Aliaksandr Hleb

VfB Stuttgart

Spotted by scouts, Alexander and his younger brother Vyacheslav were signed in 2000 by German Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart for approximately €150,000. He made his Bundesliga debut on 5 September 2000 in an away match at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, coming on as a substitute for the last 20 minutes. Despite only making six league appearances in his first season with Stuttgart, Hleb became a regular at the club in his second season there and went on to establish himself as an important player for the team. In 2002, he was voted Belarusian Footballer of the Year. In 2002–03, Stuttgart finished as runners-up in the Bundesliga and enjoyed a UEFA Champions League victory over Manchester United and Hleb had become established as the team's playmaker. After team manager Felix Magath left to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2004, however, Stuttgart were not as successful under new coach Matthias Sammer, having finished the 2004–05 season in fifth place.

Arsenal

In June 2005, Hleb joined English side Arsenal for a sum which had the potential to reach €15 million, on a four-year contract. Arsène Wenger used Hleb at many different midfield positions, but he mainly played on the right wing for Arsenal. His competitive debut was made in August 2005 against Chelsea in the 2005 FA Community Shield, and then he made his league debut as a substitute against Newcastle United. Soon after, Hleb sustained a knee injury while on international duty with Belarus and was…

Hleb won 24 caps for the Belarus under-21 side. He made his full international debut as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat against Wales in 2001. He scored on his second international start in a 5–2 victory over Hungary in April 2002. He scored a goal in the finals of the 2002 LG Cup in Russia, which Belarus won. In November 2006, former Belarusian captain Sergei Gurenko strongly criticised Hleb for not working hard in national team settings. Hleb, however, rejected any suggestion that he was a "prima donna". In August 2007, new national team manager Bernd Stange made Hleb team captain despite the criticism. On 22 August, Hleb wore the captain's armband for the first time in a 2–1 win against Israel. He was part of the team at the victorious friendly Malta International Football Tournament in 2008. Overall he won 80 caps, scoring six goals.

Hleb grew up in Minsk. His mother worked on a construction site while his father drove petrol tankers. His father had volunteered to help demolish houses in Ukraine made uninhabitable as the result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Hleb believes this exposure to radiation caused his father's ill health. Before getting involved with football, Hleb was a keen swimmer and gymnast. His younger brother Vyacheslav was also a footballer.

In 2003, Hleb was involved in a car crash in Minsk, after which a passenger in the other car died in hospital. Hleb was cleared of any responsibility for the accident. While playing for Arsenal, Hleb lived in Hampstead, North London. In a 2009 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Hleb confessed that the biggest regret of his life was leaving Arsenal for Barcelona. Hleb was married to Anastasia Kosenkova, ex-singer of the Belarusian pop group Topless, from 2008 until 2014. In summer 2016, he married Sviatlana. His first child, a daughter, was born in December of that year. Sviatlana's daughter from a previous marriage lives with the couple.