Roberto Jan Hilbert (born 16 October 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 ...

. At international level, he earned eight caps with the Germany national team and twelve caps with the U21 team.

Club career

Born in

Forchheim Forchheim () is a town in Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Franconian Switz ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Hilbert played for local club

SpVgg Jahn Forchheim The SpVgg Jahn Forchheim is a German association football club from the town of Forchheim, Bavaria. Forchheim is located in Upper Franconia but the club competes in the football leagues of neighbouring Middle Franconia. Apart from football, the c ...

In his youth before playing for the youth teams of 1. FC Nürnberg and

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following relegation from the B ...

. In 2002, he was transferred to

1. SC Feucht 1. SC Feucht is a German association football club from Feucht, a market town close to the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the tier-three Regionalliga Süd in 2003, where it played for two season ...

in the fourth-tier

Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one o ...

, where he was one of the key players and started his professional career. After his club was promoted to the third-tier Regionalliga the following season, he scored ten goals in 26 games. On the basis of this performances at Feucht, Greuther Fürth re-signed him where he played in the

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 ...

. In the 2005–06 season, he played in 34 games, scoring three times. In the summer of 2006, Hilbert joined top Bundesliga side

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

. In his first season at Stuttgart, he became a regular in the first team which won the club's first championship in 15 years in May 2007. He usually played in right midfield, but is some times used as a right-back. After the injury of key striker

Mario Gómez Mario Gómez García (; born 10 July 1985) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented the Germany national team over a period of 11 years between 2007 and 2018. Gómez began his professional career with ...

in the final phase of the 2007 championship, Hilbert played a more offensive part for several weeks and scored a number of decisive goals. He finished as Stuttgart's third best goalscorer, scoring seven times, like his teammate

Thomas Hitzlsperger Thomas Hitzlsperger (born 5 April 1982) is a German director of football and former footballer who played as a midfielder. In February 2019, he was appointed Head of Sport of VfB Stuttgart and was subsequently promoted to CEO. In March 2022, he ...

. On 22 June 2010, Hilbert signed a three-year contract with Beşiktaş. He scored his first goal for Beşiktaş against

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history i ...

in the first leg of

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

match on 17 August 2010. On 12 July 2013,

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, t ...

announced on their homepage that they signed Hilbert on a free transfer. Hilbert was given a two-year contract. At the end of the 2016–17 season, he left the club after four years. In October 2017,

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 ...

Hilbert joined former club Greuther Fürth for a second stint there, signing a two-year contract. On 6 January 2019, it was announced that Hilbert finished his active professional career and from now on would play for the reserve team of Greuther Fürth. He was also going to do an apprenticeship as an athletic trainer.

International career

Hilbert has also made twelve appearances in the Germany U21 team, scoring three times. He made his international debut for the Germany national team in a friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

on 28 March 2007.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

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 ...

: 2006–07 Beşiktaş *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

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:Hilbert, Roberto 1984 births Living people People from Forchheim Footballers from Upper Franconia Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers SpVgg Greuther Fürth players VfB Stuttgart players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey