Personal Life
Lahm was born in Munich, Bavaria. In his youth, Lahm was a joker in school. Lahm liked school trips and was considered a to be a bright student. He had aspirations to become a baker. Lahm was a ball boy at Olympic Stadium for Bayern Munich matches.
Lahm is involved in many charity campaigns and events. In June 2007, FIFA announced that Lahm and Owen Hargreaves would visit South Africa in advance to support the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Although Hargreaves never managed to take part in the trip due to injury, Lahm and German national teammate Piotr Trochowski visited the country taking time not only to visit the 2010 FIFA World Cup organizers but also to visit a local SOS Children's Village and to take part in the Kick-AIDS event.
Lahm has established a foundation, Philipp Lahm-Stiftung, to support underprivileged children and is also an official ambassador representing "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages". In addition he was an ambassador of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World AIDS Day. He has also taken part in a campaign against speeding and various others such as Bündnis für Kinder, a campaign against child abuse.
Lahm was awarded a Tolerantia-Preis on 20 September 2008, due to his outstanding contribution against intolerance and homophobia in sports, particularly in football. He also stated that it's a "pity that being gay in football is still a taboo subject" and he would have no problem with a homosexual teammate and is "not afraid of homosexuals". However, Lahm doesn't advise footballers to publicly admit to being homosexual, because of the abuse they would suffer. He alluded to the tragic death of homosexual footballer Justin Fashanu.
Philipp Lahm married his early love and longtime girlfriend Claudia Schattenberg in the Munich suburb of Aying, just four days after Germany won third place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The wedding was held as a low key affair, with none of Lahm's World Cup teammates attending the ceremony.
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