Oliver Patric Neuville (, born 1 May 1973) is a German former
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
striker.
During an 18-year professional career he played mainly for
Bayer 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, th ...
(five seasons) and
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...
(six), amassing
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 ...
totals of 334 games and 91 goals.
Neuville appeared nearly 70 times for the
Germany national team during one full decade, representing Germany in two
World Cups
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
and at
Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
.
Club career
Born in
Locarno
, neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra
, twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia
* Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
...
, Switzerland, to a German father from
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
and
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
mother of Italian descent, Neuville started his professional career with
Servette FC
Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...
. In only
his second season in the
Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...
, he scored a career-best 16 goals to help the club win the national championship after a nine-year wait.
In
1996–97, Neuville played in Spain with
CD Tenerife
Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...
, where he was part of a well-balanced attacking line that also featured
Juanele
Juan Castaño Quirós (born 10 April 1971), known as Juanele, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a forward.
He achieved La Liga totals of 346 games and 61 goals in representation of Sporting de Gijón, Tenerife and Zara ...
(eight goals),
Meho Kodro
Mehmed "Meho" Kodro (born 12 January 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward.
He spent most of his 16-year senior career in Spain, mostly with Real Sociedad (four seasons) and Tenerife (three) ...
(six),
Antonio Pinilla
Antonio Pinilla Miranda (born 25 February 1971) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played mainly as a forward.
Best known for his stints with Tenerife and Gimnàstic – he began playing professionally for Barcelona, but had vi ...
(seven) and
Aurelio Vidmar
Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United.
He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...
(one), netting five goals in 1,885 minutes as the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
team easily retained their
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...
status, and also playing a relatively important part in their
semi-final run 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 ...
. Subsequently, he moved to Germany and signed for
F.C. Hansa Rostock
FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...
, scoring eight times in only 17 contests in
his debut campaign in 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 ...
, as the side from the former
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 ...
finished sixth.
Neuville signed 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 ...
in the 1999 summer, quickly becoming an essential offensive figure for his new club. He scored 28 goals combined from 2000 to 2002 (including a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
against
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...
on 24 November 2001), while also adding five in 15
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 ...
appearances in
2001–02, as Bayer finished second to
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid.
Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
(he scored one apiece in both legs of the semifinal clash against
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
); the club also finished second in the league during this timeframe.
Aged 31, Neuville joined
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...
for
2004–05, on a
free transfer. On 17 October 2004 he scored an infamous goal with his hand against
1. FC Kaiserslautern in a 2–0 home win, which was widely reviled and landed him a two-match ban. He netted 22 goals in his first two seasons combined, but appeared scarcely as the ''
Foal
A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal i ...
s''
dropped down a level in 2007, mainly due to injury.
Neuville returned to form in
2007–08, scoring 15 goals to help Borussia return to the top flight the immediate campaign after, the competition's sixth-best. He made his last Bundesliga appearance on the final matchday of the
2009–10 season, against former team Bayer Leverkusen.
It was planned that Neuville would start to work as a youth coach for Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Instead, he decided to play one more year and signed for
Arminia Bielefeld
DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...
in the
2. Bundesliga. However, after only a couple of months, he left by mutual consent, retiring at the age of 37.
International career
After electing to represent
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 ...
at international level, Neuville made his international debut on 2 September 1998 against
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, in a
friendly, replacing
Mario Basler
Mario Basler (born 18 December 1968) is a German football manager and former professional player who mainly played as a right midfielder. He is currently at TSG Eisenberg as a player and advisor.
A dead-ball specialist, Basler scored numerous g ...
for the last fifteen minutes of the 2–1 away win. In his first months training with the national team he needed an interpreter to understand coach
Erich Ribbeck
Erich Ribbeck (born 13 June 1937) is a German former professional football player and manager, best known for coaching in the Bundesliga. In 1988, he won the UEFA Cup as manager of Bayer Leverkusen, the first title in the club's history.
Club c ...
's message, while getting his across as well.
Subsequently, Neuville went on to collect 69
caps
Caps are flat headgear.
Caps or CAPS may also refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters
* Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...
with ten goals. He was picked for the squad that finished second at the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
, scoring the game's only goal in the
round-of-16 win against
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.
After missing selection for
UEFA Euro 2004
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...
, in the second group stage match of the
2006 World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
against
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, Neuville, who had replaced
Lukas Podolski
Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...
, buried a desperate injury-time
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
from fellow substitute
David Odonkor
David Odonkor (born 21 February 1984) is a German footballer who plays as a right winger. He plays for the amateur side SC Düsseldorf-West II.
He started playing professionally with Borussia Dortmund, appearing in 90 competitive matches. In th ...
, beating
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 ...
Artur Boruc
Artur Boruc (; born 20 February 1980) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He began his career in the Polish third division with hometown club Pogoń Siedlce. He joined Ekstraklasa team Legia Warsaw in 1999 a ...
on the way to a 1–0 victory. He did not score again for the national team until 31 May 2008, when he slid in a
Marcell Jansen
Marcell Jansen (; born 4 November 1985) is a German former professional footballer and current president of Hamburger SV. He also plays for Hamburger SV III in the Oberliga Hamburg. He was well known for his accurate crossing and pace, despite ...
cross in a
Euro 2008
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...
warm-up against
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, appearing in the tournament's final stages in the Group B match against
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
as a late substitute, and retiring from international play at the age of 35.
Personal life
Along with
Bernd Schneider, Neuville was one of the two known smokers in the German national team. His name (properly pronounced in French – not German – fashion) stemmed from his Belgian grandfather.
In 1997, Neuville fathered son Lars-Oliver.
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Neuville goal.''
Honours
Servette
*
Swiss League
The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, th ...
:
1993–94
Bayer Leverkusen
*
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:
2001–02
*
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 ...
runner-up:
2001–02
Borussia Mönchengladbach
*
2. Bundesliga:
2007–08
Germany
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
runner-up:
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
; Third place
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
*
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
runner-up:
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
*
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...
third place:
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
References
External links
*
Leverkusen who's who*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neuville, Oliver
1973 births
Living people
People from Locarno
Swiss people of Italian descent
Swiss people of German descent
Swiss people of Belgian descent
Swiss people of Walloon descent
German sportspeople of Italian descent
German people of Swiss descent
German people of Belgian descent
German people of Walloon descent
German people of Calabrian descent
Swiss-German people
Citizens of Germany through descent
Swiss men's footballers
German footballers
Association football forwards
Germany international footballers
Swiss Super League players
FC Locarno players
Servette FC players
La Liga players
CD Tenerife players
Bundesliga players
2. Bundesliga players
FC Hansa Rostock players
Bayer 04 Leverkusen players
Borussia Mönchengladbach players
Arminia Bielefeld players
1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
2006 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2008 players
Swiss expatriate footballers
German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
Expatriate footballers in Switzerland
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Expatriate footballers in Germany
Sportspeople from Ticino