year. The following season, Schmelzer, who missed the beginning of the Bundesliga due to injury, enjoyed yet another trophy as he helped Dortmund win another Bundesliga title. In addition to being the left back for the team for the entire season, Schmelzer also helped Dortmund secure the DFB Pokal with a 5–2 win against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, making it three titles in two years. On 11 January 2013, Schmelzer extended his contract with Borussia, which will keep him at the club until 2017. On 27 July 2013, Schmelzer won the

2013 DFL-Supercup The 2013 DFL-Supercup was the fourth DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. It featured Bayern Munich, winners of the 2012–13 Bundesliga and the 2012–1 ...

with Dortmund 4–2 against rivals

. On 25 April 2016, Marcel Schmelzer yet again extended his contract with BVB. He agreed on a five-year deal which will keep him with the black and yellows through 2021. After the departure of Mats Hummels, Schmelzer was named a candidate to be the new captain. On 14 August 2016, Schmelzer captained his first match against league champions

during the 2–0 defeat of the DFL-Supercup. On 31 May 2020, he scored his first Bundesliga goal in seven years in a 6–1 win against Paderborn, coming off the bench for Moroccan right-back Achraf Hakimi. Later that day, fans voted him as Man of the Match on the club's official Instagram account. Despite missing virtually the entire 2020–21 season and Dortmund's DFB-Pokal triumph, Schmelzer extended his contract with Dortmund in summer 2021 for another year, although this was primarily to cover medical insurance regarding a long-term knee injury rather than concerning game time. He retired after 17 seasons as a Borussia Dortmund player and was celebrated after their game 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 ...

. Overall he played 258 German top-flight matches.

International career

Schmelzer was called up by the U21 team for the 2009 European Championship, being used regularly, although not as a starter, he played the final five minutes in the final, a 4–0 success against England. For the full national team he made 16 appearances between 2010 and 2014.

Personal life

Schmelzer is married to Jenny Schmelzer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Championship celebration Borussia Dortmund 2011

Borussia Dortmund * Bundesliga:

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. I ...

, 2011–12 * DFB-Pokal: 2011–12, 2016–17,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* DFL-Supercup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* UEFA Champions League runner-up:

2012–13 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. I ...

Germany U21 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

Borussia Dortmund profile
* * * *
Bundesliga profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmelzer, Marcel 1988 births Living people Footballers from Magdeburg German men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2012 players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players