Arne Friedrich

Arne Friedrich (born 29 May 1979) is a German football executive and former player who played as a defender.[2] He formerly was the sporting director of Hertha BSC.

Arne Friedrich
Friedrich in a charity match in 2019
Personal information
Full name Arne Friedrich[1]
Date of birth (1979-05-29) 29 May 1979
Place of birth Bad Oeynhausen, West Germany
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Hertha BSC (sporting director)
Youth career
1985–1987 FC Bad Oeynhausen
1987–1992 TuS Lohe
1992–1995 SC Herford
1995–1999 FC Gütersloh
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2000 SC Verl 31 (0)
2000–2002 Arminia Bielefeld 47 (1)
2002–2010 Hertha BSC 231 (13)
2010–2011 VfL Wolfsburg 15 (0)
2012–2013 Chicago Fire 23 (1)
Total 347 (15)
International career
2000–2001 Germany U21 5 (0)
2002 Germany Team 2006 1 (0)
2002–2011 Germany 82 (1)
Managerial career
2014–2015 Germany U18 (assistant)
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Germany
FIFA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place2006 Germany
Bronze medal – third place2010 South Africa
UEFA European Championship
Runner-up2008 Austria–Switzerland
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He played 82 times for the Germany national team.

Friedrich was a very versatile player, playing full-back, centre-back and occasionally a midfield position. He represented his country on 82 occasions, scoring once. He participated in Euro 2004, World Cup 2006, Euro 2008 and the World Cup 2010.

Club career

Arminia Bielefeld

In the 2000–01 season, Friedrich signed his first professional contract. Hermann Gerland, head coach of Arminia Bielefeld at the time, scouted Friedrich while playing for Regionalliga club SC Verl. Because of his convincing performance, Gerland decided to bring Friedrich to Bielefeld, where he immediately became a regular starter.

Hertha BSC
Friedrich with Hertha BSC in 2009

In 2002, Friedrich accepted an offer from Hertha BSC. With the Berlin club, he won the DFB-Ligapokal that year, defeating Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.

In 2004–05, Falko Götz named Friedrich captain, a role he kept for the remainder of his time at Hertha. He renewed his contract with Hertha twice which was due to run until 2012 with a performance-based option for an additional year. He made 231 matches in the German top-flight for the club from the capital.[3]

VfL Wolfsburg

However, after Hertha's relegation in 2010, Friedrich left the club in a €2 million transfer[4] to VfL Wolfsburg, signing a three-year contract.[5]

On 19 September 2011, he was released from his contract at Wolfsburg due to long term injury.[6]

Chicago Fire
Friedrich (left) playing for Chicago Fire

In March 2012, Friedrich signed with the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.[7] He made his competitive debut for the club in a match against the Houston Dynamo on 16 April 2012. The game ended in a 1–1 draw. Friedrich scored his first MLS goal on 12 August 2012 in a match against Philadelphia Union.[8] Friedrich was named the club's 2012 season's Defender of the Year.[9] At the end of 2012 season, he extended his contract with Chicago Fire until the end of 2013.[10]

As announced on 21 January 2013, Friedrich became a US permanent resident which allowed him to no longer occupy an international slot while playing for Major League Soccer clubs.[11] Due to recurring injuries, Friedrich did not appear in any matches in 2013.[12][13]

On 23 June 2013, Friedrich announced his retirement from professional football.[14][15]

International career
Friedrich and Michael Ballack playing for Germany in 2009
Friedrich with Germany in 2011

Friedrich played a total of five games for the Germany U-21 team and once for the B-team known as "Team 2006".

On 21 August 2002, he made his debut for the senior team against Bulgaria with in a 2–2 draw in Sofia.[16] His first major tournament for the national team was Euro 2004 where he appeared in all three group matches that saw the German team was eliminated. On 21 December 2004, Friedrich captained Germany in a 5–1 friendly win over Thailand in Bangkok. He has captained the team three more time since.

In 2005, Germany took part in the Confederations Cup, as upcoming World Cup hosts. Friedrich took turns with Andreas Hinkel on the right wing-back position. The following year, he was part of the 23-man squad for the 2006 World Cup. Except the match for third place, which he missed due to an injury, Friedrich started all of Germany's games.

At Euro 2008, Friedrich was once again part of the German team, but was initially intended as a substitute. Following an injury to Marcell Jansen, he started the final group game and all three knock-out stage matches. The quarter-final was one of Friedrich's best international matches where he successfully shut down Portugal national team star Cristiano Ronaldo.

In March 2009, German coach Joachim Löw explained that he now planned Friedrich as a centre-back instead of the right wing-back position.

Friedrich was part of Germany's squad in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After a Bastian Schweinsteiger solo run, he scored his very first international goal on his 77th appearance[4] for Germany on 3 July 2010 in the 2010 World Cup 4–0 quarter-final win over Argentina.[17]

Career as manager and executive

On 28 August 2014, it was confirmed that Friedrich was the new assistant coach of the German U18 national team.[18] He left the position at the end of 2015.

On 27 November 2019, Friedrich was hired as a performance manager at Hertha BSC under manager Jürgen Klinsmann, who was hired earlier on the same day.[19] After six months as performance manager, Friedrich took over as sporting director in summer 2020.[20] Shortly after, in December, he was appointed interim managing director after manager Michael Preetz was let go. After a successful five months as interim managing director, Friedrich went back to his role of sporting director in July 2021 while simultaneously being appointed to the executive board of Hertha BSC.

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League DFB-Pokal Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Arminia Bielefeld 2000–01 Bundesliga 25120––271
2001–02 22020––240
Total 471200000491
Hertha BSC 2002–03 Bundesliga 335108[lower-alpha 1]03[lower-alpha 2]0455
2003–04 302312[lower-alpha 1]000353
2004–05 25300––253
2005–06 311318[lower-alpha 1]01[lower-alpha 2]0432
2006–07 262404[lower-alpha 1]000342
2007–08 3002000–320
2008–09 250108[lower-alpha 1]0–340
2009–10 310007[lower-alpha 3]0–380
Total 231131423704028615
VfL Wolfsburg 2010–11 Bundesliga 15020––170
2011–12 0000––00
Total 15020––170
Chicago Fire 2012 MLS 23100–1[lower-alpha 4]0241
2013 0000––00
Total 23100–10241
Career total 316152023705037817
  1. Appearances in UEFA Cup
  2. Appearances in DFL-Ligapokal
  3. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. Appearance in MLS Cup Playoffs

International
Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Friedrich goal.
List of international goals scored by Arne Friedrich
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
13 July 2010Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa Argentina3–04–02010 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Hertha BSC

Germany

References
  1. "FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010: List of Players: Germany" (PDF). FIFA. 12 June 2010. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2019.
  2. "Verletzungsprobleme: Arne Friedrich beendet seine Karriere" [Injury problems: Arne Friedrich ends his career] (in German). Spiegel Online. 23 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  3. Arnhold, Matthias (2 September 2015). "Arne Friedrich - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. Langer, Sebastian (3 July 2010). "Ein Tor mit 76 Spielen Anlauf" [A goal with 76 matches warm up]. Berliner Kurier (in German). Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  5. Dobbert, Steffen (2 July 2010). "Ich habe Sachen gelesen, die kotzen mich an" [I have read things that make me sick]. Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  6. "Germany defender Friedrich quits Wolfsburg". Sports Illustrated. 19 September 2011. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  7. "Fire acquire German World Cup veteran Arne Friedrich Chicago Fire Communications". Chicago Fire Soccer Club. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  8. "Recap: Rolfe, Friedrich power Fire to 3–1 win over Philly". 12 August 2012. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  9. "Fire Announce 2012 Team Award Winners". 27 October 2012.
  10. "Fire Re-sign Defender Arne Friedrich". chicago-fire.com. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  11. "Arne Friedrich Receives U.S. Green Card". chicago-fire.com. 21 January 2013.
  12. Crandall, Jeff (11 March 2013). "Defender Arne Friedrich heads to Germany for hamstring treatment". chicago-fire.com. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  13. "Chicago Fire Defender Arne Friedrich Returns To Germany To Receive Treatment For Hip Injury". chicago-fire.com. 29 May 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  14. "Chicago Fire Defender Arne Friedrich Announces Retirement". chicago-fire.com. 23 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  15. Zills, Anthony (23 June 2013). "Chicago Fire defender Arne Friedrich announces retirement from professional soccer". mlssoccer.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  16. Matthias Arnhold (19 September 2013). "Arne Friedrich - International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  17. "Match Report". FIFA. 3 July 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  18. "Arne Friedrich wird Co-Trainer beim DFB". sport1.de. 28 August 2014.
  19. ""Bild": Arne Friedrich wird Teammanager bei Hertha BSC". Die Welt (in German). 27 November 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  20. "Arne Friedrich wird Sportdirektor bei Hertha BSC". Hertha BSC (in German). 28 June 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
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