Georg Niedermeier (born 26 February 1986) is a German footballer who currently plays as a defender for New Zealand Taranaki Premiership club New Plymouth Rangers. He came through the Bayern Munich's youth academy before joining VfB Stuttgart on loan in January 2009 and officially signing for them in February 2010 for €4 million.
Club career
Bayern Munich
Born in Munich, Niedermeier began his football career at SC Bogenhausen in a youth team before joining FC Bayern Munich at age 9, starting his way through the academy and reaching captaincy with the reserve team. He played for FC Bayern Munich's reserve team from 2003. At the age of 17 he debuted in his first seniors match, resulting in a 0–0 draw against FC Augsburg on 18 October. Whilst taking the step to the Seniors team, Niedermeier also helped the FC Bayern Munich U19s team win the U19s Youth Bundesliga Championship.
At the start of the 2008–09 season, Niedermeier was given the captain's armband in the opening game of the season against FC Union Berlin, with a 2–1 victory. Also in the same year, he became involved with the first team, making his professional debut. He was nominated for the squad of FC Bayern Munich for Bundesliga games against Hamburger SV and Borussia Dortmund in August 2008, and later against Olympique Lyonnais in the UEFA Champions League.
In January 2009, Niedermeier signed a new deal, keeping him at Bayern Munich until 2012.
VfB Stuttgart
On 30 January 2009, Niedermeier was loaned to VfB Stuttgart until June 2010, in order to gain first team experience. After the move, Niedermeier said that he had more opportunity to play here (Stuttgart).
On 1 March 2009, Niedermeier made his Stuttgart (and Bundesliga) debut as part of the starting XI, resulting in a 2–0 win against rival Karlsruher SC. However, during a 2–1 win against Borussia Dortmund on 7 March 2009, he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out for a month. On 9 May 2009, Niedermeier returned to the starting line–up, helping Stuttgart win 4–1 against, Wolfsburg, who would go on to become champions. With his five appearances for the side, in his first half season as a professional, he helped VfB Stuttgart finish 3rd after an incredible run in the second half of the season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2009-10.
In the 2009–10 season, Niedermeier scored his first goal of his Bundesliga career with a header, in a 1–1 draw at Signal Iduna Park against Borussia Dortmund on 28 August 2009. However, he found himself behind the pecking order in the first team, due to competitions from Serdar Tasci, Khalid Boulahrouz and Matthieu Delpierre. By November, Niedermeier started in the next three matches for the side following an injury of Tasci and Boulahrouz, including making his UEFA Champions League debut, which ended in a 2–0 win against Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox-Park on 24 November 2009. At the beginning of the second half of the season, he started the first four matches for the side, all of which were wins. Five days later on 11 February 2010, negotiations between Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart came to an end - Niedermeier signed a 4-year deal keeping him in Stuttgart until June 2014. He made four more starts throughout March, including another UEFA Champions League appearance against FC Barcelona in the round of 16 second leg in Camp Nou. Manager Christian Gross praised his performance for his display of confidence. VfB Stuttgart finished 6th place in the league after having a good second half of the season once again - giving them the opportunity to take part in the UEFA Europa League the following season. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Niedermeier went on to make fourteen appearances, scoring once in all competitions, and losing only two matches.