On 23 June 2006, Hinkel signed a four-year contract with Sevilla, where he won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. The transfer fee was estimated to be around €4 million. However, he found himself unable to dislodge Sevilla's regular right-back Daniel Alves.
Celtic
On 4 January 2008, Hinkel was confirmed as a Celtic player, for a fee of £1.9 million. Hinkel played his first Celtic game in a 3–0 Scottish Cup win over Stirling Albion eight days later, and scored his first goal for Celtic a month later, in a 3–0 win over Hearts at Celtic Park. Celtic won the SPL title on a dramatic last day of the season and earned Hinkel his first league title medal. The following season, Hinkel won a Scottish League Cup winners medal after a 2–0 win over Rangers in the final. Hinkel played a vital part in Celtic's Champions League third qualifying round second-leg victory over Russian outfit Dinamo Moscow on 5 August 2009. The match ended 2–0 to the Hoops with Hinkel assisting Scott McDonald for the opener then hitting a long hopeful punt up the pitch which Georgios Samaras latched onto before netting a last-minute winner. The German also cleared two goal-bound Dinamo strikes off the line. Hinkel had 29 SPL matches. For the first match of the 2010–11 season on 14 August, Hinkel was dropped in favour of new signing Cha Du-Ri. The following week, he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and was ruled out for nine months. He resumed training the following January. On 1 July 2011, Hinkel left Celtic after his contract expired.
On 6 October 2011, SC Freiburg signed Hinkel on a free transfer. On 10 September 2012, Hinkel announced his immediate retirement.
International career
Hinkel has represented Germany on 21 occasions at senior level, making his debut in 2003 against Serbia and Montenegro. He was part of the German squad during Euro 2004, but missed the 2006 World Cup. Hinkel's international involvement was kept to a minimum when at Sevilla due to lack of first-team football and the emergence of Philipp Lahm as first-choice right-back ahead of him. Hinkel was also not called up for Euro 2008 or the 2010 World Cup.
Managerial career
Between 2014 and 2016, Hinkel was an assistant coach in Stuttgart's youth system, the first team, and the reserve team. He started from the 2013/14 season as manager for the U12 team and also as assistant manager for the U16's. In the 2014/15 season, he was the assistant manager of the U17's under manager Domenico Tedesco. At the end of the season, Hinkel and Tedesco unexpectedly left the club, after not receiving new contracts. It was later revealed, that Hinkel had been offered a contract extension, but wasn't satisfied with the esteem he had received. On 26 January 2016, he returned to Stuttgart as assistant manager for the reserve team. In September 2016, he became assistant manager for the first team for a short period as an interim solution after first team manager Jos Luhukay had left the club. On 19 December 2016, Hinkel became the manager of Stuttgart II. Stuttgart reorganized the reserve team and appointed Hinkel to a new role. Hinkel is also completing a coaching course. He finished with a record of 21 wins, 11 draws, and 17 losses. On 7 October 2018, he was appointed as the interim head coach of VfB Stuttgart until Markus Weinzierl took over as head coach two days later. He did not manage any matches as interim head coach. In January 2019, Hinkel returned to the club once again, this time as assistant manager of the first team. On 1 April 2019, Hinkel was appointed as the manager of the reserve team following the firing of Marc Kienle. On 14 October 2019, he joined Russian Premier League club FC Spartak Moscow as an assistant to newly appointed manager Domenico Tedesco.
