Hildebrand: Stuttgart's record-smashing goalkeeper

Having emerged from the Stuttgart youth ranks and keeping goal for the club from 1999 until 2007, Hildebrand played a key part in a golden era for VfB around the turn of the century. The good times culminated in 2006/07 with a win of the third Bundesliga title in the club's history and participation in the DFB Cup final.

He took a place in the Bundesliga record books after a remarkable run of nine consecutive clean sheets between May and October 2003. Between Giovane Elber scoring for Bayern Munich after 75 minutes on the penultimate matchday of 2002/03 and Werder Bremen's Angelos Charisteas beating him after an hour on Matchday 11, Hildebrand went 884 minutes without conceding a single goal. Both are the best streaks in Bundesliga history.

Hildebrand was known for being particularly hard to beat in one-on-one situations. He made a total of 301 Bundesliga appearances in his career and kept 100 clean sheets, while also earning seven caps for Germany and being part of the national team squad that finished third in the 2006 World Cup. After his long spell at Stuttgart, he played between 2009 and 2010 for Hoffenheim, from 2011 to 2014 for Schalke and also made his final three Bundesliga appearances in 2014 for Eintracht Frankfurt. He also had spells for Valencia, with whom he won the 2008 Copa del Rey, and for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

After his playing days, Hildebrand turned to writing children's fiction, authoring 'Noja and his Magic Goalkeeper Gloves'. He would know a fair bit about magical gloves, after all, given his record that still stands today.