Sven Bender

Sven Bender (German pronunciation: [ˈsvɛn ˈbɛndɐ];^[3][4] born 27 April 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. He is currently the manager of Regionalliga club SpVgg Unterhaching. He was raised in Brannenburg and started his youth career playing for TSV Brannenburg. He is the twin brother of fellow coach and former player Lars Bender.^[5][6]

Sven Bender

Bender with Bayer Leverkusen in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Sven Bender[1]
Date of birth	(1989-04-27) 27 April 1989 (age 36)
Place of birth	Rosenheim, West Germany
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s)	Centre-back, defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	SpVgg Unterhaching (interim manager)
Youth career
1993–1999	TSV Brannenburg
1999–2002	SpVgg Unterhaching
2002–2006	1860 Munich
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2007	1860 Munich II	16	(2)
2006–2009	1860 Munich	65	(1)
2009–2012	Borussia Dortmund II	4	(0)
2009–2017	Borussia Dortmund	158	(4)
2017–2021	Bayer Leverkusen	107	(4)
Total		350	(11)
International career
2005–2006	Germany U17	10	(0)
2007–2008	Germany U19	11	(1)
2009	Germany U20	3	(2)
2010–2013	Germany	7	(0)
2016	Germany Olympic	6	(0)
Managerial career
2024–	SpVgg Unterhaching
Medal record Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Early career

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, Bender moved to the 1860 München youth team.^[7]

1860 Munich

He started his football career on the U-14 team and played for all of 1860 München's youth teams in three years. In November 2007, Bender extended his contract with the club until 2011. In 2009, Munich had to sell both Lars and Sven Bender, due to club's financial problem. Sven moved to Borussia Dortmund and Lars to Bayer Leverkusen. Sven played 65 games and scored 1 goal for 1860 Munich.^[7] In 2009, he joined Borussia Dortmund, where he signed a contract that tied him to the club until 2013.^[8]

Borussia Dortmund

Bender made his Bundesliga debut on 19 September 2009 in a game against Hannover 96. His biggest rival for the spot in the defensive midfield suffered several injuries and Bender established himself in the starting eleven very quickly. He scored his first Bundesliga goal on 12 February 2011 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern and extended his contract until 2017. The years 2011 and 2012 were very successful for Bender, as he was an important player in Borussia Dortmund's midfield and helped the team win the national championship in both years as well as the DFB-Pokal in 2012.^[8] On 6 January 2013, Bender extended his contract with Dortmund, keeping him at the club until 2017.^[9] During the 2012–13 season, he was struggling with several injuries which made Dortmund sign Nuri Şahin in January 2013. After treatment of his injury, Bender got another opponent for his position. He was on his way to becoming the number one player on his position and shared a place with team's captain Sebastian Kehl and helped the team to reach 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, although they were defeated by their domestic rivals Bayern Munich. On 27 July 2013, Bender won the 2013 DFL-Supercup with Dortmund 4–2 against Bayern Munich.^[10] In February 2014, he suffered injury after a loss against Hamburger SV,^[11] which eventually ruled him out for the rest season. On 21 February 2016, Bender signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2021.^[12]

Bayer Leverkusen

On 13 July 2017, Bender ended his eight-year tenure at Borussia Dortmund,^[13] signing a four-year contract with Bayer Leverkusen until July 2021 and re-uniting with his brother Lars.^[14] Sven and Lars both announced their departures from Leverkusen and their retirement from football after the end of the 2020–21 season.^[15]

International career

Bender with the Germany national team in 2016 against Brazil

At the under-19 level, Bender was a part of the team that won the 2008 European Under-19 Championship. He and his twin brother Lars were named jointly as players of the tournament.^[16] Bender made his debut for the senior team in a friendly match against Australia in March 2011.^[17] He appeared in several more friendly games and nominated for the Euro 2012 but did not make the squad's final. In February 2014, Bender suffered an Osteitis pubis injury that ruled him out for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. His last internationals therefore were two friendlies in late 2013.^[18] In mid-July on 2016, despite not being called up for the senior team since 2013, he made the spot for Germany Olympic football team for the 2016 Summer Olympics as one of three over 23 years old players along with his brother and Nils Petersen,^[19] where Germany won the silver medal.^[20]

Coaching career

In June 2022, the German Football Association appointed him as the new assistant coach of the Germany U-16 national team.^[21] During the summer of 2023, he became assistant coach of the German U-17s.^[22]

On 29 December 2023 left his job at the German Football Association^[23] and, along with his past teammate Nuri Şahin, was appointed as assistant manager to Edin Terzić at their former club Borussia Dortmund, signing a contract until the end of the season.^[24]

He became the interim head coach of SpVgg Unterhaching in December 2024 for the remainder of the year.^[25][26] He took over the same role in March 2025.^[27]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[28]

Club	Season	League			DFB-Pokal		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1860 Munich II	2006–07	Regionalliga Süd	15	2	—		—		—		15	2
	2007–08		1	0	—		—		—		1	0
	Total		16	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	2
1860 Munich	2006–07	2. Bundesliga	13	0	0	0	—		—		13	0
	2007–08		27	1	3	0	—		—		30	1
	2008–09		25	0	1	0	—		—		26	0
	Total		65	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	69	1
Borussia Dortmund II	2009–10	3. Liga	3	0	—		—		—		3	0
	2012–13		1	0	—		—		—		1	0
	Total		4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Borussia Dortmund	2009–10	Bundesliga	19	0	0	0	—		—		19	0
	2010–11		31	1	1	0	7[a]	0	—		39	1
	2011–12		24	1	3	0	4[b]	0	1[c]	0	32	1
	2012–13		20	1	1	0	11[b]	0	0	0	32	1
	2013–14		19	1	2	0	5[b]	0	1[c]	0	27	1
	2014–15		20	0	5	0	6[b]	0	1[c]	0	32	0
	2015–16		19	0	5	0	11[a]	0	—		35	0
	2016–17		6	0	1	0	1[b]	0	0	0	8	0
	Total		158	4	18	0	45	0	3	0	224	4
Bayer Leverkusen	2017–18	Bundesliga	29	2	5	0	—		—		34	2
	2018–19		27	0	2	0	3[a]	0	—		32	0
	2019–20		33	2	5	1	9[a]	1	—		47	4
	2020–21		18	0	1	0	1[a]	0	—		20	0
	Total		107	4	13	1	13	1	0	0	133	6
Career total			350	11	35	1	58	1	3	0	446	13

1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
3. Appearance in DFL-Supercup

Personal life

On 20 June 2015, Bender married Simone Dettendorfer, his long time girlfriend since 2008.^[29]

Honours

Borussia Dortmund

• Bundesliga: 2010–11, 2011–12
• DFB-Pokal: 2011–12, 2016–17
• DFL-Supercup: 2013, 2014
• UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2012–13

Germany

• UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2008
• Summer Olympic Games: Silver Medal, 2016

Individual

• Fritz Walter Medal U17 Bronze Medal 2006
• UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship Golden Player: 2008