Jens Lehmann

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Born
1969 (56 years old)
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Essen, Germany

Position
Goalkeeper

Status
Retired

Ethnicity
White

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Height
193 cm

Weight
87 kg

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Kit

Market Value
Retired

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Sport

Soccer

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_Retired Soccer

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Description

Jens Gerhard Lehmann (pronounced ; born 10 November 1969) is a German professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He was a member of Arsenal's "Invincibles", playing every match of their unbeaten title-winning season. He holds the UEFA Champions League record for the most consecutive clean sheets, not conceding a single goal in eight consecutive full matches while he played for Arsenal. He also has the highest number of continuous minutes without conceding goals. In total, this lasted 853 minutes. He is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation.

Lehmann was voted UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year for the 1996–97 and 2005–06 seasons, and was selected for three World Cup squads.

Lehmann made his debut for the Germany national team against Oman in February 1998 and earned 61 caps for his country, 32 of which were friendlies.

He had a well-publicised rivalry with former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, whose presence long prevented Lehmann from becoming the number one goalkeeper of the national team. Lehmann was in the squad which finished as runners-up in the 2002 World Cup, but he didn't play any matches in the competition, as Kahn was still Germany's first choice goalkeeper.

On 7 April 2006, however, Germany national coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced that Lehmann would be Germany's first-choice goalkeeper for the upcoming World Cup. Lehmann conceded two goals in Germany's opening match of the World Cup, both scored by Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope although Germany won the match 4–2. Lehmann played strongly in the next three games, conceding no goals and allowing Germany to sweep their group undefeated and beat Sweden convincingly in the Round of 16.

The highlight of Lehmann's international career came in the quarterfinal match (30 June 2006, Olympiastadion, Berlin) against Argentina. The game remained tied 1–1 after 90 minutes and extra time. The game came down to penalty kicks and Lehmann carried his team through, picking the right direction for all spot kicks, making saves from Argentinians Roberto Ayala and Esteban Cambiasso and almost saving a third. Meanwhile, the Germans made all four of the necessary spot kicks to win the penalty shoot-out 4–2. Lehmann's prowess in the shootout was aided by notes given to him before the kicks – an idea from Germany's chief scout, Swiss-born Urs Siegenthaler. Germany's goalkeeping manager, Andreas Köpke, gave Lehmann a sheet of paper with the penalty tendencies of seven of the Argentinians, with Lehmann keeping the paper in his right sock. Only two of the seven players on the note (Ayala and Maxi Rodríguez) ended up taking penalties, but Köpke had predicted both correctly and Lehmann saved Ayala's kick. Before the last shot from Cambiasso, Lehmann looked at the paper for a long time even though Cambiasso's name was not even on it. Lehmann then saved the penalty, ending the game. The story about the paper features in the film Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen. Lehmann was considered a hero by the German public after these saves, and he received praise even from long-time rival and backup keeper Oliver Kahn.

Germany's opponent in the semifinals was Italy. The Italians had the better chances to score but Lehmann made several spectacular saves, including one in extra time where he dived out of goal to intercept an Italian player who had broken loose from the defence, punching the ball clear with his fist and temporarily knocking out the Italian in the process. He allowed two goals within a minute of each other with only a few seconds remaining in extra time, which put Italy into the World Cup final. The retiring Oliver Kahn was given the honour of starting in the third place play-off match, an offer made by Lehmann himself. Kahn was made captain for that game due to the injury to Michael Ballack. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 for the third place (bronze) medals.

In August 2006, Lehmann revealed that during the World Cup he was suffering with a foot injury that he claims was a result of wearing different boots. The German Football Association ordered their players to wear only those manufactured by principal sponsor Adidas as opposed to Lehmann's sponsor Nike. This has now been overturned thanks to Lehmann and several other players protesting about the decision and the players are now free to wear boots made by other companies. The same month, Lehmann suggested that he may retire from league and international football after playing for Germany in Euro 2008. However, he subsequently stated in January 2007 that he had not made any decision on retirement.

Lehmann set a national team record of not conceding a goal for 681 minutes in a friendly against Switzerland on 26 March 2008. In Euro 2008, he was one of only two players born in the 1960s, with the other being Austria's Ivica Vastić. Lehmann started every match as Germany reached the final. They lost 1–0 to Spain; a lack of communication between Lehmann and Philipp Lahm allowed Spain's Fernando Torres to net the only goal in the match.

On 8 August 2008, Lehmann announced his retirement from international football. He made his decision following a two-hour talk with the Germany national team's coach Joachim Löw and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke, stating that he was not able to give them any guarantee that he will continue to play football following the end of his one-year contract with VfB Stuttgart in June 2009. He has since retired and subsequently worked towards his full FIFA coaching license at Arsenal.

In May 2020, Tennor Holding BV named Lehmann, among others, as its representative on the supervisory board of Hertha BSC. One year later, he was sacked after sending pundit and former footballer Dennis Aogo a WhatsApp message calling him a "quota black guy", in relation to Aogo's work as an expert at Sky. Lehmann had previously apologized via a Twitter post. In November 2024, it was announced that he's set to manage one of the 12 teams in the upcoming Baller League UK, a six-a-side football league.

Lehmann and his elder brother grew up in Essen. After graduating from secondary school with A-levels (Abitur) in 1988, he studied economics at the University of Münster between 1992 and 1998 while continuing his football career.

In 1999, he married Conny, a middle school teacher. Lehmann later adopted Lasse, Conny’s son from her previous marriage to footballer Knut Reinhardt. The pair also have two children.

In September 2024, Lehmann was fined €135,000 by a court in Starnberg for damaging his neighbour's garage with a chainsaw.