Hans-Jörg Butt

Hamburg/Leverkusen

Butt started his professional career with modest Oldenburg, achieving promotion to the second division in 1996. He moved to Hamburg in the 1997 summer and, in his second season, scored seven goals for the team – all from the penalty spot – adding nine in similar fashion the following campaign. Butt joined Bayer Leverkusen on a free transfer in 2001, being the side's undisputed starter in the subsequent campaigns (he only missed one Bundesliga match in his first five seasons combined and added seven goals), and appeared in all the games (17) for a team that lost to Real Madrid in the 2001–02 UEFA Champions League final, scoring a penalty in a 3–1 home win against Juventus in the second group stage. In 2003–04, after scoring a penalty in an away match against Schalke 04 on 17 April 2004, Butt turned away from midfield and began to enthusiastically celebrate with his teammates. He did not notice the whistle for the restart of the game and continued to celebrate. Schalke player Mike Hanke took the opportunity to shoot from the halfway line and scored while Butt was still jogging back to his position.

Benfica

After losing Leverkusen's nets to the young René Adler during the 2006–07 season, Butt decided to cancel the contract that linked him to the club until 2009, activating a clause that allowed him to leave the club should he fail to appear in more than half of the games during the second half of the campaign. In July 2007, he signed a…

Butt was Germany's third-choice goalkeeper, behind Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, at both the UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup, remaining an unused substitute in both tournaments. He won three international caps for Germany in friendly matches, his debut coming against Liechtenstein on 7 June 2000, where he appeared for the second half of an 8–2 routing. Butt, Manuel Neuer and Tim Wiese were chosen as Germany's goalkeepers for the 2010 World Cup, with Butt taking the place of former Leverkusen teammate René Adler, who had to withdraw due to a rib injury. He made his only competitive international appearance on 10 July, appearing in the 3–2 win against Uruguay in the tournament's third-place playoff.

Club

International

Butt was born in Oldenburg and raised in nearby Großenkneten, where his father Jochen ran a company manufacturing loading ramps and industrial doors. As a youngster, he played for the junior teams of his local football club, TSV Großenkneten, as a striker. Butt is married to Katja. As of November 2010, the couple had three children – a daughter and two sons.