Alexander Hleb BiographyPlace of Birth: Minsk, Belarus.
Previous Clubs
FC Dinamo Minsk, FC BATE Borisov, VFB Stuttgart.
Current Club
Arsenal, England.
Position
Anywhere across Midfield, though he has currently found his form on the right wing for Arsenal.
Value
Hleb signed for Arsenal on June 28th 2005, and the cost of the transfer is expected to rise to £10,000,000 depending on appearances.
Arsenal Debut
July 16th, 2005. Hleb came on as a second half substitute, and within 2 minutes, scored a goal against English team Barnet.
Competitive Arsenal Debut
14th August 2005. Hleb came on as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Premier Division team Newcastle United.
Full Arsenal Debut
August 21st, 2005. Hleb played the full 90 minutes against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and was hailed by several key members of the media as having the “Best Possible Debut”.
Honours
FC BATE Borisov - Belarus League Champions 1998/1999
VFB Stuttgart - Belarus Athelete of the Year 2002
VFB Stuttgart - Bundesliga Runner-up 2002/2003
VFB Stuttgart - Highest number of assists 2004/2005
Arsenal - Champions League Runner-up 2005/2006
Arsenal - Belarus Sportsman of the Year 2006
International Debut
2001, Wales 1-0 Belarus.
Full International Debut
April 2002, Belarus 5-2 Hungary. Aliaksandr Hleb scored one of the 5 goals for Belarus.
International Honours
Over 30 caps for the Belarussian U-21 side, and has so far won 27 caps for the full team, scoring 4 goals.
Childhood
Aliaksandr Hleb grew up in the city of Minsk, Belarus, with his Mother and Father. His Mother was a builder, while his Father drove petrol tankers. At some point during Aliaksandr’s childhood, his Father was ‘volunteered’ to help knock down uninhabitable houses in Ukraine following the Chernobyl disaster. This exposure to radiation is believed to have been the cause of his ill health later in his life.
Aliaksandr began playing football on the pitched of FC Dinamo Minsk school, these pitches made of simple concrete. When he was 17, FC BATE Borisov, a Premier LEague team just north of Minsk signed him as a youngster, and a season later, signed him as a full professional player. In Aliaksandr’s debut season, FC BATE Borisov won the Championship.
VFB Stuttgart
In 2000, Aliaksandr Hleb, and his brother, Vyacheslav were spotted by scouts from VFB Stuttgart. They were signed as a duo for a fee of 150,000 Euros. He quickly made himself indispensible to the club.
In 2002/2003, Stuttgart finished as runner-up in the Bundesliga, and also recorded a memorable Champions League victory over Manchester United.
Following these successes, manager Felix Magath left to join FC Bayern, and he was replaced by Mathias Sammer. He was forced into playing much more rigid football, which limited Hleb’s creativity, and eventually led to him leaving the club.
Arsenal
In June 2005, Arsene Wenger swooped in to sign the creative midfielder for a fee believed to rise to £10,000,000 depending on performance and appearances. He debuted against Barnet in a pre-season friendly, and scored within 2 minutes of coming off the bench.
He made his Premiership debut in a 2-0 win over Newcastle, and made his first start against Chelsea in the Premier Division. He was hailed as having the “Best Possible Debut” by several key members of the media.
Hleb, along with Tomas Rosicky, is expected to have a great effect on Arsenal in coming years, seemingly the natural replacements for Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg.
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