Vincent Kompany Biography
Summary
"Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany" (born 10 April 1986 in Uccle) is a Belgian footballer, currently playing for Manchester City and the Belgium national team. He is capable of playing at both fullback, centre back and defensive midfielder. His main traits are his pace, strength, range of passing, aerial prowess and technique.
Club career
Anderlecht
Kompany started his career at Anderlecht, winning several awards including the Belgian Golden Shoe and the Belgian Ebony Shoe. Another player, Aruna Dindane, decided to wear the number 27 on his shirt upon his arrival at Lens Summer 2005, in dedication to Kompany (who had the same number at Anderlecht). In the second half of the 2005-06 season, Kompany suffered an shoulder injury and decided in favour of an operation, even though it meant he would miss the last couple of months of the competition. The fact that he underwent the surgery and rehabilitation in Lyon fueled strong rumours that the French club would become his next team.
Hamburg
On June 9, 2006 it was announced though that he was acquired by Hamburg for a fee of ?10 million, replacingDaniel van Buyten. He made his debut for Hamburg on six Bundesliga starts for the club before suffering an achilles injury in November that ruled him out for the rest of the season, however, he was selected in a 30-man provisional squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
Manchester City
On 22 August 2008, Manchester City confirmed the transfer of Kompany from Hamburg on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of £6,000,000.
He was handed the number 33 for the 2008-09 season. Just two days after signing for Manchester City, Kompany made his debut against West Ham United and won the man-of-the-match award. On 28 September 2008, Kompany scored his first goal in City's 2-1 away defeat to Wigan Athletic. The goal came when Brazilian midfielder Elano, played a free kick into the Wigan Athletic box and the ball seemed to have hit Kompany's knee; that goal made the score 1-1.
On 19 October 2009 he signed a new deal with Manchester City that will keep him at the club until 2014.
International career
Kompany made his international debut for Belgium in February 2004 against France, as one of the youngest players ever.
The Belgian Federation called up Kompany to the 2008 Olympics. Initially, Hamburg decided not to let him go as the Olympics was not an official FIFA tournament. After a dispute, Hamburg decided to release him under the condition that he returns after Belgium's first two group games.
At the Beijing Olympics, Belgium's first game was against Brazil where he was sent off in a 1-0 loss, and as a consequence his tournament was over as the red card would rule him out of Belgium's second group game. Due to the turn of events, Kompany decided against returning back to Germany in hope of playing the last group game to help his country qualify for the knockout stages. Hamburg maintained their stance that he had to return, and the Belgian FA decided to release him. He later came on as a substitute in the opening game for Hamburg against Bayern Munich. The rocky relationship with Hamburg and Kompany is said to be a major factor in Kompany transferring to Manchester City.
In November 2009 Kompany fell out with the Belgium manager Dick Advocaat. On the Monday before the friendly match with Qatar on 18 November 2009 Kompany received permission to attend the funeral of his grandmother as long as he returned to the team hotel before 6pm that evening. As it happened, he did not return until nearly midnight. Furious, Advocaat removed him from the squad altogether, and it remains unclear whether Kompany has a future in the national team as long as Advocaat is in charge.
Personal life
Kompany's father, Pierre, is his manager and his brother Francois played for the Germinal Beerschot youth squad. He is of Congolese ethnicity.
Honours
;Anderlecht
Belgian First Division: 2003-04, 2005-06
Belgian Supercup: 2006
;Hamburger SV
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2007
;Belgium
Summer Olympics: 2008 (4th)
;Individual
Belgian Golden Shoe: 2004
Belgian Young Professional Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2005
Belgian Ebony Shoe: 2004, 2005
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Vincent Kompany.
