Sergej Barbarez

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Sergej Barbarez
Personal information
Full name	Sergej Barbarez
Date of birth	September 17, 1971 (1971-09-17) (age 36)
Place of birth	Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of Yugoslavia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bayer Leverkusen
Number	36
Youth clubs
1984–1991	FK Velež Mostar
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991–1993 1993–1996 1996–1998 1998–2000 2000–2006 2006–2008	Hannover 96 Union Berlin Hansa Rostock Borussia Dortmund Hamburg Bayer Leverkusen	018 0(2) 088 (46) 059 (13) 036 0(6) 174 (65) 061 (11)
National team
1998–2006	Bosnia and Herzegovina	046 (17)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of january 3 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Sergej Barbarez (born September 17, 1971 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of Yugoslavia) is a football attacking midfielder from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Despite being naturally a midfielder, he can also play as an forward or even as an emergency defender. He is well known for his exeptional technique.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Biography

Sergej Barbarez was born to a Bosnian Serb father Ljubo, and Bosniak mother Zlata, in the city of Mostar on September 9, 1971. Here, Barbarez was raised by his parents where he also received his education. As a young child, Sergej Barbarez was actually not very interested in football but in basketball and athletics. However, at the age of eleven, Barbarez started playing football though mostly for fun with friends after school.

Then, in 1984, Sergej Barbarez took a step further and started playing football for the youth team of FK Velež in his native city of Mostar.

Some six years later, Barbarez signed with the first team of FK Velež at the age of 19. However, briefly after, Barbarez served his former country in the Yugoslav People's Army before returning to Mostar to continue his career. In 1991, Sergej Barbarez returned to FK Velež and soon after everyone realized that Barbarez was a true talent.

The same year, Barbarez visited his uncle who was living in Germany. Some time later, Barbarez was preparing to return back to Mostar but his uncle surprised Barbarez by extending his stay in Germany for two weeks. The uncle had arranged for Barbarez a two weeks try-out practise with Hannover 96. The coach of Hannover 96 was so impressed by Sergej Barbarez that he signed him for the club. During those same two weeks the political situation throughout former Yugoslavia was deteriorating by the minute and fighting was even occurring in some places. So Barbarez came to an agreement with his father to stay with the uncle in Germany for the near future.

In April, 1992, the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina came to the city of Mostar. A month prior of the actual war, the father and sister of Sergej Barbarez fled with Sergej's high school sweetheart Ana to the city of Hannover in Germany. Sergej Barbarez's mother Zlata stayed in Mostar throughout the whole War in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sergej Barbarez played for Hannover 96 during the second half of the 1991-92 and the whole 1992-93 season. Between 1993 and 1996, Barbarez played for Union Berlin before signing with Hansa Rostock. Barbarez played here between 1996 and 1998.

In 1998, Sergej Barbarez made his debut for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team against Argentina.

From 1998, Barbarez played for Borussia Dortmund where he stayed until signing with Hamburger SV in July 2000.

During the first season with Hamburger SV, Sergej Barbarez became the top scorer for his club with 22 goals and joint top scorer of the Bundesliga with Ebbe Sand. Though Barbarez could not help Hamburg's elimination from the 2000-01 Champions League at the group stages despite his two goals, when the club qualified for that competition for the first time, after a third place in the previous domestic Bundesliga season.

Before he retired from international football on October 13, 2005, Barbarez was the captain and leader of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.

On December 2, 2005, he announced his comeback to the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team and play in the EURO 2008 qualifiers. He became captain of the team once again.

On May 17, 2006, he signed a two-year deal with Bayer Leverkusen.

On October 12, 2006, Sergej Barbarez officially stepped down from playing for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team.

[edit] Personal life

Sergej is married to his high-school sweetheart Ana, who is also from Mostar. They have two sons together, Filip-André and Sergio-Luis.

All-Time Club Performance

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cup		European Competition		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Bayer Leverkusen	06-07	32	7	2	0	12	3	46	10
Total
Hamburger SV	05-06	33	10	3	3	9	3
	04-05	30	11
	03-04	32	10
	02-03	24	6
	01-02	24	7
	00-01	31	22
Total
Borussia Dortmund	99-00	14	2
	99-99	22	4
Total
Hansa Rostock	97-98	32	11	1	0	0	0	33	11
	96-97	27	2	2	1	0	0	29	3
Total		59	13	3	1	0	0	62	14
Career Totals

[edit] External links

• FootballDatabase Sergej Barbarez Profile (English)
• Leverkusen who's who (English)
• Lots of Barbarez info (German)
• Official Website (German)

[edit] References

v • d • e Bayer Leverkusen – current squad 1 Adler • 2 Haggui • 5 Friedrich • 6 Rolfes • 7 Barnetta • 8 Freier • 10 Gekas • 11 Kießling • 13 Bulykin • 14 Dum • 15 Sarpei • 16 Schwegler • 17 Greško • 20 Sinkiewicz • 21 Kurdov • 22 Fernandez • 23 Vidal • 25 Schneider • 27 Castro • 28 Ramelow • 29 Callsen-Bracker • 34 Domaschke • 36 Barbarez • Manager: Skibbe