Quick Facts
Biography
Sven Bender (German pronunciation: [ˈsvɛn ˈbɛndɐ]; born 27 April 1989) is a German footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and central defender for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. He was raised in Brannenburg and started his football career playing for TSV Brannenburg. Sven is the twin brother of Lars Bender.
Club career
Early career
Sven Bender played from 1993 to 1999 in the youth of the TSV Brannenburg, from 1999 to 2002 he was part of SpVgg Unterhaching youth teams. In summer 2002, he moved to the 1860 München youth team.
1860 Munich
He started his football career on the U-14 team and played for all of Die Löwen's youth teams in three years. In November 2007, Sven extended his contract with 1860 Munich until 2011. In 2009, Munich had to sell both Lars and Sven Bender, due to club's financial problem. Sven moved to Borussia Dortmund and Lars to Bayer Leverkusen. Sven played 65 games and scored 1 goal for 1860 Munich. In 2009, he joined Borussia Dortmund, where he signed a contract that tied him to the club until 2013.
Borussia Dortmund
He made his Bundesliga debut on 19 September 2009 in a game against Hannover. His biggest rival for the spot in the defensive midfield suffered several injuries and Sven established himself in the starting 11 very quickly. Bender scored his first Bundesliga goal on February 12, 2011, against Kaiserslautern and extended his contract until 2017. The years 2011 and 2012 were very successful for Sven Bender, he was an important player in Dortmund's midfield and helped the team win the national championship in both years as well as the German Cup in 2012. On 6 January 2013, Bender extended his contract with Dortmund, keeping him at the club until 2017. During the new 2012/2013 season, he was struggling with several injuries and made Dortmund resigned Nuri Sahin in January 2013, after treatment for his injury Bender got another opponent for his position and he's on his way to becoming the number one player on his position and shares a place with team's captain Sebastian Kehl and helped the team to reach 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, although lost by their domestic rival Bayern Munich. On 27 July 2013, Bender won the 2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund 4-2 against old rivals Bayern Munich. In February 2014, he suffered injury after lost game against HSV Hamburg, which eventually ruled him out for the rest season. In 2014-2015 Sven was part of Dortmund bad start in Bundesliga. On 21 February 2016, he signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2021.
International career
At under-19 level, he was a part of the team that won the 2008 European Under-19 Championship. He and his twin Lars were named jointly as players of the tournament. Bender made his debut for the senior team in a friendly match against Australia on March 2011. He appeared in several more friendly games and nominated for the Euro 2012 but did not make the squad's final. In February 2014, he suffered an Osteitis pubis injury that ruled him out for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In mid-July on 2016, despite not being called up for the Senior team since 2013, he made the spot for Germany Olympic football team for the 2016 Summer Olympics as one of three over 23 years old players along with his twin and Nils Petersen, where Germany won the silver medal.
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | Ref. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 1860 Munich II | 2006–07 | Regionalliga Süd | 19 | 3 | — | — | — | 19 | 3 | ||||
| 2007–08 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Totals | 20 | 3 | 20 | 3 | — | ||||||||
| 1860 Munich | 2006–07 | 2. Bundesliga | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |||||
| 2007–08 | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 1 | |||||||
| 2008–09 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |||||||
| Totals | 66 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 70 | 1 | — | ||||||
| Borussia Dortmund II | 2009–10 | 3. Liga | 3 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||||||
| 2012–13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Totals | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | ||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund | 2009–10 | Bundesliga | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |||
| 2010–11 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 39 | 1 | |||||
| 2011–12 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 1 | |||
| 2012–13 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | |||
| 2013–14 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 1 | |||
| 2014–15 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 0 | |||
| 2015–16 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0 | — | 35 | 0 | ||||
| 2016–17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 154 | 4 | 17 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 218 | 4 | — | ||
| Career totals | 244 | 8 | 21 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 312 | 8 | — | ||
Personal life
On 20 June 2015, Sven married Simone Dettendorfer, his long time girlfriend since 2008.
Honours
Club
- Bundesliga: 2010–11, 2011–12
- DFB-Pokal: 2011–12
- DFL-Supercup: 2013, 2014
Country
- UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2008
- Summer Olympic Games: Silver Medal, 2016
Individual
- Fritz Walter Medal U17 Bronze Medal 2006
- UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship Golden Player: 2008