Sebastian Boenisch

Schalke 04

Boenisch started his football career by joining SSVG 09/12 Heiligenhaus. He then moved to different clubs like Borussia Velbert and Rot-Weiß Oberhausen before joining Schalke 04 at age sixteen and signing a professional contract with the club in January 2006. After three years at the club's reserve, Boenisch made his professional debut for Schalke 04 on 11 February 2006, coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute, in a 7–4 home win against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. A few weeks later, Boenisch was featured in the first team again in a 2–1 win against Espanyol in the UEFA Cup. For the next two seasons, Boenisch was never considered for the first team, having spent time playing for the reserve and being an un-used substitute in the first team. Towards the end of the 2006–07 season, he signed a new deal at Schalke, that would have kept him until 2010. However, two months later after signing a new contract, Boenisch had enough of being left out of the club's starting lineup and announced his intention to leave the club.

Werder Bremen

On 1 September 2007, he moved to Werder Bremen on an undisclosed fee, believed to be around €3 million and signed a four-year deal that would last until 2011. Four months after signing for Werder Bremen, he was joined by Schalke teammate Mesut Özil, who suffered the same fate as Boenisch. He made his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute for Duško Tošić in the 80th minute, as Werder Bremen won 2–1 against Eintracht…

On 14 November 2006, Boenisch was called up by German under-20 team for the first time and earned his first cap for the side in a 4–1 victory against Austria. Around the same time being on the under-20 duty, Boenisch was called up by German under-21 team in November 2006 and made his under-21 team debut, in a 2–0 win over Scotland U21. The Polish-born player hesitated whether to play for Poland or Germany. Later, there were rumors that Boenisch would receive a call up from Leo Beenhakker for the match against Greece but he was not listed in the official call ups. Boenisch said that he was not interested in playing for Poland anymore, and was concentrating on playing for the German U-21 team. He won the 2009 European Under-21 Championship with Germany. In November 2009, there were rumors that Poland's new national football team coach Franciszek Smuda was interested in the player but Boenisch said that he had made no decision. Due to lack chances for a future call up to the German senior squad, on 20 August 2010 Boenisch finally decided to play for Poland and received his first call up for matches against Ukraine and Australia He made his debut for Poland against Ukraine on 4 September 2010. In May 2012, Boenisch was called up by Poland national team for the UEFA Euro 2012 squad. He played his first competitive match for Poland in the opening game of the tournament against Greece on 8 June 2012 and went on to play all three matches, as they were eliminated from the group stage.

Boenisch was born in Gliwice in Upper Silesia. His great-grandfather was of German descent. In 1988, he emigrated with his family and after a time in Dortmund, the family settled in Heiligenhaus in Niederbergisches Land in Bergisches Land in North Rhine-Westphalia. Boenisch previously had a surname of Pniowski before the family changed it to Boenisch at the recommendation of the German civil service. Despite being born in Poland, he is not fluent in Polish and speaks German and Silesian. He attended the Gesamtschule Berger Feld. Boenisch's parents are athletes, his mother played handball and his father played football.

After previously dating Natalia, Boenisch was engaged to Tatjana Batinić, the 2006 Miss Austria. The two first met in late-2009 and began dating. The couple was married in the summer of 2013. In 2015, Boenisch became a father when his wife gave birth to a son. In April 2013, the couple's Mercedes M-Class was set on fire, along with three other cars.