András Schäfer (born 13 April 1999) is a Hungarian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

and the Hungary national team.

Club career

Schäfer made his

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...

debut for MTK appearing as a substitute away at against Gyirmót on 1 April 2017. On 17 January 2020, he joined

Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; hu, Dunaszerdahely; german: Niedermarkt; he, דונהסרדהיי) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a p ...

, playing in the

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season, with an option to purchase.

Union Berlin

On 21 January 2022, Schäfer joined

in the

. On 7 May 2022, Schäfer scored his first goal in the

on the 33rd game week of the

2021–22 Bundesliga The 2021–22 Bundesliga was the 59th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 13 August 2021 and concluded on 14 May 2022. The fixtures were announced on 25 June 2021. Bayern Munich were the defending champ ...

season in a 4–1 away victory against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

at the Europa-Park Stadion,

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

. In the

season he earned 8 caps and scored 1 goal. After the match against

, he suffered an injury. On 19 May 2023, the diagnosis was revealed saying that he broke his leg. On 2 June 2023, his foot was successfully operated in Budapest. He also mentioned that he is going through the hardest time in his career due to this injury. On 3 November 2023, an article was published by Nemzeti Sport that his recovery from the injury is getting better and he can return soon. On 25 November 2023, he returned from his long convalescence in a 1–1 draw against

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

. On 20 December 2023, he was selected to be in the starting line-up against

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

in a 2–0 home victory the

2023–24 Bundesliga The 2023–24 Bundesliga will be the 61st season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It will begin on 18 August 2023 and will conclude on 18 May 2024. Bayern Munich are the eleven-time consecutive defending champions. The ...

season. He was substituted only in the 85th minute. On 24 February 2024, he scored the second goal in a 2-2 draw against

1. FC Heidenheim 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 is a German association football club from the city of Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg. History The current day club was formed in 2007 through the separation of the football section from parent association ''Heidenheimer ...

on the 23rd game week of the

season. He was also selected into the best team of the 23rd game week of the Bundesliga, according to WhoScored.

International career

Schäfer made his debut with the Hungary national team in a 1–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

win over

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 3 September 2020. On 1 June 2021, he was included in the final 26-man squad to represent Hungary at the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament. He scored his first international goal on 4 June 2021, in a 1–0 win against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Personal life

Schäfer belongs to the German minority of Hungary with ancestors believed to be from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, and while he was not able to speak fluent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

when he first moved to Union Berlin, he has been improving and recently been able to converse in German without needing translator. His father's, Péter Schafer, tattoos include that badges of his son's former football clubs. In an interview published on Nemzeti Sport, Mátyás Esterházy, his and

Dominik Szoboszlai Dominik Szoboszlai (; born 25 October 2000) is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club RB Leipzig and the Hungary national team. Coming through the youth system, Szoboszlai made his senior debut in 2017 with Au ...

's manager, said that the most important moment in 2023 was Schafer's return from his injury in November.

Honours

Individual * Slovak Super Liga Goal of the Month: July/August 2021 * Slovak Super Liga U-21 Team of the Season:

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Andras Living people 1999 births Hungarian people of German descent Footballers from Szombathely Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Hungary men's under-21 international footballers Hungary men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders MTK Budapest FC players Genoa CFC players AC ChievoVerona players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players 1. FC Union Berlin players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Slovak First Football League players Bundesliga players UEFA Euro 2020 players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany