Markus Steinhöfer (born 7 March 1986) 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 le ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Youth football

Steinhöfer began his early football with local amateur club DSC Weißenburg. Via

TSV Roth The TSV Roth is a defunct German association football club from the town of Roth, Bavaria. The club's most successful era was in the 1970s when it spent a season in the tier three Bayernliga. In 2008 the club merged with SC Roth 1952 to form TSG ...

he then joined the youth division of

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

. In 2002 he joined the B-Juniors (later U-17) in the youth department of

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. A year later he advanced to their A-Junioren (later U-19) and was part of the team that won the final in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga 2003–04. At the same time, as of February 2004, he made his first appearances for the FC Bayern München Amateure in the third-tier Regionalliga Süd, winning the championship title in that division at the end of the season. The following season he was regular starter in the team. He played with the team for two seasons and was then loaned to Red Bull Salzburg.

Red Bull Salzburg

In summer 2006 he joined

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

team Red Bull Salzburg under head coach Giovanni Trapattoni.First playing with their reserve team, he gradually became regular player in their first team and won the Austrian Bundesliga 2006–07. In the following season he then made his first European appearances, but failed with Salzburg both in the Champions League qualifying round and in the UEFA Cup first round. In the domestic league, he and his team finished second behind the new champions Rapid Wien.

Eintracht Frankfurt

In July 2008, Steinhöfer moved to

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

for a fee of €900,000. Under head coach Friedhelm Funkel Steinhöfer was a regular starter, he played in 32 of the 34 league matches. However, in his second season following the change of manager to

Michael Skibbe Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Club career In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09, then moved to the professional team of FC Sc ...

, Steinhöfer struggled to find a regular spot in the team and announced that it was his intention to transfer.

Kaiserslautern (loan)

On 29 December 2009, Eintracht Frankfurt loaned him to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, one division lower, until the end of the season. In the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

Steinhöfer played 15 games and scored two goals for FCK. At the end of the 2009–10 2. Bundesliga season Kaiserslautern were division champions and achieved promotion.

Return to Frankfurt

In the summer of 2010 Steinhöfer returned to Frankfurt. Again, he was barely taken into consideration by coach Skibbe and only substituted in on in four league games and so was unable to make an impact. In January 2011 Steinhöfer left Frankfurt to join

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

Basel

On 25 January 2011

announced the change in their defensive right-back position.

Samuel Inkoom Samuel Inkoom (born 1 June 1989) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. Between 2008 and 2014 he made 44 appearances scoring 1 goal for the Ghana national team. He has played in teams based ...

had transferred out to Dnjepr Dnjepropetrovsk and Steinhöfer had signed in from Eintracht Frankfurt to them on a two and a half year contract. He joined Basel's first team for their 2011–12 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he hel ...

. After playing in one test game, Steinhöfer played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the Stadion Lachen on 6 February 2011 as Basel won 3–2 against

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the ...

. He played in all 18

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

games and at the end of the 2010–11 season Steinhöfer won the Championship title with Basel. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season season Steinhöfer was member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both Hertha Berlin 3–0 and West Ham United 2–1 to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. Basel entered the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

in the group stage. On 7 December 2011, during the Champions League group C match at home in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, trying to make a clearance, Steinhöfer volleyed the ball against his own crossbar. The ball bounced back into play and the defence were able to clear it away. Basel won the match 2–1, sending United out of the Champions league. Steinhöfer's fans created a song to celebrate this feat. Basel advanced to the knockout phase. But in the round of 16, despite a 1–0 home win against

, it was the German team who advanced to the next round. Steinhöfer scored his first Super League goal in the 3–0 away win against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

on 22 April 2012. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, winning the final 4–2 in a penalty shootout against

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

. Basel had started in the

2012–13 UEFA Champions League The 2012–13 UEFA Champions League was the 58th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 21st season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was p ...

in the qualifying rounds. But were knocked out of the competition by CFR Cluj in the play-off round. They then continued in the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Aren ...

group stage. Ending the group in second position, Basel continued in the knockout phase and advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

holders Chelsea. Chelsea won both games advancing 5–2 on aggregate, eventually winning the competition. At the end of the Super League season 2012–13 Steinhöfer won his third Championship title with the team. In the

2012–13 Swiss Cup The 2012–13 Swiss Cup was the 88th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition commenced on 14 September 2012 with the first game of Round 1 and ended on 20 May 2013 with the Final. The winners of the competition, Gr ...

Basel reached the final and played in the Stadion Wankdorf in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

against the

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshop ...

. Steinhöfer scored in the 71st minute, a left footed shot from about 10 Meters out, that was slightly deflected off the back of a defender. However GC drew level and won the affair 4–3 on penalties, following a 1–1 draw after extra time. In a long season with a total of 76 games (62 in League, Cup, European Champions League, Europa League and 14 test matches) he had a total of 63 appearances. After two and a half years in Basel his contract was not extended. During his time with the club, Steinhöfer played a total of 149 games for Basel scoring a total of three goals. 76 of these games were in the

, eight in the

, 26 in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 39 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, one in the cup and the other was scored during the test games.

Frequent club changes

For the 2013/14 season he moved to the Spanish first division team

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

, and on 3 November 2013 (12th matchday) he played his debut for them in the 2-3 defeat in the away game against FC Málaga. He stayed with Betis only until the end of the year. Subsequently, Steinhöfer returned to Germany and played for

club

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 of ...

. His contract was dissolved on 1 February 2015. Just on the following day he moved to league rivals VfR Aalen, signing a contract until the end of the season. Aalen suffered relegation and his contract ran out. On 17 June 2015, Steinhöfer's signing was announced by Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic. He played there for one season. Following that Steinhöfer went to

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Spo ...

who at that time played in the German Bundesliga. Darmstadt ended the season bottom of the table and they suffered relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. Steinhöfers contract was canceled at the end of 2017–18 season. In September 2018 Steinhöfer signed a contract with amateur club

VfB Eichstätt The VfB Eichstätt is a German association football club from the town of Eichstätt, Bavaria. Since 2017 it plays in the Regionalliga Bayern, the fourth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in Bavaria. The club's grea ...

in Regionalliga Bayern and Steinhöfer concluded his professional career.Eichstätts Coup mit Steinhöfer
kicker, 4 September 2018; accessdate 5 September 2018 (German)

International career

Steinhöfer played for multiple Germany national youth teams, including the Germany U21 team.

Career statistics

Honours

Bayern Munich II * IFA Shield: 2005 Red Bull Salzburg *

: 2006–07 FC Basel *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: 2011–12 *

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The tou ...

: 2011

References

External links

Markus Steinhöfer
at eintracht-archiv.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhofer, Markus 1986 births Living people People from Weißenburg in Bayern Footballers from Middle Franconia German men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Germany men's under-21 international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players La Liga players Czech First League players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Eintracht Frankfurt players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players FC Basel players Real Betis players TSV 1860 Munich players VfR Aalen players AC Sparta Prague players SV Darmstadt 98 players VfB Eichstätt players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic