Karlheinz Pflipsen (born 31 October 1970) is a German 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 ...

who played as a

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 ...

Club career

A playmaker, Pflipsen played the first decade of his career at hometown club

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, alongside stars like

Martin Dahlin Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in 1987, he was the 1 ...

and Stefan Effenberg, winning the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. In 1992–93, he netted a career-best ten

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 ...

goals (squad's best with Dahlin). After Borussia's relegation in 1998–99, Pflipsen was signed by Greek club

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, and his talent became evident from the very beginning. In a 1999–2000 UEFA Cup match against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, Pflipsen sustained a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury in his left knee (he had already suffered the same injury on his right) and missed most of his first season. After recovering, he returned to Germany to play for Alemannia Aachen and

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

, both in the second division, and retired at almost 35. In 2008, Pflipsen started his managerial career, joining Rot-Weiß Essen II.

International career

Pflipsen collected one cap for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on 13 June 1993 against

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, a match in the

1993 U.S. Cup The 1993 U.S. Cup was a round robin soccer tournament played in June 1993 and organized by the United States Soccer Federation. The United States hosted Brazil, England and Germany; all three of those countries were playing in their only U.S. C ...

that Germany won 4–3. He came on as a substitute for

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

, wearing the number 13.

Honours

Borussia Mönchengladbach *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1994–95; runner-up 1991–92 Alemannia Aachen * DFB-Pokal: runner-up 2003–04

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pflipsen, Karlheinz 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Mönchengladbach Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia German footballers Association football midfielders Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Alemannia Aachen players TSV 1860 Munich players Panathinaikos F.C. players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece