Sebastian Kehl

Born in Fulda, Hesse, Kehl joined Hannover 96's youth system in 1996 at the age of 15, going on to appear in two 2. Bundesliga seasons with the first team. In the 2000 summer he signed for SC Freiburg in the Bundesliga, making his debut in the competition on 12 August by playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–0 home win against VfB Stuttgart, and scoring his first goal on 12 December of that year to help to a 2–1 away success over VfL Wolfsburg. Under manager Volker Finke, Kehl featured mostly as a sweeper, helping the Black Forest club qualify to the 2001–02 UEFA Cup in his first season, before the club suffered relegation in his second season. He was no longer part of the squad, however, as he had left in the 2002 January transfer window to Borussia Dortmund, who went on to win the championship with 15 games and one goal from the player. Previously, in summer 2001, he controversially agreed basic terms with FC Bayern Munich, and even accepted an advanced payment of 1.5 million Deutsche Mark, which was returned in November as Bayern threatened to take legal action.

During his tenure with Dortmund, Kehl was more often than not a starter. He contributed with 12 matches in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League to help his team reach the second group phase, and amassed 61 league appearances from 2004 to 2006 in back-to-back seventh-place finishes. On the first day of the 2006–07 campaign, Kehl injured his left knee in a challenge with Bayern's Hasan Salihamidžić, sidelining him for…

Kehl earned the first of his 31 caps for the Germany national team on 29 May 2001, in a 2–0 friendly win against Slovakia in Bremen where he came on for Marko Rehmer after 45 minutes. He scored his first goal on 15 August of that year, contributing to a 5–2 win over Hungary in another exhibition game. Selected for both the 2002 and the 2006 World Cups, Kehl played twice (against Paraguay and United States) in the former tournament as the Mannschaft finished in second place, and started in two of his four appearances to help to the third place in the latter.

In April 2018, Borussia Dortmund announced that Kehl would become its players licence department director starting on 1 June. In June 2021, Borussia Dortmund announced that Kehl would be the successor to sporting director Michael Zorc following his retirement in the summer of 2022. In March 2026, Borussia Dortmund announced that Kehl would leave the club by mutual consent.

Kehl is married to Tina Kehl. They have three children.