Daniel Schwaab


Daniel Schwaab is a German footballer who plays as a centre-back for PSV. He represented Germany at U18, U19, and U21 levels, winning the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Club career

Freiburg

Born in Waldkirch, West Germany, Schwaab began his career at hometown club SV Waldkirch before joining SC Freiburg in 2000 after impressing during trial. While progressing in the youth teams, he initially played as a midfielder before converting to a centre-back. In the summer of 2006, he signed his first professional contract with the club, at a time when the club was playing in the 2. Bundesliga.
On 17 September 2006, Schwaab made his Freiburg debut, starting in the right-back position and playing for 79 minutes, as Freiburg drew 1–1 against 1860 Munich. After making his debut, he established himself in the starting eleven at the club. In a 2–0 loss against Augsburg on 8 November 2006, he played in the midfield position for the first time. He finished the 2006-07 season, his first, making 32 appearances in all competitions while Freiburg ended the season in fourth place, missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga.
In his second season with the first team, Schwaab started in every single match that he played, despite suffering from an injury during the season. He finished his second season making 33 appearances in all competitions with Freiburg placing fifth.
In the 2008–09 season, Schwaab started the season well helping the club make a perfect start to the season in the first seven matches in all competitions. He scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1 win over Augsburg on 14 September 2008. After setting up two goals in a 5–0 win over Wehen Wiesbaden on 21 September 2008, he scored again in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, in a 3–1 win over Hoffenheim three days later. Schwaab continued to be an ever-present player as the season progressed, scoring two goals against FSV Frankfurt and Osnabrück. After being suspended for a second bookable offence, he then scored two more goals towards the end against Frankfurt and Kaiserslautern. Schwaab finished the season making 35 appearances and scoring six times in all competitions.

Bayer Leverkusen

During the 2008–09 season, with his Freiburg contract running out it was announced that Schwaab was to join top flight side Bayer Leverkusen. He had been previously linked with a move to Leverkusen a year prior to that. The outcome saw Bayer Leverkusen paying Freiburg €250,000 for Schwaab, in turn being able to sign the player earlier.
Schwaab made his Bayer Leverkusen and Bundesliga debut in the opening game of the 2009–10 season on 8 August 2009, in a 2–2 draw against Mainz 05. After missing out two matches due to injury, he made his return to the first team from injury on 26 September 2009, in a 1–0 win over Köln. After returning from injury, Schwaab established himself in the first team in the right-back position. He provided an assist in a 4–2 win over Hamburg on 14 March 2010. Despite being sent-off in a 3–2 loss against Eintracht Frankfurt on 1 April 2010 and serving a three-match suspension as a result, he finished his first season making 30 appearances in all competitions.
In the 2010–11 season, Schwaab continued to be a first team regular and remained in the right-back position for the most of the season. He also started the season well providing two assists in an 11–1 win over Pirmasens in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. He also went on to finish the season with 40 appearances in all competitions.
Schwaab's 2011–12 season was disrupted by injuries when he suffered a knee injury at the start of the season. After a week out due to injury, he made his return to the first team in a 3–1 win over Wolfsburg on 1 October 2011. He managed to regain his first team place as the season progressed until he suffered a shinbone injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Despite this, he finished the season making twenty-eight appearance in all competitions.
In the 2012–13 season, Schwaab continued to rehabilitate from the shinbone injury throughout the summer and made his first appearance in a 4–0 win over FC Carl Zeiss Jena in the first round of DFB Pokal setting up one of the goals,. However, he found himself competing with new signing Dani Carvajal over the right-back position and was demoted to the substitute bench as a result. After suffering from a torn ligaments in the ankle during a match against Arminia Bielefeld which kept him out for months, Schwaab made his first team return from injury as a centre-back, in a 3–3 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 9 February 2013. After returning from injury, he was given a handful of first team appearances as a centre-back following Ömer Toprak's injury. Schwaab finished the season making 22 appearances in all competitions.

VfB Stuttgart

At the end of his contract with Leverkusen on 1 July 2013, Schwaab moved to VfB Stuttgart on a free transfer on 8 May 2013 signing a contract until June 2016.
Schwaab made his Stuttgart debut in the opening game of the season on 11 August 2013, in a 3–2 loss against Mainz 05. In the next game six days later, against his previous team Bayer Leverkusen, he scored an own goal as Stuttgart lost 0–1. After making his debut, he established himself in the starting eleven at Stuttgart. He set up a goal for Martin Harnik in a 1–1 draw against Werder Bremen on 5 October 2013. Despite suffering from injuries on two occasions, he finished his first season making 38 appearance in all competitions.
In the 2014–15 season, Schwaab continued to regain his first team place. He scored his first goal for the club on 27 September 2014 in a 1–0 win over Hannover 96, giving the club its first win of the season. After sustaining an injury in a match against Werder Bremen, he was sent-off after a second bookable offence upon his return, in a 1–0 loss against Augsburg on 23 November 2014. After a one-game suspension, Schwaab remained in the first team, playing in either right-back and centre-back position. After suffering another injury as the season progressed, he went on to make 32 appearance scoring once in all competitions.
In the 2015–16 season, Schwaab started the season on the substitute bench with Florian Klein playing in the right-back position in the first five matches. He managed to regain his first team place for most of the season and finished the season making 32 appearance in all competitions with Stuttgart being relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. At the end of the season, it was announced that Schwaab was released by the club after it had decided against offering him a contract.

PSV Eindhoven

After leaving Stuttgart, Schwaab moved to PSV on a free transfer, where he signed a three-year contract on 11 July 2016.
Schwaab started on his PSV Eindhoven debut and played the whole game in a 1–0 win over Feyenoord in the Johan Cruyff Shield. He then made his league debut for the club, in the opening game of the season, in a 2–1 win over Utrecht.
He played on 15 April 2018 as PSV beat rivals Ajax 3–0 to clinch the 2017–18 Eredivisie title.
At the end of the 2018–19 season Schwaab decided not to renew his contract to be able to return to Germany and live closer to his family. He rejoined the club on a 1 year deal on 11 August, 2019.

International career

A youth international since the U18 level, Schwaab was called up to the U21 for the first time on 21 August 2007 making his debut soon after, in a 2–2 draw against Republic of Ireland U21. Having become a first-team regular for the U21 side, he was selected for the 2009 European Championships and won the title. He made only one appearance as a substitute during the final but soon became first choice for the new qualifying campaign. Schwaab went on to score once for the U21 side, on 17 November 2009 in an 11–0 win over San Marino U21.

Career statistics

Personal life

Schwaab grew up supporting SC Freiburg, later revealing he had slept in club-branded bedclothes as a child, eventually playing for them as he reached his adulthood. He said his favorite subject in school were Sports, Maths and Physics. He later graduated in economics at Fernuni Hagen. His girlfriend Lisa is a teacher.

Honours

Club

PSV Eindhoven
Germany U21