Torsten Frings

Torsten Frings

Frings playing for Toronto at Rogers Centre on 7 March 2012
Personal information
Full name Torsten Klaus Frings[1]
Date of birth (1976-11-22) 22 November 1976
Place of birth Würselen, West Germany
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Central midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Werder Bremen (assistant)
Youth career
1982–1988 Rot-Weiß Alsdorf
1988–1990 Rhenania Alsdorf
1990–1994 Alemannia Aachen II
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1994–1997 Alemannia Aachen 57 (13)
1997 Werder Bremen (A) 1 (1)
1997–2002 Werder Bremen 162 (15)
2002–2004 Borussia Dortmund 47 (10)
2004–2005 Bayern Munich 29 (3)
2005–2011 Werder Bremen 164 (21)
2011–2012 Toronto FC 33 (2)
Total 493 (65)
National team
1997–1998 Germany U21 6 (1)
1999–2000 Germany B 5 (0)
2001–2009 Germany 79 (10)
Teams managed
2013–2014 Werder Bremen II (assistant)
2014– Werder Bremen (assistant)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Torsten Klaus Frings (born 22 November 1976) is a German football coach and former footballer, who played as a central midfielder. He is currently working as assistant manager of Werder Bremen.

He played 79 matches for the Germany national team from his debut in 2001, including at two European Championships and two FIFA World Cups.

Club career

Early career

His professional career began at third division Alemannia Aachen before a move to Werder Bremen in 1996–97, helping the Weserstadion outfit to a German Cup final defeat of Bayern Munich in 1999 and tallying more than 160 Bundesliga appearances and 15 goals over five and a half seasons.[2]

Borussia Dortmund

In 2002, a number of Europe's leading clubs were on Frings's trail prior to the World Cup but he opted for a four-year deal with Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €10 million, penning the contract two games into the competition. A regular in his first term at the Westfalenstadion, Frings also played 12 times in the UEFA Champions League, scoring home and away against Lokomotiv Moscow.

Frings's 2003–04 season only began on 30 January when he played against Schalke 04, his first game since damaging his knee against VfL Bochum in July. He took over from Tomáš Rosický in the playmaking role and scored four times in 16 games before signing a three-year contract with Dortmund's rivals, Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich

Despite winning the domestic double with Bayern and making 29 Bundesliga and ten Champions League appearances, Frings never really enjoyed his football in Munich, and was played out of position by coach Felix Magath.

Werder Bremen

In June 2005, he rejoined Bremen for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal, helping them past FC Basel into the Champions League group stage.

Toronto FC and retirement

On 29 June 2011, it was announced that Frings had reached an agreement to join Major League Soccer team Toronto FC as a designated player.[3] During the press conference in which Frings was presented to the Toronto media, the club also announced the signing of Danny Koevermans.[4] Frings made his debut for Toronto on 20 July 2011 in a 1–0 home defeat to FC Dallas.[5] On 29 July 2011, Frings made his CONCACAF Champions League debut against Real Esteli in which he was given the honour of wearing the captain's armband for Toronto.[6] Frings became the permanent captain of the club following Maicon Santos's transfer to Dallas.

On 27 June 2012, Frings scored his first MLS goal in a 3–0 away victory over Montreal Impact, blasting a free kick in the 52nd minute from 22 yards out.[7]

Frings missed the latter portion of the 2012 season after sustaining a hip injury which required arthoscopic surgery.[8][9] Frings’ subsequent recovery progressed slower than expected, ultimately leading to his decision to retire from football in February 2013.[10][11]

Club president, Kevin Payne indicated that the team wanted to maintain a relationship with Frings "not just for next season, but for seasons to come." Frings himself said he wants to return to the game as a coach.[12]

International career

Frings is an all-action, versatile midfielder. He can play anywhere across midfield, although he is most comfortable running deep from his own team's box to the opposition's box. He is however deployed as defensive midfielder where his tough tackling is useful. Frings is also known for his explosive, powerful shot. Frings scored Germany's fourth goal in a 4–2 win against Costa Rica in the opening match of the 2006 World Cup on 9 June 2006 with a powerful drive from more than 30 yards.

Following Germany's penalty shootout victory over Argentina on 30 June 2006, Frings was fined and suspended by FIFA for two games (one of which is subject to a six-month probationary period) for his role in the brawl that broke out between the Argentine and German teams after the match.[13] After reviewing video footage of the brawl, FIFA's Disciplinary Committee determined that Frings had punched Argentine forward Julio Cruz and levelled punishment accordingly, even though Cruz himself had denied that Frings punched him; the second game of the suspension was made probationary due to the Committee's determination that Frings had been provoked into fighting. This suspension decision, announced by FIFA only the day before Germany's semi-final versus Italy on 4 July 2006, rendered Frings unavailable for the important match.

The controversy of the decision was also sparked by the fact that Frings' role in the brawl had been widely accentuated in the Italian media after FIFA had already announced it closed its investigations against German players. Frings answered to the accusations in an interview: "This is all politics. The Argentinians attack us, I defend myself and the Italians get worked up. With this suspension, FIFA just wanted to show that Germany doesn't get special treatment as the World Cup hosts."

He was also part of a controversial call in the 2002 FIFA World Cup when he prevented a USMNT goal from going in with a handball on the goal line.[14]

Frings was also called up to Germany's Euro 2008 squad, but was not included in the team for the 2010 World Cup by German coach Joachim Löw.[15] He played his last international match on 11 February 2009 in a 0–1 home defeat against Norway.[16][17]

Coaching career

Frings is planning on being a youth coach at Werder Bremen.[18] Werder Bremen Ex-CEO Klaus Allofs stated that "he can learn the coaching profession for us from the bottom up."[18] On 25 October 2014, after Werder Bremen fired head coach Robin Dutt, Bremen youth coach Viktor Skripnik was appointed as the head coach with Florian Kohfeldt, Christian Vander, and Frings all amongst Skripnik's coaching staff. He received a coaching license from the German FA after a 10–month coaching course.[19]

Personal life

Frings is married to Petra and they have two children, Lisa-Katharina and Lena Alina.[20] His hobbies include spending time with his family and riding his motorbike.[20]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total Ref.
Club League Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Germany League DFB-Pokal DFB-Ligapokal Europe Total
Alemannia Aachen Regionalliga West 1994–95 6 0 0 0 — — 6 0 [2]
1995–96 32 12 — — — 32 12 [2]
1996–97 19 1 — — — 19 1 [2]
Alemannia Aachen totals 57 13 0 0 — — 57 13 —
Werder Bremen II Regionalliga Nord 1996–97 1 1 — — — 1 1 [2]
Werder Bremen Bundesliga 1996–97 15 0 0 0 — — 15 0 [21]
1997–98 28 2 2 0 3 0 33 2 [22][23]
1998–99 23 3 4 3 12 3 39 9 [24][25]
1999–2000 33 3 4 0 2 0 9 0 48 3 [26]
2000–01 30 1 2 0 — 5 0 37 1 [27]
2001–02 33 6 1 0 2 0 36 6 [28][29]
Werder Bremen totals 162 15 13 3 2 0 31 3 208 21 —
Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga 2002–03 31 6 2 0 1 0 12 2 46 8 [30]
2003–04 16 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 17 4 [30]
Borussia Dortmund totals 47 10 2 0 2 0 12 2 63 12 —
Bayern Munich Bundesliga 2004–05 29 3 6 0 2 1 8 1 45 5 [31]
Werder Bremen 2005–06 28 3 4 1 2 0 10 1 44 5 [32]
2006–07 33 1 0 0 2 1 6 1 41 3 [33]
2007–08 11 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 14 1 [34]
2008–09 30 4 5 0 — 13 0 48 4 [35]
2009–10 30 6 6 0 9 4 45 10 [36]
2010–11 32 6 1 0 6 1 39 7 [37]
Werder Bremen totals 164 21 16 1 5 1 46 7 231 30 —
Canada League Canadian Championship MLS Cup Playoffs North America Total —
Toronto FC Major League Soccer 2011 13 0 0 0 — 6 0 19 0 [38]
2012 20 2 3 0 2 0 25 2 [39][40][41][42]
Toronto FC totals 33 2 3 0 0 0 8 0 44 2 —
Career totals 493 65 40 4 11 2 105 13 649 84 —

Honours

Club

Werder Bremen
Bayern Munich
Toronto FC

National team

References

  1. ↑ "FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 – List of Players" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). p. 12. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Matthias Arnhold (15 May 2014). "Torsten Frings – Matches and goals in Bundesliga". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Frings wechselt zu Klinsmann-Club Toronto". Die Welt. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "Frings & Koevermans Join TFC". Toronto FC. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Millson, Larry (20 July 2011). "New-Look Reds Sunk By Strike From Shea". TorontoFC.ca. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Plata Paces Toronto To Victory". Toronto FC. 27 July 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "Recap: Rampant Toronto throttle Impact 3–0 in Montreal". mlssoccer.com. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Toronto FC captain Torsten Frings to miss rest of season with hip injury". Toronto Star. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Larson, Curtis (5 September 2012). "Frings to miss remainder of MLS season". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "Injuries force Toronto DP Frings into retirement". Major League Soccer. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  11. ↑ "Werder-Legende Torsten Frings beendet Karriere". Die Welt (in German). 26 February 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  12. ↑ "Toronto FC captain Torsten Frings retires". theglobeandmail.com. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  13. ↑ "Frings missing but Germany remain confident". fifa.com. 4 July 2006. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  14. ↑ "USA vs. Germany: The Ghost of Torsten Frings". Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  15. ↑ "Loew tells Frings he won't be going to World Cup". www.nola.com. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  16. ↑ "Norway upset adds to Germany's soccer woes". Deutsche Welle. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  17. ↑ Matthias Arnhold (19 May 2011). "Torsten Frings – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  18. 1 2 "Torsten Frings will Jugendtrainer bei Werder werden". Die Welt (in German). 5 November 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  19. ↑ "Frings erhält Fußball-Lehrer-Lizenz des DFB" (in German). kicker. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  20. 1 2 "Torsten Frings". werder.de. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  21. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  24. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  26. ↑ "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  27. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  28. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  29. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  30. 1 2 "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  31. ↑ "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  32. ↑ "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  33. ↑ "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  34. ↑ "Torsten Frings" (in German). Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  35. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  36. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  37. ↑ "Frings, Torsten". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  38. ↑ "Torsten Frings". ESPN FC. ESPN. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  39. ↑ "Torsten Frings". ESPN FC. ESPN. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  40. ↑ "Impact draw Toronto FC in opening leg". Canadian Soccer Association. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  41. ↑ "Toronto FC advances to Championship final". Canadian Soccer Association. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  42. ↑ "ACC Recap: Late Lambe goal wins 4th straight title for TFC". Major League Soccer. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  43. ↑ "Torsten Frings ist wieder Meister – in Kanada". Die Welt (in German). 24 May 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2012.

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