Hans-Jörg Butt life and biography

Hans-Jörg Butt (born 28 May 1974 in Oldenburg) is a German footballer who currently plays for FC Bayern Munich in the German League, as a goalkeeper.

Known for taking penalty kicks (he has netted nearly 30 goals in Germany's top flight) Butt has played for Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in his country, having arrived at Munich already aged 34.

During his career, Butt has scored three times from the penalty spot against Juventus, once with each club.

This veteran stopper took advantage of the unfortunate injury to Leverkusen's Rene Adler to force his way into the Germany squad at the eleventh hour. At the start of the season, he was a second-stringer at Bayern but went on to cement his place in the team with a string of mature and steady performances.

Prior to this spring, Butt had not featured in the German side for seven long years, his last international being a friendly with Canada in June 2003. He was the Nationalmannschaft's third-choice keeper at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup. "I did not think this summer would be spent in South Africa, but it is a nice surprise for me," he says.

He was the regular penalty taker at previous clubs Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen. Indeed, he was Hamburg's joint-top scorer with nine goals in the 1999/00 season.

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