Legendary Belarusian football player Alexander Hleb

Belarusian footballer, midfielder, Alexander Pavlovich Gleb was born in 1981 in the capital of the country - Minsk. This player has repeatedly received the title of the best football player of Belarus and is a legendary sportsman, master of sports of international class. He is the only representative of his state, who spoke in each of the three strongest championships of the European continent - German, English and Spanish.

Childhood and the first football steps

Alexander has been fond of sports since childhood, but his father helped him to choose football, who brought a six-year-old boy to the location of the football section of Minsk's Dynamo. The young football player studied at the Dynamo football school for several years, after which he decided to continue studying at the BATE club in the city of Borisov. When Alexander was seventeen years old, he signed a professional contract with the Borisov team, in 1999, for the first time he entered the field of big football and even won the Belarusian championship.

The beginning of a professional career

The delightful actions of the midfielder on the field could not escape the gaze of foreign observers, and the following year the player was invited to the German "Stuttgart", where he went with the assistance of the manager Shpilevsky. Together with him, his younger brother Vyacheslav also moved - the club bought out the contracts of both players for 150 thousand euros. It was in the German team that the footballer grew to the top level.

Not getting immediately into the main team, Alexander Hleb continued to show zeal on training sparring, which could not be overlooked by the head coach of Stuttgart Magath, who eventually entrusted him with the place in the base. Alexander honestly worked out a five-year contract. Having played more than 170 official matches for the team, the player scored more than three dozen goals, earning the glory of the best rallying player of the German championship.

Further club career

Upon termination of the contract with the German club, Alexander decided to apply his professional skills in one of the top clubs of the English Premier League - the London "Arsenal", which paid "Stuttgart" for transferring the player 15 million euros. Alexander's debut as a member of the Gunners in 2005 was overshadowed by a trauma, and even there were rumors of his imminent return to Germany, but in the following season the player managed to gain a foothold in the base, began to demonstrate the excellent game and soon became one of the team's leaders. Partners on the club repeatedly noted Gleb's confident actions and his versatility, which allowed him to play the positions of both playmaker and winger. As part of the London club, Alexander Hleb almost managed to win the international cup, having reached the team before the Champions League final. For "Arsenal" football player played almost 90 matches in which he scored seven goals.

Dissatisfied with the lack of trophies, Gleb, despite the exhortations of Arsene Wenger, in 2008 moved to the Catalan "Barcelona", with which he hoped to fulfill his dream. But as it turned out, this decision was the beginning of the end of the player's club career. Injury, insecurity of coaches in the power of a football player, Alexander's reluctance to learn the language - all this had a negative impact on the player's ability to gain a foothold in the Catalans. As a result, the player spent 18 official matches in the T-shirt of Barcelona, and even won the Champions League Cup with the team, and then the leases started. Twice the player visited "Wolfsburg" and "Birmingham City", after which the football player and the club came to an early termination of the contract.

In 2012, "Wings of the Soviets" became a team, which was joined by Alexander Hleb. Footballer half a year played for the Samara team, and then returned to his native BATE. With his first club, the player signed a contract for one year, after which he extended it for the same period. In early 2014, the Belarusian midfielder signed a contract with the Turkish team "Konyaspor", but because of the contradictions with the coach soon stopped going on the field. To date, the contract was signed by the Turkish "Genclerbirligi" and Alexander Hleb, where the football player plays in the position of the attacking midfielder.

Career in the national team

In 2000, the BATE player noticed the coach of the youth national team of Belarus and invited the young talent to the team where Gleb participated in the final part of the 2004 European Championship. For the young team, Alexander scored 5 goals in 24 games.

Since 2001, the player has played for the adult national team, and for some time was captain of the national team. In the period from 2002 to 2008, Alexander was six times recognized as the best football player of the republic. He is also the first among the Belarusian players who played in the final of the main tournament of UEFA.