Vincent Kompany
Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is the head coach of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. As a player, he is best known for his eleven seasons at Manchester City, eight of which he served as captain. Kompany also represented the Belgium national team for fifteen years and served as its captain. He has been cited as one of the best defenders in Premier League history.
Kompany began his professional career at Anderlecht; having graduated from their youth system, he was with the club for three seasons as a first-team player before moving to Bundesliga club Hamburg in 2006. In the summer of 2008, he completed a transfer to Premier League club Manchester City, where he was an integral part of the squad and regarded as one of the bargain buys of the revolutionised City era, blossoming into one of the league's best centre-backs. In the 2011–12 season, he was awarded the captaincy of City, leading his club to win the Premier League that season, their first league title in 44 years. Kompany was included in the Premier League Team of the Year in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and won the Premier League Player of the Season in 2012. Kompany won eleven more trophies at City and made 360 total appearances.
Kompany earned 89 caps for Belgium in a 15-year international career, having made his debut in 2004 at age 17. He was part of their squad that came fourth at the 2008 Olympics and went to the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and 2018, coming a best-ever third at the latter. He served as captain from 2010.
In 2019, when his contract expired after eleven years at City, Kompany returned to Anderlecht as player-manager. A year later, he announced his retirement from professional football and became the first-team manager. In 2022, he was hired by Burnley, winning the EFL Championship in his first season, before being relegated from the Premier League the following season. He was appointed by Bayern Munich in 2024 following the departure of Thomas Tuchel and won the 2024–25 Bundesliga in his first season at the club.
Club career
Anderlecht
Born in Uccle, Brussels, Kompany started his career at Anderlecht at the age of 17. He made his professional debut on 30 July 2003 in a UEFA Champions League second qualifying round first leg away to Rapid București, starting in a goalless draw. His first goal on 1 February 2004 came in a 3–1 win away to Sint-Truiden.Kompany won several awards including the Belgian Golden Shoe and the Belgian Ebony Shoe. Although several top European sides immediately showed interest, the player and his entourage decided to first develop a few more years at Anderlecht. "Don't you worry, I will stay here," he told Berend Scholten at UEFA.com. "At the moment the zeros in my contract are not so important. If I wanted to leave, I would have been gone already." In November 2003, still under contract until 2006, he agreed to extend his deal for two more years upon his 18th birthday in April 2004.
In late 2003, Kompany was a target for Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson to cover the long-term suspension of defender Rio Ferdinand. Ferguson attended Anderlecht's trip to Celtic in the Champions League group stage so that he could watch Kompany, but was instead impressed by Celtic midfielder Liam Miller and signed him. Additionally, Kompany's mother would not let him transfer until he had finished his education.
Hamburg
On 9 June 2006 it was announced that Kompany had been acquired by Hamburger SV for a fee of €10 million, as a replacement for fellow Belgian Daniel Van Buyten. In his debut season for Hamburg, he managed only six Bundesliga starts for the club before suffering an achilles injury in November that ruled him out for the rest of the season. Despite his lack of involvement in the season, he was selected in a 30-man provisional squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.Kompany scored on 29 July 2007 in a 4–0 win over Moldova's Dacia Chișinău in the last round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Hamburg won the title via being the Intertoto team that advanced furthest in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup.
In August 2008, Kompany fell out with Hamburg over his decision to play at the Olympic tournament in China. After leaving the club, he criticised chairman Bernd Hoffmann as "one of those people who know about money, but don't know anything about football". Kompany speculated that the club's lack of success in the past 20 years despite its large supporter base could not be attributed to the players alone.
Manchester City
2008–11
On 22 August 2008, Premier League club Manchester City signed Kompany from Hamburg on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut two days later in a 3–0 home win against West Ham United, playing the entire match. On 28 September, Kompany scored his first goal in City's 2–1 away defeat by Wigan Athletic. During his early time at Manchester City, Kompany played as a defensive midfielder.On 19 October 2009, Kompany signed a new five-year deal with City that would keep him at the club until 2014. He scored his second league goal for the club in a 2–0 home win against Portsmouth and his third in a 6–1 win against Burnley at Turf Moor.
File:2011 FA Cup Final Victory Parade.jpg|thumb|left|Kompany holding the FA Cup during Manchester City's 2011 victory parade
Kompany was handed the number 4 jersey for the 2010–11 season after previous wearer Nedum Onuoha moved on loan to Sunderland. On 25 April, Kompany again continued to captain the side in the absence of striker Carlos Tevez against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, playing the full 90 minutes alongside Lescott in a 1–0 victory. On 16 April, Kompany captained Manchester City's victory over main rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley; City won the game 1–0. Later that day, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year alongside teammate Tevez.
In the 2011 FA Cup Final, Kompany started and finished the match, a 1–0 victory over Stoke City, which delivered Manchester City's first major trophy for 35 years. At the end of the 2010–11 season, in which City qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time, manager Roberto Mancini praised Kompany as "incredible", and called him one of the top defenders in Europe, with the potential to be number one in the world.
He finished the season winning the club's Supporters' Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year awards, clocking up 50 appearances in all competitions including 37 Premier League starts.
2011–14
Kompany was firmly installed as club captain for the 2011–12 season, with Tevez having expressed publicly his desire to leave the club. The opening fixture on 7 August 2011 was the Community Shield, which ended in a 3–2 defeat to rivals Manchester United despite City holding a two-goal lead at half-time.On 30 April 2012, Kompany scored with a header from a David Silva corner in the Manchester derby; the game finished 1–0 to City and put them in first place ahead of Manchester United on goal difference with only two games of the season remaining. On 11 May 2012, Kompany was named Barclays Player of the Season for his outstanding performance in the Premier League, the first time the award was won by a City player.
On 13 May, the final day of the Premier League season, Kompany led the team against Queens Park Rangers which ended in a dramatic 3–2 win, securing the league title for the club for the first time since 1968. QPR midfielder Joey Barton attempted to headbutt Kompany during the match. On 25 July, Kompany signed a six-year contract with Manchester City, the longest of its kind in the club's history.
After winning the curtain-raising Community Shield 3–2 against Chelsea, the 2012–13 season was something of a disappointment for the club as they finished bottom of their Champions League group, placed second in the league and lost the FA Cup Final 1–0 to Wigan Athletic. Kompany played in that final, but had missed part of the league campaign due to injury, with Mancini citing his absence as a major factor in the failure to retain the title.
On 2 March 2014, Kompany captained the Manchester City team that won the League Cup Final, beating Sunderland 3–1. On 11 May, he scored Manchester City's second goal in a 2–0 win against West Ham United as the club won the 2013–14 Premier League title.
2014–19
During 2014–15, Kompany accumulated 33 appearances in all competitions, but the club could only finish runners-up in the league and were eliminated from the domestic and continental cups at early stages, also losing out in the Community Shield. In April 2015, he suffered a muscular injury during the Manchester derby which ended his campaign early, and this would prove to be the start of a long spell of recurring injuries for a player who had already endured a number of physical problems since his arrival in England.After scoring in the team's opening two Premier League fixtures, Kompany suffered a strain to his calf in the opening weeks of the 2015–16 season and lasted just minutes into his comeback match in December. in February 2016, he was fit to take part in the League Cup Final in which City defeated Liverpool, and was named man of the match; however in May he was again forced off in the early stages of the Champions League semi-final, finishing with 22 appearances and subsequently missing Euro 2016 with Belgium.
Having returned to the first team in October 2016, on 9 November Kompany withdrew from international duty with discomfort, and on 22 November he sustained a knee injury. At that time, an analysis showed that he had suffered 37 injuries since joining Manchester City in 2008 and had missed over two years in that eight-year period. By April 2017, he had recovered, and scored in a victory over Tottenham Hotspur, commenting on his issues that "The main thing is self-belief and experience". Manager Pep Guardiola kept Kompany in the team for the FA Cup semi-final, and he played the entirety of the match which went to extra time; City lost the tie to eventual winners Arsenal, finishing 2016–17 without a trophy. Kompany appeared just 15 times during the campaign, although his continued importance to the team was evidenced by the fact he would always return to the starting line-up as soon as he was fit.
Kompany played in eight league matches for Manchester City during the first portion of 2017–18, suffering further strains during the period, before withdrawing minutes into an away fixture against Newcastle on 27 December; Guardiola's responses in the press conferences suggested he was losing patience with the situation. He returned to the team on 3 February 2018, completing the 90 minutes of a 1–1 draw away to Burnley while Aymeric Laporte, the club's new record signing in the same position, remained on the bench throughout. On 25 February, he scored Manchester City's second goal of a 3–0 victory over Arsenal in the 2018 EFL Cup Final, and was named man of the match. he eventually managed 17 league starts as Manchester City won the title with a record 100 points.
On 6 May 2019, Kompany scored Manchester City's only goal during a 1–0 victory over Leicester City with his first goal from outside the box for the club. The result put the club one point ahead at the top of the 2018–19 Premier League table, and they retained the title by the same margin six days later. Kompany had already lifted the EFL Cup again in February 2019 after a penalty shootout victory over Chelsea. He played the whole of the 2019 FA Cup Final, a 6–0 victory over Watford, as the club completed an unprecedented domestic treble.
On 17 August 2020, Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak announced plans for a statue of Kompany at the Etihad Stadium, along with teammates Sergio Aguero and David Silva, to commemorate his "transformational" contribution at City. The statues of Kompany and Silva were unveiled on 28 August 2021.