Owen Lee Hargreaves BiographyBackground
Hargreaves is the youngest of three children born to Margaret and Colin Hargreaves who had emigrated to Canada at the start of the eighties from Great Britain. His father played football for the Bolton Wanderers youth side and also for the Calgary Kickers of the Canadian Soccer League. He has two brothers, Darren and Neil. His eldest brother, Darren, represented Canada at youth level.
FC Bayern Munich
Owen Hargreaves moved at the age of sixteen from Calgary Foothills to FC Bayern Munich on 1 July 1997. Hargreaves played in the Under-19 team for two and a half years before spending six months with the Amateur team. Whilst with the Under 19s the team reached the Final of the German Championship in 1998. They lost in the Final to Borussia Dortmund, but only after a penalty shoot-out in Dortmund’s Rote-Erde Stadium.
On August 12, 2000, Hargreaves played in his first Bundesliga match, making an appearance as a substitute for Carsten Jancker in the 83rd minute. His first start came against SpVgg Unterhaching on September 16 of the same year. That season proved to be a triumphant one for Bayern Munich; the club were Bundesliga champions and also claimed the Champions League crown. Hargreaves's performances in the Champions League semi final against Real Madrid put him in the international spotlight as he showed he was capable of holding his own against the likes of Roberto Carlos and LuÃs Figo.
In the 2001/2002 season Hargreaves established himself as a first team regular, making 46 appearances in all. In spite of setbacks for the club in the form of a third place finish in the Bundesliga, a quarter final appearance in the Champions League and a Cup defeat by Schalke 04, the season proved to be a decisive one for Hargreaves as he emerged as a key player of the team.
2002/2003 saw Hargreaves celebrate another domestic success as Bayern won the Bundesliga title and the DFB Cup. On January 26, 2003, Hargreaves scored his first Bundesliga goal in the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Unfortunately, the season also saw him out injured on three separate occasions. In September he tore a thigh muscle, then in October a calf muscle. Towards the end of the season adductor problems meant he missed a further three weeks. He racked up 25 Bundesliga appearances, 4 Cup games and 3 matches in the Champions League.
The 2003/2004 season was Hargreaves' first with Bayern without winning any silverware. After clinching the double the year before, the Munich side finished second in the Bundesliga, and were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid. Hargreaves made a total of 38 appearances for the club in this season.
In 2004/05 he picked up another German championship and DFB Cup. He had 27 appearances in the Bundesliga (1 goal), played in 3 Cup games (2 goals)and 8 Champions League games.
In the 2005/06 season, he added another Bundesliga and Cup title. He had 15 (1 goal) league, 4 (2) cup and 3 CL appearances. His Bundesliga goal was the first of the season.
In October 2005, he extended his contract at Bayern for another four years which will keep him at the club until 2010.
In the 2006/2007 Hargreaves was unfortunate enough to break his leg which has kept him out of most of Bayern Munich's league campaign this term. But he recovered in time to help Bayern knock out Real Madrid in the Champions League with an aggregate score of 4-4, with Bayern going through on away goals thank to their 3-2 defeat in the first leg at Madrid's Bernabéu.
Hargreaves was the subject of transfer speculation for much of the 2006/2007 season, with Manchester United leading the pack to acquire his signature. Hargreaves indicated a desire to return to England, but Bayern's management felt he should honor his 4 year contract. However, in April 2007, Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer showed signs of relenting, stating "If it is right there is an offer of 25-30m euros (£17-20m), then I would seriously consider it."
International career
Hargreaves was eligible to play international football for any one of the Home nations[1][2] or for Canada, and had he not accepted selection at the time he did, would soon have been eligible for Germany under residency rules. On August 31, 2000, the then England under-21 manager, Howard Wilkinson called the 19-year-old into his squad for the match against Georgia. The game, played at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough, ended in a 6-1 win for the home team. Further appearances for the Under-21s followed in friendlies against Italy and Spain.
Hargreaves's international commitment to England was sealed when he first played a full international game on August 15, 2001 against the Netherlands at White Hart Lane. Hargreaves was the only player plying his trade outside the Premier League to be selected for England's 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. Hargreaves was injured after just fifteen minutes of England's second Group game against Argentina and had to be substituted.
Although he had not usually been part of the first choice team, he was selected for the England squads at Euro 2004 in Portugal and the 2006 World Cup in Germany despite criticism from sections of the press and public. The generally negative perception of him by English fans had not been helped by his seeming to have an essence of "German-ness",[3] exacerbated by his German / Canadian accent. His entry into England's first match of the 2006 World Cup as a substitute prompted vocal abuse from a number of England fans. However, in a tournament in which England were generally regarded as having underachieved, he was, by the end of England's participation, widely considered one of the few successes of the English squad, and he was named "Man of the Match" in the quarter final against Portugal, the game in which England were eliminated after a penalty shootout, Hargreaves having been the only successful English penalty taker.
He continued his rise in the eyes of English supporters in picking up the Man of the Match award in England's 4-0 win over Greece on 18 August 2006, where he first took over the number seven shirt of former captain David Beckham. On 30 January 2007 he was voted England Player of the Year 2006, as voted for by visitors to the Official FA site
source:wikipedia.org
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