Timo Hildebrand (born 5 April 1979) 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

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 ...

. Hildebrand holds a

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 ...

record for keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

for the most consecutive minutes (884 minutes), which he set during the 2003–04 season.

Club career

VfB Stuttgart

150px, left, Hildebrand celebrating the win of the Bundesliga with Stuttgart, 2007 After starting his career at the little-known FV Hofheim/Ried, Hildebrand joined the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

youth team in 1994. In the 1999–2000 season, Hildebrand played in six Bundesliga matches. From the summer of 2000, he was the club's number one goalkeeper and contributed largely to Stuttgart's successes, particularly as part of what became known as "Stuttgart's young wild ones" team under coach

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

. He began the 2000–01 season by playing in eight matches in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

. He went on making 32 Bundesliga appearances, five German Cup appearances, and eight

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 ...

. The following season, he made 34 appearances. VfB Stuttgart managed to be Bundesliga runners-up in 2003. He had made 20 Bundesliga appearances, one German Cup appearance, four UEFA Cup appearances, and eight

matches. He survived the Champions League group stage the following season, before bowing out to Chelsea FC in the second round. He made 43 appearances during the 2003–04 season. Hildebrand also played a significant role in Stuttgart's victorious

2006–07 Bundesliga The 2006–07 Bundesliga was the 44th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 11 August 2006 and ended on 19 May 2007. Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Team changes from 2005–06 Three teams from th ...

campaign, figuring as a backbone for the next generation of "wild ones" like

Serdar Tasci Serdar Tasci ( tr, Serdar Taşçı; born 24 April 1987) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Tasci started his career with VfB Stuttgart in 2006, playing with the club until 2013; captaining the side from 2011 ...

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 ...

and helping Stuttgart provide the third-best defence of the season. The 2006–07 campaign remains his greatest domestic success to this day, and his last season with Stuttgart as in December 2006 he did not accept the club's offer to extend his contract. He made 39 appearances during the 2006–07 season.

Valencia

Hildebrand joined the Spanish club

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

on a free transfer on 3 July 2007, with Valencia unveiling Hildebrand via a news conference the next day on 4 July 2007. He stated in the news conference that he would "give everything" to the club. Hildebrand was being viewed as a replacement to the club's long-serving goalkeeper

Santiago Cañizares José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz (; born 18 December 1969) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently a rally driver. A product of Real Madrid's youth academies, he eventually joined the first team but proved unable to ...

. He made his debut for Valencia on 29 August, for the third qualification round second leg of

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 ...

against

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

. He played the full 90 minutes of that game of which they won 2–1. Hildebrand was Valencia's first-choice goalkeeper for most of the 2007–08 season, collecting a

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

trophy on the way. After the departure of manager

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

, Hildebrand lost his place in the first team as Koeman's successor

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Aston Villa. After a career spent playing mostly in Spain's Segunda División, Emery transitioned into coa ...

preferred newly signed Renan Brito. According to media coverage, Hildebrand refused consignment to the bench and was eventually cut from the squad altogether. Hildebrand had not been playing for Valencia for several months since the Supercopa de España second leg on 24 August 2008. On 4 December 2008, he left Valencia by mutual consent.

Hoffenheim

On 10 December 2008, Hildebrand signed for the Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim. He made his Bundesliga debut for Hoffenheim on 31 January 2009 in their 2–0 win at home to

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 ...

, being substituted in the 60th minute due to an injury. During the 2008–09 season, he made 14 appearances. During the 2009–10 season, he made 32 appearances. In summer 2010, Hildebrand left Hoffenheim.

Sporting

Hildebrand signed a one-year deal with

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and debuted on 16 October 2010 in a 2–1 win over

GD Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António C ...

in the

Portuguese cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. After Hildebrand left Sporting, he was on trial with

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

on their pre-season tour of USA before the 2011–12 season, but they did not take up the option to sign him.

Schalke 04

Hildebrand signed onto

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 ...

in the middle of the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign after starting keeper

Ralf Fährmann Ralf Fährmann (; born 27 September 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04. Club career Fährmann made his professional debut for Schalke 04 on 13 September 2008 in 3–3 draw away ...

was injured. During the 2013–14 season.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 25 September 2014 Hildebrand signed for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in the wake of a major injury to their first-choice keeper

Kevin Trapp Kevin Christian Trapp (; born 8 July 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. He began his professional career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he ...

. He made three appearances. This final top-flight matches for Eintracht were the last of over 300 Bundesliga appearances for Hildebrand.

International career

upHildebrand with Germany in 2006 After collecting 18 Under-21-caps, Hildebrand made his full international 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 28 April 2004 in a friendly against Romania in Bucharest as he came on as a half-time substitute for

Oliver Kahn Oliver Rolf Kahn (; born 15 June 1969) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in t ...

with Germany 0–4 down, and eventually lost 1–5. Hildebrand was selected for three consecutive tournaments for Germany,

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

2005 Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup winners B ...

and

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 ...

, as Germany's third-choice goalkeeper behind

Jens Lehmann Jens Gerhard Lehmann (; born 10 November 1969) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was a member of Arsenal's " Invincibles", playing every match of their unbeaten title-winning season. He holds the UEFA Ch ...

and

. He played his first competitive international at the 2005 Confederations Cup against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(final score 2–2). He was the only member of the 2006 World Cup squad who did not play at the tournament, as Germany came third on home soil. After Kahn's retirement from international football in 2006, Hildebrand stepped up to become Germany's number two and was

's natural replacement during the Euro 2008 qualification. Somewhat surprisingly,

Joachim Löw Joachim Löw (born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil ...

dropped Hildebrand from the final squad for the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and picked

Robert Enke Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Mönchengladbach, Benfica, and Barcelona, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 ...

and

René Adler René Adler (born 15 January 1985) is a retired German footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Early life Adler is the son of former East German international Jens Adler. His cousin is Israeli-American professional lacrosse player Max Adler. C ...

ahead of him. Although Löw stated that Hildebrand was an important player and may return to the set-up in near future, he never appeared for Germany since his omission from their squad for

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

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 ...

: 2006–07 *

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: 2006–07 Valencia *

: 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Individual *

ESM Team of the Year The European Sports Media (ESM), formerly European Sports Magazines, is an association of football-related publications in Europe. Members European Sports Media was established in 1989 as an international body for football journalism. Its nine fo ...

: 2003–04

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrand, Timo 1979 births Living people People from Worms, Germany Association football goalkeepers German footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers Germany B international footballers Germany youth international footballers German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Portugal German expatriate sportspeople in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in Portugal VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players Valencia CF players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Sporting CP footballers FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players Eintracht Frankfurt players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players La Liga players Primeira Liga players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Rhineland-Palatinate