Thomas Hitzlsperger - International Career

International Career

Hitzlsperger has captained the German under-19 team, and has also appeared for the national under-21 side. He was then called up to the senior side by Jürgen Klinsmann and made his debut in a 2–0 win against Iran in Tehran on 9 October 2004, replacing Bernd Schneider in the 68th minute. He appeared at the 2005 Confederations Cup, and also at the 2006 World Cup, where he failed to make it into Klinsmann's starting eleven, playing just 11 minutes of the third-place play-off match against Portugal. He scored his first international goals on 6 September 2006, in a European Championship qualifying game against San Marino. Hitzlsperger came on as a second half substitute to score Germany's 9th and 11th goals in the 13–0 win, a record victory in European Championship qualifying matches.

Germany's coach Joachim Löw included Hitzlsperger in his squad for the finals of Euro 2008, but did not start him in any of the three group games. Hitzlsperger came on as a second-half substitute in the victories over Poland and Austria, and did not feature at all in the defeat to Croatia. In the knockout stages however, he started all three matches, helping his team to overcome Portugal in the quarter-finals and setting up Philipp Lahm for a 90th minute winner against Turkey in the semifinal. Germany were defeated 1–0 by Spain in the final, in which Hitzlsperger was substituted in the second half.

Hitzlsperger remained first choice in 2010 World Cup qualifying, playing in all matches save one and scoring a goal, but he missed out on his nation's World Cup squad in June 2010.