Patrick Ziegler (born 9 February 1990) is a German-Australian footballer who plays as a

centre-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 ...

, most recently for the Western Sydney Wanderers.

German Football Career

Ziegler grew up in Munich, Germany and began his football career at junior club TSV Moosach-Hartmannshofen. At the age of 13 he moved to SpVgg Unterhaching to begin his youth academy training, and stayed at the club until age 21, playing for the club in the third tier

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

, making a total of 51 league appearances and scoring 2 goals. His performances attracted the attention of SC Paderborn 07, and he moved the 550 km distance from Munich in 2012. He played 3 seasons for Paderborn, being promoted to the Bundesliga after they finished 2nd in the 2013/14

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 ...

season. The only season Ziegler played in the top flight Bundesliga saw the club relegated back to the 2nd tier, with Ziegler leaving the club at the end of the season having amassed 70 league appearances with a single goal. Paderborn were relegated again the season after Ziegler left the club. During his time at Paderborn he gave away a record breaking quick penalty against Hamburg, fouling Marcell Jansen just 8 seconds after kick-off. Ziegler spent the next 3 years with Kaiserslautern. The club easily avoided relegation but could not push into a promotion position. Ziegler left having made 59 league appearances for the club.

Western Sydney Wanderers

Ziegler moved to Australia to play for the Western Sydney Wanderers starting in the 2018/19 A-League season on a three-year contract. After playing 6 games for the Wanderers he suffered a Tear of meniscus injury during an FFA Cup game that ended his 2018/19 season and caused him to only return in the 4th round of the 2019/20 season. He played the majority of the season with the Wanderers finishing in 9th place out of 11 teams. During this time at the Wanderers the club have gone through multiple managers, Markus Babbel,

Jean-Paul de Marigny Jean-Paul de Marigny (born 21 January 1964, in Mauritius) is an Assistant Coach with Melbourne Victory. Jean-Paul is a former Socceroo. Managerial career Melbourne Victory de Marigny served as an assistant coach of A-League side Melbourne Victo ...

and then Carl Robinson.

Australian Citizenship

Patrick's father was born in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. making him eligible to represent Germany, as well as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

once he applies, and his application is approved, for citizenship by descent the Australian government. He would also no longer be regarded as a foreign player in the A-League, which has a limit of five such players per squad. In January 2019, Ziegler declared that he wanted to play for

upon receiving his citizenship, adding that even after returning to Germany, his father still supported Australia, even more so than Germany. In October 2019, he told ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' that he was still waiting for permission from Germany to hold a second passport. In December 2020, Zieger officially became an Australian citizen. He was released from the club at the end of the 2020/21 season.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Patrick 1990 births Living people Men's association football defenders German men's footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players SpVgg Unterhaching players SC Paderborn 07 players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players 3. Liga players SpVgg Unterhaching II players German people of Australian descent Australian people of German descent German expatriate sportspeople in Australia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Naturalised soccer players of Australia