19th January – Footballing Birthdays
Former Republic of Ireland defender Steve Staunton is 55 today. Staunton had two spells with both Liverpool and Aston Villa, as well as playing for Coventry City and Walsall. He also spent time on loan at Bradford City and Crystal Palace.
Staunton played at three World Cups for the Republic (1990, 1994 and 2002) and won 102 caps for his country. He also managed his country from January 2006 until late 2007, winning six of the 17 games that he took charge of.
Former Arsenal defender Lauren turns 47 today. The right-back was part of the Arsenal Invincibles team of 2003/04 and played for the North London club for seven years.
Prior to joining Arsenal, Lauren played in Spain for lower league clubs and then Mallorca. After leaving Arsenal in 2007, Lauren joined Portsmouth before ending his career back in Spain with Cordoba.
He won 24 caps for Cameroon between 1997 and 2002.
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Steffen Freund celebrates his 55th birthday today. The German won the Bundesliga twice with Borussia Dortmund in the mid 90’s as well as a surprise Champions League after beating Juventus 3-1 in the 1997 Champions League Final.
The midfielder joined Spurs a year later and won the League Cup in his first full season with the club. He left Tottenham in 2002 to return to his native Germany, when he signed for FC Kaiserslautern, but returned to England for a loan spell at Leicester City in 2004.
Freund won 21 caps for Germany between 1995 and 1998, playing at both Euro ’96 and France ’98.
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