Sven Bender

Early career

Having been a product of their academy since the age of 4, Bender played from 1993 to 1999 in the youth of TSV Brannenburg. From 1999 to 2002, he was part of SpVgg Unterhaching youth teams. In summer 2002, Bender moved to the 1860 München youth team.

1860 Munich

He started his football career on the U-14 team and played for all of 1860 München's youth teams in three years. In November 2007, Bender extended his contract with the club 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 moved to Bayer Leverkusen. Sven played 65 games and scored 1 goal for 1860 Munich.

Borussia Dortmund

On 1 July 2009, Bender joined Borussia Dortmund, where he signed a four-year contract that tied him to the club until 2013. Bender made his Bundesliga debut on 19 September 2009 in a game against Hannover 96. His biggest rival for the spot in the defensive midfield suffered several injuries and Bender established himself in the starting eleven very quickly. He scored his first Bundesliga goal on 12 February 2011 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern and extended his contract until 2017. The years 2011 and 2012 were very successful for Bender, as he was an important player in Dortmund's midfield and helped the team win the national championship in both years as well as the DFB-Pokal in 2012. On 6 January 2013, Bender extended his contract with Dortmund, keeping him at the club…

At under-19 level, Bender was a part of the team that won the 2008 European Under-19 Championship. He and his twin brother Lars were named jointly as players of the tournament. Bender made his debut for the senior team in a friendly match against Australia in 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, Bender suffered an Osteitis pubis injury that ruled him out for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. His last internationals therefore were two friendlies in late 2013. 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 brother and Nils Petersen, where Germany won the silver medal.

In June 2022, the German Football Association appointed him as the new assistant coach of the Germany U-16 national team. During the summer of 2023, he became assistant coach of the German U-17s. On 29 December 2023, Bender left his job at the German Football Association and, along with his past teammate Nuri Şahin, was appointed as assistant manager to Edin Terzić at their former club Borussia Dortmund, signing a contract until the end of the season. He became the interim head coach of SpVgg Unterhaching in December 2024 for the remainder of the year. He took over the same role in March 2025. On 24 July 2026, Bender was appointed as Jürgen Klopp's assistant coach with the Germany national team.

Club