Everything but the title: One of the wildest careers rolls on
"Something's coming our way for sure": Lewis Holtby's statement (quoted by 'SID') before the last Bundesliga game of his career not only provided an accurate assessment of today's duel between Kiel and Borussia Dortmund. If he had a time machine, this sentence would also be a good hint to his 17-year-old self. That's probably what young Lewis Holtby would have said if he had been shown his career path in a crystal ball: A lot is coming my way.
Between relegations, promotions, Champions League, Premier League, and the swamp of the second English league, Lewis Holtby has experienced a lot of ups and downs without ever being rewarded with a real title.
We take a look at the pictures of a career that really had everything. Except titles.
📸 Christof Koepsel - 2009 Getty Images
Lewis Holtby's professional career begins in black and yellow: After his debut at 17 in 2007, he breaks through in the 2008/09 season. Thanks to 17 scorer points in the 2nd league, the whole Bundesliga is suddenly eyeing the half-Englishman.
📸 Christof Koepsel -In the summer of 2009, Holtby makes one of those decisions that doesn't make things easy for him: He switches to FC Schalke 04, who were coached by Felix Magath at the time.
📸 Christof Koepsel - 2009 Getty Images
At Schalke, he can't assert himself against Jermaine Jones and Ivan Rakitić and usually only comes off the bench. In the winter, it's decided to loan Holtby out. It doesn't get any easier.
📸 Lars Baron - 2010 Getty Images
Holtby goes to Bochum, plays there, but VfL can't stay in the league at the end of the season. It won't be the first relegation.
Back in Gelsenkirchen, he's loaned out to Mainz in the summer of 2010. Of course, it's never easy when you switch to a club coached by Thomas Tuchel (hello Shawn Parker). Despite this, Holtby celebrates his first real success here.
📸 Joern Pollex - 2011 Getty Images
The legendary Bruchwegboys manage to qualify for Europe via fifth place.
In his first game back at Schalke, he then wins his first and only career title: Schalke, the cup winner, beats champion Borussia Dortmund to win the Supercup.
📸 Christof Koepsel - 2011 Getty Images
At Schalke, he finally becomes a regular starter, qualifies for the Champions League with Königsblau, and takes something with him that most of us would never wash off again: A hug from Raúl.
📸 Stuart Franklin - 2011 Getty Images
In January 2013, he moves to Tottenham Hotspur in his father's home country. The balance: No title, but at least the next world star hug.
📸 IAN KINGTON - 2013 AFP
Or rather: two world star hugs.
📸 Brian Kersey - 2014 Getty Images
This is what someone looks like who's looking for trouble: Holtby doesn't just switch to Felix "Quälix" Magath for the second time with his transfer to Fulham, but also to a relegated team for the second time.
📸 Clint Hughes - 2014 Getty Images
Fulham has to go down to the second league as 19th, and Holtby also misses the 2014 World Cup.
And what does someone do who could actually use a break after a career that's already been so eventful? Of course: He switches to Hamburger Sportverein. Where he takes everything with him again.
📸 Matthias Hangst - 2015 Getty Images
First, two successful relegation dramas in 2015 and 2018, then the first Hamburg Bundesliga relegation in 2018. Holtby's third career relegation.
📸 Lars Baron - 2018 Getty Images
Things continue in a similarly bitter way. In 2018/19, Holtby and HSV not only miss promotion but also narrowly miss the cup final after a semifinal defeat against RB Leipzig.
After not being promoted with HSV, Holtby remains clubless for a while before being signed by English second-division club Blackburn Rovers in September.
📸 Lewis Storey - 2020 Getty Images
In his two years at Blackburn, Holtby experiences not only that football without fans is crap during the Corona period but also how tough the second league in England is. His contract is not extended at the end of the 2020/21 season. He switches to Kiel on a free transfer.
📸 Cathrin Mueller - 2024 Getty Images
With Holtby as a key player, promotion is achieved in 2024. Six years after the HSV relegation, he returns to the Bundesliga with the Störche. What also means: Career relegation number four a year later.
📸 Selim Sudheimer - 2025 Getty Images
Today, Lewis Holtby's probably last Bundesliga game is on the agenda. You'd think that someone with a career with so many ups and downs would have had enough by now, but Holtby recently told the 'kicker' that he's not done yet: "I'll definitely keep playing. I want to enjoy the time as long as my body allows it." In other words: Something's coming his way for sure.
📸 Selim Sudheimer - 2025 Getty Images
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