Aaron Hunt
Hunt in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1986-09-04) 4 September 1986 (age 37)[1]
Place of birth Goslar, West Germany[1]
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1993–1997 VfL Oker
1997–2001 Goslarer SC
2001–2003 Werder Bremen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2007 Werder Bremen II 37 (9)
2004–2014 Werder Bremen 215 (46)
2014–2015 VfL Wolfsburg 17 (2)
2015–2021 Hamburger SV 144 (25)
Total 413 (82)
International career
2002 Germany U16 4 (1)
2002–2003 Germany U17 10 (6)
2005–2009 Germany U21 13 (3)
2009–2013 Germany 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aaron Hunt (born 4 September 1986) is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

He spent most of his career at Werder Bremen, making his first-team debut at the age of 18.[2][3] In the Bundesliga, he also represented VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV, winning the DFB-Pokal with the first club as well as the second.

Hunt won three caps for Germany, his first coming in 2009.

Club career

Werder Bremen

Hunt was born in Goslar, Lower Saxony. After spending his first season at Werder Bremen in the reserves the year the first team achieved the double, he made his Bundesliga debut on 18 September 2004, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 home win against Hannover 96.[4] On his first appearance in the starting line-up, against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 12 February 2005, he scored his first goal, becoming the club's youngest-ever goalscorer at the age of 18 years and 161 days.[5][6]

Early in 2006, Hunt suffered a mysterious knee injury, which after some months was found to be bursitis. As a result, he missed the remainder of the season following the winter break. In November, he renewed his contract until 2010[7] and, on 3 March 2007, netted a hat-trick in the 3–0 league victory over VfL Bochum.[8] He finished that campaign with nine goals, and his team eventually ranked third behind VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04.

Hunt scored a career-best 11 goals in 2012–13, but Werder could only finish in 14th place. In March 2014, after being awarded a penalty during a match against 1. FC Nürnberg, he successfully asked the referee to reverse his decision, because the opposition player had not touched him.[9]

VfL Wolfsburg

On 26 May 2014, Hunt signed for VfL Wolfsburg.[10] He made his debut for his new club on 17 August in a 5–4 penalty shoot–out win against Darmstadt 98 in the DFB-Pokal, being replaced at the start of extra time.[11] His first league appearance came five days later, in a 2–1 loss at Bayern Munich.[12]

Hunt scored his first goal for the Wolves on 21 September 2014, in a 4–1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at the Volkswagen Arena.[13] He made his European debut the following week in a 4–1 loss to Everton,[14] and netted for the first time in the UEFA Europa League on 6 November of that year, his brace helping the hosts to a 5–1 rout of Krasnodar;[15] he finished the season with four goals in 22 competitive appearances.[16][17]

Hamburger SV

On 31 August 2015, having already played the two first matches of the new season with Wolfsburg,[18][19] Hunt joined Hamburger SV.[20] He finished his first year at Volksparkstadion with one goal in 21 matches,[21] scoring four goals from 26 total games the following campaign.[22][23][24][25][26]

Hunt made 30 appearances in all competitions in 2017–18 (29 in the league), netting three times as the club was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga for the first time in its history.[27][28] In the ensuing off-season, he was made new team captain after stripping Gōtoku Sakai of that role.[29]

After Hunt's contract was not extended, he announced his retirement in February 2022 at the age of 35.[30] He played over 400 league matches in the top three tiers of the German league pyramid.[31]

International career

Having a German father and an English mother,[32] Hunt was eligible to play for both Germany or England. His mother's family all hailed from the London area, and his grandfather went to the same north-east school as Bobby Charlton.[33] However, Hunt stated that he would only play for his birth nation. When asked which team he would represent at international level, he said he was '... honoured about this. But I have decided to play for Germany. ...', adding that he was steadfast on his decision.[34]

In October 2006, Hunt appeared for the German under-21s in a 1–0 loss against England in Coventry for the 2007 UEFA European Championship qualification playoff (eventually 3–0 on aggregate).[35] In November 2006, Hunt was charged by UEFA for serious unsporting behaviour, after complaints of racist remarks in the second leg of the under-21 playoff against England. He was banned for two games[36] but, following an appeal, the decision was reversed.[37][38]

On 6 November 2009, he was called up to the full side for two friendlies with Chile and Ivory Coast to be held during that month,[39] making his debut in the latter after coming on late in the game for Bastian Schweinsteiger (the former had been cancelled following Robert Enke's suicide).[40] His third and last international was the friendly against Ecuador in May 2013. The German national team won in Boca Raton against the South Americans 4-2.[41]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League DFB-Pokal Continental Other Total Ref.
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Werder Bremen II 2003–04 Regionalliga Nord 7 2 — — — 7 2 [42]
2004–05 22 6 — — — 22 6 [42]
2005–06 6 1 — — — 6 1 [42]
2006–07 2 0 — — — 2 0 [42]
Total 37 9 — 37 9 —
Werder Bremen 2004–05 Bundesliga 10 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 14 1 [42]
2005–06 7 0 3 2 6 0 1[a] 0 17 2 [42]
2006–07 28 9 1 0 12 0 1[a] 0 42 9 [42]
2007–08 14 1 1 0 5 1 0 0 20 2 [43]
2008–09 18 2 2 0 8 0 — 28 2 [44]
2009–10 32 9 6 1 8 1 — 46 11 [45]
2010–11 29 3 2 0 7 0 — 38 3 [46]
2011–12 18 3 1 0 — — 19 3 [47]
2012–13 28 11 1 0 — — 29 11 [48]
2013–14 31 7 1 0 — — 32 7 [49]
Total 215 46 21 3 47 2 2 0 285 51 —
VfL Wolfsburg 2014–15 Bundesliga 15 2 2 0 5 2 — 22 4 [50]
2015–16 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [42]
Total 17 2 2 0 5 2 0 0 24 4 —
Hamburger SV 2015–16 Bundesliga 21 1 0 0 — — 21 1 [42]
2016–17 22 4 4 0 — — 26 4 [51]
2017–18 29 3 1 0 — — 30 3 [52]
2018–19 2. Bundesliga 22 5 2 0 — — 24 5 [53]
2019–20 23 7 1 1 — — 24 8 [54]
2020–21 27 5 1 0 — — 28 5 [55]
Total 144 25 9 1 — 153 26 —
Career total 413 82 32 4 52 4 2 0 499 90 —
  1. ^ a b Appearance in DFB-Ligapokal

Honours

Werder Bremen

VfL Wolfsburg

References

  1. ^ a b c Aaron Hunt at WorldFootball.net
  2. ^ "Hunt: Tendenz Ausland" [Hunt: Slanting abroad]. Kreiszeitung (in German). 10 April 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Aaron Hunt wechselt nach Wolfsburg" [Aaron Hunt moves to Wolfsburg] (in German). Bundesliga. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Werder mit glanzlosem Pflichtsieg" [Werder with boring win] (in German). kicker. 18 September 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  5. ^ Bogena, Kai-Niels (13 February 2005). "Die ersten Tore von Hunt und Zidan" [Hunt and Zidan's first goal]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  6. ^ Joswig, Gareth (28 November 2012). "Hunt drauf!" [Get Hunting!] (in German). 11 Freunde. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Hunt signs Bremen extension". UEFA. 27 November 2006. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Hunt hat-trick boosts Bremen hopes". UEFA. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Bundesliga player admits dive". BBC Sport. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Hunt vor Wechsel zum VfL Wolfsburg" [Hunt moving to VfL Wolfsburg]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 26 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Benaglio-Vertreter Grün ist im Krimi zur Stelle" [Benaglio replacement Grün is on the spot in thriller] (in German). kicker. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Robben macht's besser als Malanda" [Robben fared better than Malanda] (in German). kicker. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Rodriguez führt die Wölfe zum ersten Dreier" [Rodriguez leads the wolves to first three] (in German). kicker. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Glückloser VfL erhält Lehrstunde in Sachen Effektivität" [Hapless VfL get crash course in effectiveness] (in German). kicker. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  15. ^ "Hunt und Bendtner schießen FK ab" [Hunt and Bendtner take FK down] (in German). kicker. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Sieg im Nordduell" [Win in northern duel] (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Aaron Hunt: Spielen statt kassieren" [Aaron Hunt: Player instead of employer]. Wolfsburger Allgemeine (in German). 18 June 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Wolfsburg bejubelt knappen Sieg gegen Frankfurt" [Wolfsburg celebrate narrow victory against Frankfurt]. Der Spiegel (in German). 16 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Abstoß, Kopfball, Tor: Zoller tanzt mit den Wölfen" [Goal kick, header, goal: Zoller dances with the wolves] (in German). kicker. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Zum HSV: Aaron Hunt wechselt nach Hamburg" [To HSV: Aaron Hunt moves to Hamburg] (in German). VfL Wolfsburg. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  21. ^ Rebien, Florian (19 June 2016). "HSV-Star zu dünn! Hunts Kampf mit den Kilos" [HSV star too thin! Hunt's fight with the kilos]. Hamburger Morgenpost (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  22. ^ "Halilovic' Geniestreich erlöst HSV" [Halilovic's stroke of genius gets job done for HSV] (in German). Sport1. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  23. ^ Walsh, Jonathan (25 October 2016). "Hallescher FC 0–4 Hamburger SV: Wood stars as HSV grab Gisdol's first win". Vavel. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  24. ^ "HSV räumt Köln aus dem Weg und steht im Viertelfinale" [HSV take Köln out of the way and reach quarter-finals]. Rheinische Post (in German). 7 February 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  25. ^ Kellermann, Karsten (2 March 2017). "Gladbach per Doppel-Elfmeter ins Pokal-Halbfinale" [Gladbach to Cup semi-finals through double penalty]. Rheinische Post (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  26. ^ "Hunt vor HSV-Abschied: "Einen Verein habe ich"" [Hunt before HSV farewell: "I have a club"] (in German). Sport.de. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  27. ^ "Aaron Hunt neuer Kapitän des Hamburger SV" [Aaron Hunt new Hamburger SV captain] (in German). Fussball.com. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  28. ^ Schettle, Thorsten (13 August 2017). "Zehn Osnabrücker blamieren den Hamburger SV" [Ten Osnabrück men embarrass Hamburger SV] (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  29. ^ "Hunt neuer HSV-Kapitän – Holtby und Moritz Stellvertreter" [Hunt new HSV captain – Holtby and Moritz understudies]. Rheinische Post (in German). 11 July 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  30. ^ "Hunt beendet seine Profikarriere" [Hunt ends his professional career] (in German). kicker. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  31. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (21 December 2022). "Aaron Hunt - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  32. ^ Bennett, Mark (5 September 2005). "Hunt graces his fatherland". UEFA. Archived from the original on 27 May 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  33. ^ "Bericht: Kommt England Löw bei Aaron Hunt zuvor?" [Report: Is England getting Aaron Hunt before Löw?] (in German). Goal. 2 November 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  34. ^ Hytner, David (3 November 2009). "Aaron Hunt tells England: thanks but no thanks, I'll play for Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  35. ^ "Hunt ready to put Germany first". UEFA. 6 October 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  36. ^ "Germans appeal against Hunt ban". BBC Sport. 13 November 2006. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
  37. ^ "U21 star cleared of racist abuse". BBC Sport. 8 December 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  38. ^ "Uefa spricht Bremer Hunt frei" [Uefa acquit Bremen's Hunt]. Der Spiegel (in German). 8 December 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  39. ^ "Wie gut können sie heute spielen?" [How well can they play today?]. Bild (in German). 18 November 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  40. ^ Klein, Günter (19 November 2009). "Ein kleines Stück Normalität – 2:2 gegen die Elfenbeinküste" [A little bit of normality – 2:2 against the Ivory Coast]. Münchner Merkur (in German). Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  41. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (21 December 2022). "Aaron Hunt - International Appearances". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  42. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Aaron Hunt » Club matches". World Football. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  43. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  44. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  45. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  46. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  47. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  48. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  49. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  50. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  51. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  52. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  53. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  54. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  55. ^ "Aaron Hunt" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  56. ^ a b c d Aaron Hunt at Soccerway

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