Alexander Ring

Alexander Ring
Personal information
Full name Alexander Michael Ring
Date of birth (1991-04-09) 9 April 1991
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 1. FC Kaiserslautern
Number 6
Youth career
1995–1998 VfL Lannesdorf
1998–2008 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
2001 R.S.C. Anderlecht
2009 HJK Helsinki
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2010 Klubi-04 32 (9)
2010 → Tampere United (loan) 4 (1)
2010–2013 HJK Helsinki 27 (2)
2012–2013 → Borussia Mönchengladbach (loan) 14 (0)
2013– 1. FC Kaiserslautern 73 (8)
National team‡
Finland U17 6 (1)
2008 Finland U18 10 (0)
2009 Finland U19 7 (2)
2010 Finland U20 2 (1)
2011 Finland U21 3 (0)
2011– Finland 41 (1)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2 October 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 October 2016

Alexander Ring (born 9 April 1991), is a Finnish professional football midfielder who plays for German 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern and represents Finland national team.[2] Ring was born in Helsinki, Finland. He started his football career in German and Belgian youth teams. He began his senior club career playing for Klubi-04, before signing a full professional contract with HJK in August 2010 at age 19.

Ring made his international debut for Finland in June 2011, at the age of 20.

Club career

Early career

He moved to Bonn with his family when aged three, and grew up there and in Belgium. Ring went through the ranks of Bayer 04 Leverkusen before returning to Finland with his family in 2008.

HJK

He signed for HJK's reserve team Klubi-04 in 2009, and represented them until being promoted to the first team, and signed full professional contract with the club in August 2010.[3] However, Ring was loaned out to the now defunct Tampere United for the rest of that season. He returned to HJK after the season, and was established as the first choice holding midfielder for HJK in early 2011. On 26 September 2011, he signed a contract extension with HJK, keeping him in the Finnish capital until 2015.[4] During December 2011, it was rumored that German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach were interested in signing the young Finn for approximately one million euros.[5]

Loan to Mönchengladbach

On 5 January 2012, it was announced that Mönchengladbach had signed Ring on loan until the summer 2013, with having an option to buy at the end of the season.[6] On 10 March 2012, Ring made his Bundesliga debut for Mönchengladbach against Freiburg, and on 21 August Ring scored his first goal for Mönchengladbach in a 1–3 defeat to Ukrainian Dynamo Kiev in the first leg of 2012–13 UEFA Champions League's playoff-round.[7] However, despite some encouraging displays for the club, Ring soon fell out of favour, and in February 2013 it was announced that Borussia would not use their option to buy the player.[8]

1. FC Kaiserslautern

In June 2013, he signed a contract with 1. FC Kaiserslautern to play in 2. Bundesliga.[9][10] The clubs did not publish the transfer fee, but according to newspapers Kaiserslautern paid HJK Helsinki 500.000 Euros.[11] After an encouraging start, and the club sacking of the first team coach Franco Foda in September 2013, he struggled to keep his position in the side. However, he was picked for the opening line-up in the cup games versus both Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern München. He scored his first goal for the club in August 2014 versus SV Sandhausen.[12]

International career

Ring's convincing performances in the Finnish League Cup and the Veikkausliiga earned him a call-up to the new coach Mixu Paatelainen's first gathering of the Finland national football team in May 2011.[13] He made his senior national team debut on 7 June 2011 in 5–0 defeat against Sweden. On 11 October 2011, Finnish star Roman Eremenko described Ring as a soon-to-be key player in the Finland national football team, saying: "I knew Alex when he came to the national team, but I hadn't seen any of his games before. When he came, it was immediately obvious that he is here to stay. He plays without fear."[14] Ring scored his first goal for the national team on 26 March 2013 in Luxembourg in a match against Luxembourg.[15]

International goals

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 26 March 2013 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 1–0 3–0 Friendly

Honours

Club

HJK

Individual

Career statistics

Club

As of 24 March 2015[17][18]
Club Season Division League Domestic Cups Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Klubi-04
2009 Ykkönen 1530000153
2010 Ykkönen 1760000176
Klubi-04 Total 3290000329
Tampere United
2010 Veikkausliiga 41001051
Tampere United Total 41001051
HJK Helsinki
2010 Veikkausliiga 30000030
2011 Veikkausliiga 24211462418
HJK Total 27211462448
Mönchengladbach
2011-12 Bundesliga 80000080
2012-13 Bundesliga 601061131
Mönchengladbach Total 1401061211
Kaiserslautern
2013-14 2. Bundesliga 2103000240
2014-15 2. Bundesliga 2462000266
Kaiserslautern Total 4565000506
Career Total 1151817413314525

International

As of 23 March 2015
Finland national team
YearAppsGoals
201160
201270
201391
201470
Total291

Trivia

Ring doesn't have German citizenship, even though he has lived most of his live in Germany. In Maali! 3/2011 he stated: "I have not even applied for German citizenship. It has been obvious for me that I represent Finland".[19]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.fck.de/fileadmin/001___PORTAL__/001_downloads/Autogrammkarten/Autogrammkarten_13_14/06_Ring_AK.pdf
  2. ↑ "Alexander Ring" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "HJK pestasi oman kasvatin" (in Finnish). iltasanomat.fi. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Ringille jatko kauden 2015 loppuun" [Ring signs until 2015] (in Finnish). HJK Helsinki. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "Saksalaislehden ykkösuutinen: Ring Bundesliigaan" [Ring to Germany?] (in Finnish). mtv3.fi. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "Kicker: HJK vuokraa Ringin Saksaan" [Kicker: HJK loans Ring to Germany] (in Finnish). iltasanomat.fi. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Mönchengladbach eye return to top table". UEFA.com. 20 August 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Auch Ring ist vor dem Absprung" (in German). kicker.de. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "ALEXANDER RING WIRD EIN ROTER TEUFEL" (in German). fck.de. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "ALEXANDER RING BECOMES A RED DEVIL". fck.de. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "Kicker: Näin saksalaisseurat maksoivat suomalaispelaajistaan" (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  12. ↑ http://fck.de/de/1-fc-kaiserslautern/profis/spieltage/2-spieltag.html
  13. ↑ "Sweden bid to bridge gap at summit". UEFA.com. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  14. ↑ Miettinen, Heikki (10 October 2011). "Roman Eremenko: Alexander Ring tuli maajoukkueeseen jäädäkseen" (in Finnish). hs.fi. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Suomelle vakuuttava voitto Luxemburgista" (in Finnish). YLE Urheilu. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Veikkausliiga palkinnot" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  17. ↑ http://www.national-football-teams.com/player/43505/Alexander_Ring.html
  18. ↑ http://nr.soccerway.com/players/alexander-ring/79353/
  19. ↑ "Alexander Ring". Maali! 3/2011 (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto (Football Association of Finland). p. 26.

External links

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