Stefan "Paule" Beinlich (born 13 January 1972) 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

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 ...

. His main asset was a powerful long-range shot, and he often scored from

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

s; he was one of the first players from the country to play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, although he would have little impact at Aston Villa.

Club career

Beinlich was born in East Berlin, and played as a youth for BFC Dynamo, making his first senior appearances for their feeder club, SG Bergmann-Borsig, In 1991, he moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with Aston Villa, signing along with his compatriot

Matthias Breitkreutz Matthias Breitkreutz (born 12 May 1971) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Crivitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, he played during his career for BFC Dynamo, SG Bergmann-Borsig, Aston Villa F.C., FC Hansa ...

, but both players had unassuming stints, appearing very rarely during their three-year stay. Beinlich's only goal for Villa came in a 5–1 defeat to Newcastle United in April 1994. In 1994, he moved to

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

, helping it promote in his first year, and scoring 19 times in the following two top level seasons combined (34 in total). Beinlich continued to display excellent football in his three seasons with Bayer 04 Leverkusen; in his last year, he tied a career-best 11 goals (in the first division) as the club lost the league to FC Bayern Munich on goal difference. After three years apiece with Hertha BSC and

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

, with relative playing time, Beinlich retired in 2008, after two seasons with former side Hansa. He had to retire due to knee problems, and totalled 288 games in the first division, scoring 56 goals.

International career

Beinlich's international debut 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 ...

occurred on 2 September 1998 against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, playing the whole 2–1 friendly win. His last two matches were in 2000, also friendlies, before and after the European Championship, for which he was not picked.

Post-retirement

On 30 May 2010, Beinlich was officially presented as

's new director of football. On 8 June 2012, after Hansa had been relegated, Beinlich announced that he would resign at the end of the month. In January 2013, he then became managing director of 1. LAV Rostock. On 27 November 2019, Beinlich returned to Hansa Rostock once again, this time as the club's academy manager. Beinlich also still remained his position at 1. LAV Rostock.

Honours

Hertha Berlin *

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

: 2001 Hamburger SV *

: 2003 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beinlich, Stefan 1972 births Living people Footballers from Berlin People from East Berlin East German footballers German footballers Men's association football midfielders Premier League players SG Bergmann-Borsig players Aston Villa F.C. players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FC Hansa Rostock players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Hamburger SV players Hertha BSC players Germany men's international footballers German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England