Lars Bender

Lars Bender (German pronunciation: [ˈlaʁs ˈbɛndɐ]; born 27 April 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right back and defensive midfielder. He is the twin brother of Sven Bender.

Club Career

Early career

Lars Bender played from 1993 to 1999 in the youth of the TSV Brannenburg, from 1999 to 2002 he was part of SpVgg Unterhaching youth teams. In summer 2002, he moved to the 1860 Munchen youth team.

1860 Munich

In August 2006, Bender played his first game for 1860 Munich II in the Regionalliga Sud. In October, he was an unused substitute in the 1860 Munich senior team, and on 27 November 2006, when he was 17 years old, he made his professional debut at the home game against the TuS Koblenz in the 2. Bundesliga. In his first professional season, he played 13 matches, nine of them in the starting lineup. In this season, Bender won the Fritz-Walter trophy, ahead of then Monchengladbach's Marko Marin and his twin brother, Sven Bender. In his second season, he was a regular player in the defensive midfield. On the first day of the new season, he scored his first goal. Bender started 2008–09 season again as a regular player. In the second league game against FSV Frankfurt on 3 October 2008, he took over the captaincy and was at 19 the youngest captain in the history of the 1860 Munich, but on 20 October he was seriously injured and after a number of injuries, he finished that season with only 15 matches played. In his three professional seasons played for 1860 Munchen in the 2. Bundesliga, he played 58 games and scored four goals.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

On 18 August 2009, Bender signed a three-year contract with Bayer Leverkusen. He played his first match in the Bundesliga coming off the bench on Matchday 6 and was used as a substitute in most of 20 games he played during his first season in Bayer Leverkusen.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ларс Бендер (russian)