His professional career began at third division Alemannia Aachen before a move to Werder Bremen in 1996–97, helping the Weserstadion outfit to a German Cup final defeat of Bayern Munich in 1999 and tallying more than 160 Bundesliga appearances and 15 goals over five and a half seasons.

[3] In 2002, a number of Europe's leading clubs were on Frings's trail prior to the World Cup but he opted for a four-year deal with Borussia Dortmund for a reported fee of €10 million, penning the contract two games into the competition.

Despite winning the domestic double with Bayern and making 29 Bundesliga and ten Champions League appearances, Frings never really enjoyed his football in Munich, and was played out of position by coach Felix Magath.

In June 2005, he rejoined Bremen for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal, helping them past FC Basel into the Champions League group stage.

On 29 June 2011, it was announced that Frings had reached an agreement to join Major League Soccer team Toronto FC as a designated player.

[6] On 29 July 2011, Frings made his CONCACAF Champions League debut against Real Estelí in which he was given the honour of wearing the captain's armband for Toronto.

[14] Frings represented Germany at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea,[15] where the German team reached the final, only to be defeated 2–0 by Brazil.

[16] On 9 June 2006, Frings scored Germany's fourth goal in a 4–2 win against Costa Rica in the opening match of the World Cup, with a powerful drive from more than 30 yards.

[18] Following Germany's penalty shootout victory over Argentina on 30 June 2006, Frings was fined and suspended by FIFA for two games (one of which is subject to a six-month probationary period) for his role in the brawl that broke out between the Argentine and German teams after the match.

[16] The controversy of the decision was also sparked by the fact that Frings' role in the brawl had been widely accentuated in the Italian media after FIFA had already announced it closed its investigations against German players.

Frings was also called up to Germany's Euro 2008 squad, which reached the final of the tournament only to be defeated by Spain,[16] but was later not included in the team for the 2010 World Cup by German coach Joachim Löw.