Owen Hargreaves Biography

Owen Hargreaves, born 20 January 1981 in Calgary, Canada, is an English retired football player and midfielder who previously played for clubs Bayern Munich,

, Manchester City, as well as for the England national team.

Hargreaves played for Bayern Munich between 1997 and 2007 and made his senior debut in 2001. He helped Bayern win the UEFA Champions League in 2001 and won the German Bundesliga for the first time that same year. Hargreaves came on late in the European tournament, in the semi-final against Real Madrid, but played above expectations and also got to play the final against Valencia.

He joined Manchester United in 2007 for around €25 million. In 2008 Hargreaves suffered a serious knee injury. Due to that injury and many others, he barely got to play in the shirt of Manchester United. At the end of August 2011, it was announced that Hargreaves was leaving for Manchester City. Hargraves was primarily recruited as a replacement for the recently retired Patrick Vieira, but he only managed to play one match for Manchester City. In 2012 he stopped playing football for good.

Although born in Canada, Owen Hargreaves chose to play for England. Thanks to his good start to the 2001-2002 season, England coach Sven Göran Eriksson gave him his first cap on 15 August 2001 against the Netherlands in London (2-0 defeat). Sven Göran Eriksson retained Hargreaves for the 2002 World Cup where he was given a starting place following Steven Gerrard's injury.

All You Need to Know About Owen Hargreaves Biography

However, he was injured in the second match in a clash with Michael Owen. Following Steven Gerrard's return, he lost his starting place. Owen Hargreaves played at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. Fabio Capello used Hargreaves a few times when he took over the England team but the player was not called up for the national team since 2008.

Owen Hargreaves Information

In this section of

Owen Hargreaves biography

, we will share some more general information about him such as

Owen Hargreaves nationality

to let you know him much better.

Owen Hargreaves Bio

• Full Name: Owen Lee Hargreaves

• Nickname: The English Patient

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Owen Hargreaves Physical Stats

• Weight: 76 Kg

• Height: 1.80 m

• Eye Color: Brown

• Hair Color: Dark Brown

Owen Hargreaves Football Information

• Position: Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 4

• Professional Debut: 1999

Owen Hargreaves Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 20 January 1981

• Birth Place: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

• Nationality: English

Stay tuned to this section of

Owen Hargreaves biography

as we want to share some info about

Owen Hargreaves nationality

.

Owen Hargreaves Early Life

Owen Hargreaves took his very early steps in football when he was five years old and still in Canada. His very first club in Canada was called "Peanuts". He got some of his football talent and skills from his father who was a player for English teams like Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic in the past. In general, his father had a great impact on his youth football career.

Later on, he grabbed a regular place in the U-12 team "Cedar Ridge Jacks" which was managed by his father's friend. This team merged at the U-14 level with another team named Calgary Foothills FC whose coach was Burt Kaiser, a former Canadian national team player.

Owen Hargreaves Profile

After a visit from Thomas Niendorf, who occasionally helped Kaiser in coaching the team, Harald Hoppe spotted Owen and contacted FC Bayern Munich, where he had been a former youth coach. Following a trial in October 1996, he joined Bayern's youth academy team in July 1997.

Stay tuned to this section of

Owen Hargreaves biography

as we want to share some info about his Bayern Munich career.

Bayern Munich

On 1 July 1997, sixteen-year-old Owen Hargreaves moved from Canada to Europe, signing for

. He played for the club's youth team for two and a half years before playing for Bayern Munich II for six months. Together with Bayern's youth team, he reached the German youth championship final in 1998, losing to

on penalties.

The Englishman made his Bundesliga debut on 12 August 2000, where he substituted Carsten Janker in the 83rd minute of the match. Owen was included in the starting line-up of the team for the match against Unterhaling for the first time on 16 September 2000. The 2000/01 season was a great one for Bayern as the club won the Bundesliga title as well as the UEFA Champions League.

Owen's performance in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, successfully playing against the likes of Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos, drew national attention. Hargreaves was one of only two English players to win the Champions League with a non-English club (the other being Steve McManaman, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid).

During the 2000/01 season, Hargreaves played a total of 20 matches for Bayern Munich, giving a single assist to Giovane Elber in the home win against SpVgg Unterhaching. That season, he also played 15 matches for Bayern Munich ll in the Regionalliga Süd, scoring 4 goals.

Hargreaves became a regular player in Bayern's senior team in the 2001/02 season, playing a total of 49 games. Despite a poor season for the club (third place in Bundesliga, Champions League quarter-final exit and a German Cup exit by Schalke) Owen emerged as one of the key players at Bayern.

Over the 2001/02 season, Owen Hargreaves played 49 matches for Bayern Munich in all competitions, including 29 in Bundesliga and 13 in Champions League. That season the English man managed to give 8 assists to his teammates, 6 of which was at Bundesliga.

In the 2002/03 season, Hargreaves won the Bundesliga and the German Cup with Bayern. Owen netted his first goal for Bayern Munich in Bundesliga in the match against Borussia Monchengladbach. In that same match, he also provided an assist and was one of his team’s best players. The Englishman picked up three injuries during the same season: in September he suffered a torn thigh muscle, while in October he injured his tibia muscles and near the end of the season his adductor muscle got injured.

Due to these injuries he only played 25 league games during the season, 4 in the German Cup and 3 in the Champions League. He also scored two goals that season and provided assists to his teammates on 8 occasions.

Bayern Munich failed to win any trophies during the 2003/04 season. After a second place in the Bundesliga and a Champions League exit at the hands of Spanish giants

, the Munich side was knocked out of the DFB Pokal in a surprise 2-1 defeat against

in the quarterfinals.

During this season Owen Hargreaves appeared in no less than 35 matches for Bayern Munich, scoring 2 goals and giving two assists, all in

. That season Hargreaves played 6 Champions League matches for the Bavarian club.

To forget about the last season, in the 2004/05 season Owen won the double with Bayern (Bundesliga and DFB Pokal). He played 38 games for the club as he did last season, but this time he scored 3 goals and gave 4 assists to his teammates. Hargreaves scored two of those goals in DFB Pokal, the first one against TSV Völpke and the second one against VfB Stuttgart in Round of 16.

In the 2005/06 season for the second time in a row, Bayern won Bundesliga and German Cup. The talented English footballer netted the first goal of the season at the Allianz Arena (in the match against Borussia Monchengladbach). Hargreaves renewed his contract with Bayern for another four years in October 2005.

At the end of that season, Owen Hargreaves had played a total of 24 matches for Bayern Munich, of which 16 were at Bundesliga. He scored three goals that season and gave two assists to his teammates. Like last season, he scored two goals in DFB Pokal, this time against Hamburger SV and FC St. Pauli.

Owen broke his leg in the 2006/07 season, and therefore missed most of the season. Despite this, Owen was able to recover in time for the UEFA Champions League game against Real Madrid, as he helped his club knock the Spanish champions out of the Champions League.

In his last season at Bayern Munich, Owen Hargreaves played just 17 matches, including 9 in Bundesliga and 5 in the UEFA Champions League. In the Champions League quarterfinals the first leg at San Siro, Hargreaves gave the assist to Daniel Van Buyten in the 90th minute. It was Van Buyten’s second goal in that match.

Stay tuned to this section of Owen Hargreaves biography as we want to share some info about his Man United career.

Manchester United

According to media reports, Manchester United offered 25 million euros for Hargreaves in August 2006, followed by 30 million in December, and he was considering a move to England. Nevertheless, Bayern insisted on honouring the contract and did not let him go.

Finally, in May 2007, FC Bayern reached an agreement with Manchester United for a transfer fee of 25 million euros, which was the highest transfer fee paid for a Bundesliga player up to that time. Hargreaves signed a four-year deal with Man United. The English club confirmed the transfer on 31 May 2007, though Hargreaves had not yet signed a contract. That same day, Bayern Munich announced the transfer on its website, confirming a "transfer fee of a Bundesliga record amount".

During the 2007/08 season, Owen Hargreaves played 34 matches for Manchester United and scored 2 goals, of which 23 matches he played was in the

. He also played 8 Champions League matches, including the full 120 minutes in the final against Chelsea. Owen also played 3 matches for Man United in the FA Cup that season. With Manchester United, he not only won the league title in that season, but also the Champions League.

Soon after the start of the 2008/09 season - Hargreaves had only played two league games against Liverpool and Chelsea- the knee problems that had already affected him in the previous season became worse. After two unsuccessful surgeries in London and Sweden, he was treated by US specialist Richard Steadman in November 2008 and underwent another surgery in January 2009, which kept him out of the remainder of the season and meant he would not return to Manchester until the end of September 2009 as part of a rehabilitation programme in the United States.

That season, the English midfielder just played three matches for Manchester United, two in the English Premier League and one in the

against the Spanish side Villareal.

On 2 May 2010 (matchday 37), Hargreaves was substituted for Ryan Giggs in the 90th minute of the 1-0 win away against Sunderland, making his return to the pitch since around 21 months. During the 2009/10 season, Owen Hargreaves just played a minute for Manchester United, in the match against Sunderland. He also played 45 minutes for Manchester United U23 at the Reserve League North.

After his injury spell, he played for the first time since September 2008 on 6 November 2010 (matchday 11 of English Premier League), in a 3-2 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, but had to be substituted after just ten minutes due to a thigh injury. That game was to be his last for Manchester, as on 22 May 2011 Alex Ferguson confirmed to the Mail on Sunday newspaper that Hargreaves' expiring contract at Manchester United would not be renewed.

Manchester City

In spite of a high number of injuries that had kept the midfielder out of action for the previous three seasons as a Manchester United player, Owen Hargreaves received offers to continue his career at Premier League clubs such as Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion.

Eventually, Hargreaves was signed by league and city rivals

on 31 August 2011 on a free contract until 30 June 2012. His first match for the club was against Birmingham in the third round of the EFL Cup, which he played for 57 minutes and scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Birmingham City on 21 September 2011, his only competitive goal for the Citizens.

On 29 November 2011, he also played 79 minutes in the 0-1 win of Manchester City over arch-rivals

in the Emirates Stadium. On 8 January 2012, Owen Hargreaves came on for Samir Nasri in the 82nd minute of the third round FA Cup match against Manchester United, which they lost 2-3.

After a season of only four appearances (in three competitions), the club terminated Hargreaves' contract early in May 2012. He played his only league game on 15 November 2011 (matchday 8) in a 4-1 home win over Aston Villa and ended his footballing career at the end of 30 June 2012.

England National Team

Owen Hargreaves could have chosen to play for the Canadian national team, but his quick departure to

prevented him from doing so. On 31 August 2000, the then coach of the England U-21 national team Howard Wilkinson called up Hargreaves for a friendly match against Georgia, which they won 6-1. Later, the Bayern footballer appeared in further matches for the U-21 team.

His national team debut was on 15 August 2001, when he faced the Dutch national football team. He is the only footballer to have played for

without ever having lived in England, and only Joe Baker has played for England without having played football in England.

Hargreaves' second international match was on 1 September 2001 at the Olympic Stadium in Munich and was a World Cup qualifier against Germany. Only the winner of the group would go straight to the World Cup, and a draw would have essentially guaranteed Germany a group win. Germany had never lost at the Munich Olympic Stadium since 1973.

England, however, managed to win the match 5-1 and later, thanks to a better goal difference, also won the group. Hargreaves was substituted in the 78th minute when all the goals had already been scored.

Hargreaves was selected for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the only England player not to play in the Premier League. In the first match of the World Cup on 2 June, England drew 1-1 with Sweden and Hargreaves played the whole match. In the second match on 7 June against Argentina, Hargreaves was injured after the first quarter of the first half and was substituted in the 19th minute. He did not play again at this World Cup.

England won 1-0. In the third match, England drew with Nigeria and progressed from the group as the second team after Sweden. England then beat Denmark 3-0 but lost 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals and was eliminated.

The England national team won the 2004 European Championship qualifying group without losing a single match. Hargreaves played in 4 qualifying matches, 3 of them as a substitute. He was the only England player not to play in the Premier League (David Beckham also went to Madrid Real at the end of the matches).

At the 2004 European Championship in

, England played France on 13 June and took the lead in the 38th minute through a Frank Lampard strike. Hargreaves was substituted in the 76th minute and witnessed France win 2-1 through Zinedine Zidane's goal in the extra minutes. In the second match on 17 June, England beat Switzerland 3-0 and Hargreaves came on in the 70th minute.

In the third match, England defeated Croatia 4-2 (Hargreaves did not play) and progressed from the group as the second team behind France. In the quarter-finals, England faced Portugal on 24 June. Hargreaves came on in the 81st minute when they had a 1-0 lead but Portugal equalized in the 83rd minute. Both teams scored one more goal in injury time and Portugal won the penalty shootout. Hargreaves scored the 5th penalty to put England 4-3 ahead.

England qualified for the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, with a qualifying group victory over Poland. Again, Hargreaves and Beckham were the only England players not to play for English clubs. On 10 June, England took the lead in the first match against Paraguay in the 3rd minute and that goal was the only goal of the game. Hargreaves was substituted in the 83rd minute.

In the second match, England beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-0. Hargreaves didn't play but played the rest of England's matches from start to finish. In the third group game on 20 June against Sweden, he was the only Englishman to receive a yellow card in the 76th minute. The game ended 2-2 and England won the group ahead of Sweden. England then defeated Ecuador on 25 June. On 1 July, England national team reached the quarter-finals, again versus Portugal.

Hargreaves received a yellow card in the 107th minute. No goals were scored and again the game ended in a penalty shootout. Hargreaves was the only one of the 4 England players to convert his penalty, and they were again eliminated. Hargreaves was voted the best player of the match.

Hargreaves played his last national team games in 2008. In total, he played 42 games for England but did not score a goal. Stay tuned to this section of Owen Hargreaves biography as we want to share some info about his playing style.

Style of Play

Owen Hargreaves was one of the greatest defensive midfielders in Bundesliga during the peak of his career. Other than having great passing and tackling skills, which was a must for a defensive midfielder, his ability to read the opponent’s game was so brilliant and that helped him build up the play.

Reception

During the early days of his career, the world of football had found a great talent who all of us thought that we are going to hear his names for many years. Hargreaves was a player that

, England and Canada national team fans were hoping that he chose them. However, the injuries he suffered from 2007 forwards, practically killed his career and made him retire at the age of 31.

Goal Celebration

The player wasn’t scored many goals during his career (13 to be precise) and as he never had a signature goal celebration, we can mention a single one here.

Owen Hargreaves outside Football

After retiring from playing professional football, he went to television as a commentator, talking on football matches for the BT-Sports TV Channel. As he previously spent many years in Bundesliga, Hargreaves mainly covers the German league’s matches for the channel.

Owen Hargreaves Personal Life

In this section of Owen Hargreaves biography let’s take a look into his private life and share some information about

Owen Hargreaves life story

and

Owen Hargreaves religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Owen Hargreaves was born in Canada as the youngest son of Margaret and Colin Hargreaves. His family emigrated from the UK in 1980. Owen's father once played as a footballer for English clubs Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. His mother is Welsh and because of that, he was able to play for Wales national team.

Although Owen has never married, but he was dating Janelle Khouri, the former Canadian women national team’s footballer and there were even reports that the two were engaged, however they broke up and never married each other.

Philanthropy

Owen Hargreaves usually gets involved in charitable projects and we have heard his name tied to many charity works, like the Salford Kickz project when he launched with the help of Manchester United Foundation when he was a Red Devils player. The aim of this project was to combat crime and anti-social behavior.

Legal Issues

As of now, there are no reports about any legal disputes or issues regarding Owen Hargreaves on media. Stay tuned to this section of Owen Hargreaves biography as we want to share some info about his career statistics.

Owen Hargreaves Career Statistics

In this section of Owen Hargreaves biography, we will take a look into his career stats as s footballer both on the international and club level.

Club

During his very short 12 season career, which was ended by many injuries, Owen Hargreaves has played a total of 261 matches, scoring 13 goals. He played the major part of his career at Bayern Munich, with 218 matches and 10 goals.

International

Between 2001 and 2008, Hargreaves has featured on 42 matches for the Three Lions, failing to score a single goal for them.

Owen Hargreaves Honors

During his playing days, Owen has won many club titles including English Premier League, Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, DFB-Ligapokal, UEFA Champions League, Intercontinental Cup and English Premier League.

On the individual level, he has also won the Bravo Award and the England Player of the Year.

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