A tall, lean German central defender, Georg Niedermeier left the club of his youth, FC Bayern München, to join VfB Stuttgart on loan in January 2009 before signing a permanent contract with the Swabian outfit 12 months later.

• Munich-born, he joined Bayern as a schoolboy, working his way up through various youth teams until he joined the club's amateur side in 2003.

• Called into the first-team squad by coach Jürgen Klinsmann at the start of 2008/09 but did not make a senior appearance for Bayern before joining Stuttgart.

• Made Bundesliga debut in Stuttgart's 2-0 win at Karlsruher SC on 1 March 2009 and home bow a week later against BV Borussia Dortmund (2-1).

• Scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 1-1 draw at Dortmund on 22 August 2009 and made his European debut on Matchday 5 of 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage – in a 2-0 win against Rangers FC.

• Replaced injured captain Matthieu Delpierre as regular in central defence following Christian Gross's appointment as Stuttgart coach and signed four-and-a-half-year contract on 11 February 2010.

Did you know?
While at Bayern, Niedermeier made 14 international appearances for Germany at youth level (Under-16 to U19).