Denis Santos Wolf (born 15 January 1983) is a former 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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany, he has played for

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

and

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. Through his Filipino-born mother, he represented the Philippines national team in the

2012 AFF Championship The 2012 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup, was the 9th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of Southeast Asia. It was co-hosted for group stage by Malaysia and Thailand a ...

Club career

Wolf started as a youth at Germania Grasdorf and then moved to

in 2001. After playing for the youth team, he mainly played for the reserve side in the Oberliga. In 2003, he managed to break into the first team making four appearances and scored one goal in the

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 ...

within the first half of the 2003–04 season. In early June 2005, Wolf joined

on loan for the 2005–06 season after only four seasons with Hannover. He would end up signing for the club permanently in July 2006. He then moved to rivals Rot-Weiß Erfurt for the 2007–08 season, spending two season with the club being a regular, making 56 appearances and scoring 12 goals. He eventually moved to

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

in 2009. However, in August 2009, he underwent knee surgery which kept him out until December. He made his debut for Magdeburg on 14 February 2010 against

Türkiyemspor Berlin Türkiyemspor Berlin is a Turkish association football club from Berlin. The club began in 1978 as a loose association of young footballers playing recreationally as ''Kreuzberg Gençler Birliği'' (Kreuzberg Youth Union), named after the Berl ...

, but was substituted after only 15 minutes. Following a dismal 2011–12 season where 1.FC Magdeburg saw themselves in 18th and last place in the Regionalliga Nord, on 20 May 2012, the management decided to release almost a dozen players, including Wolf, to begin rebuilding as quickly as possible. In September 2012, it was announced that Wolf has signed with Filipino side

Global FC Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * Global (Paul van Dyk album), ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * Global (Bunji Garlin album), ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * Global (Humanoid album), ''Gl ...

International career

Being of Filipino descent, Wolf expressed his desire to represent the Philippines internationally. In mid-January 2012, he arrived in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

to link up with the

Philippines national football team The Philippines national football team (Filipino/ tl, Pambansang koponan ng futbol ng Pilipinas, lit=) represents the Philippines in international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internationa ...

ahead of the

2012 AFC Challenge Cup The 2012 AFC Challenge Cup was the fourth edition of the tournament, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the defunct Vision Asia progra ...

and made his unofficial debut against Korean side

Icheon Citizen FC Icheon Citizen FC (Korean: 이천 시민축구단) was a South Korean football club based in Icheon City and former member of the K4 League, a semi-professional league and the fourth tier of football in South Korea. The club was founded in 2009 ...

. He continued to make unofficial appearances for the Philippines when he joined the team in their Mideast tour in mid-February which also saw him score against Qatari side Al Ahli. On 29 February 2012, he got his official debut in a friendly match against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, scoring in the Philippines' only goal, before Malaysia managed to get an equalizer in second half.

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. On 27 September 2012, he then scored his first international hat-trick in a 5–0 win against

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. On 29 September 2012, scored the first goal in a 3–1 win against

Chinese Taipei national football team The Chinese Taipei national football team represents Taiwan (the Republic of China) in international football and is controlled by the Chinese Taipei Football Association. Despite never qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, Chinese Taipei, then kn ...

. Later that year, he was part of the Philippines squad that competed at the

AFF Suzuki Cup The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football ...

. He made two appearances in the group stage as they reached the knockout round. He then came on as sub in the semi-final second-leg against Singapore as they lost 1–0 which was also the final aggregate score. It proved to be Wolf's final appearance for the Philippines.

International goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Denis 1983 births Living people Footballers from Hanover Citizens of the Philippines through descent German sportspeople of Filipino descent Filipino people of German descent German footballers Filipino footballers Filipino expatriate footballers Philippines international footballers Association football forwards Association football wingers Fortuna Düsseldorf players Hannover 96 II players Hannover 96 players 1. FC Magdeburg players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Global Makati F.C. players TSV Havelse players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players