Michael Ballack (born 26 September 1976) is a German (Germany) footballer (Association football), who plays for Chelsea (Chelsea F.C.) and is the captain of the German national football team (Germany national football team). He is among the top goal scorers (List of Germany international footballers) in the history of his international team. Ballack has worn the number 13 shirt for every team he has played for except for Kaiserslautern (1. FC Kaiserslautern). He was selected by Pel� as one of FIFAs 100 Greatest Living Players (FIFA 100), and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year (UEFA Club Football Awards#Best Midfielder) in 2002. He has won the German Footballer of the Year award three times - in 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Ballack began his career as a youth at Chemnitz (Chemnitzer FC), his local team, and made his professional debut in 1995. Although the team were relegated in his first season, his performances in the Regionalliga (Fu�ball-Regionalliga) the following season led to a transfer to Kaiserslautern (1. FC Kaiserslautern) in 1997. He won the Bundesliga (Fu�ball-Bundesliga) in his first season at the club; his first major honour. He became a first team regular in 1998-99 season and also earned his first senior national cap for Germany. He moved to Bayer Leverkusen (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) for ?4.1 million in 1999. The 2002 season saw him win a slew of runners-up medals: Bayer Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga, German Cup (DFB-Pokal), UEFA Champions League and Germany lost to Brazil (Brazil national football team) in the 2002 World Cup Final (2002 FIFA World Cup Final).

A ?12.9 million move to Bayern Munich (FC Bayern Munich) led to further honours: the team won the Bundesliga and German Cup double (The Double) in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Ballack had become a prolific goalscorer from midfield, scoring 58 goals for Bayern Munich between 2002 and 2006. He joined Premier League side Chelsea in mid-2006 and won his first English honours, the FA Cup and Football League Cup, in his first season at the club. Injury ruled out much of 2007 but he returned the following season, helping Chelsea reach their first ever Champions League Final (2008 UEFA Champions League Final).

Internationally, Ballack has played in the European Championships (UEFA European Football Championship) in 2000 (UEFA Euro 2000), 2004 (UEFA Euro 2004) and 2008 (UEFA Euro 2008), and the FIFA World Cup in 2002 (2002 FIFA World Cup) and 2006 (2006 FIFA World Cup). J�rgen Klinsmann appointed him captain of the national team in 2004. He captained his country in the Euro 2008 Final (UEFA Euro 2008 Final) but the team lost to Spain (Spain national football team).