Markus Babbel

Markus Babbel (born September 8 1972 in Munich) is a German international footballer who plays as a defender.

Starting out in the German Bundesliga, his first club was Bayern Munich, for whom he played initially from the youth squad, forging to the first team and making eight starts, as well as four substitute appearances in league games.

Moving to SV Hamburg in August 1992 gave Babbel the chance to appear regularly in a first-team slot. Between this and his exit in 1994, he managed to score his first league goal. Transferring back to Bayern Munich, he made 167 starts, before being snapped up by then-Liverpool F.C. manager Gérard Houllier in June 2000, from whom, as a sometime first-teamer, he went on loan to Blackburn Rovers in August 2003, achieving regular first team appearances in the league, and three goals in the process. Babbel won the UEFA Cup twice, in 1996 with Bayern and in 2001 with Liverpool.

Babbel's most recent club is VfB Stuttgart, who he joined on a free transfer in July 2004. He has been capped over 50 times for Germany and was part of the Euro 96-winning team. Babbel also played for his country at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.