Ralf Fährmann (; born 27 September 1988) is a German 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

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 ...

club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

Club career

Fährmann made his professional debut for Schalke 04 on 13 September 2008 in 3–3 draw away to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

. On 16 September 2008, he played his first international match, against

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

tie. At the end of the 2008–09 season, he left Schalke and 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 ...

on free transfer, signing a contract valid to 30 June 2012. Fährmann returned to Schalke in 2011 after the team sold

Manuel Neuer Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and captains both club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the ...

to Bayern Munich. In the

2011 DFL-Supercup The 2011 DFL-Supercup was the second DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. It was a Revierderby between 2010–11 Bundesliga winners Borussia Dortmund, and 2 ...

, Fährmann was named Man of the Match. After 90 minutes, the game finished 0–0 and it went on directly to a penalty shootout. Fährmann saved two penalty kicks, one from Kevin Großkreutz and one from

Ivan Perišić Ivan Perišić (; born 2 February 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Croatia national team. Usually deployed as a winger, he has also featured as an attacking midfielder, se ...

, thus allowing Schalke to raise the Supercup trophy for the first time in the club's history. In the start of the 2013–14 season, he was named second choice goalkeeper behind

Timo Hildebrand Timo Hildebrand (born 5 April 1979) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Hildebrand holds a Bundesliga record for keeping a clean sheet for the most consecutive minutes (884 minutes), which he set during the ...

. While Hildebrand was injured, he became the first choice goalkeeper and his impressive performances saw him keep the number one spot for the remainder of the season. On 4 May 2014, Schalke announced that Fährmann extended his contract with Schalke until 30 June 2019. Fährmann made his 200th appearance in all competitions for Schalke 04 on 18 April 2018 in a 0–1 home defeat to

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 ...

. On 5 July 2019, Fährmann joined

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on loan until the end of 2019–20 season. On 10 March 2020, he left Norwich and was loaned to

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

until 30 June 2020. On 23 April 2020, he left for Germany due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On 9 June, Brann confirmed that Fährmann would not return for the last day of the loan contract, so he did not play a competitive game for the club.

International career

Fährmann is a former member of several

Germany national youth football team This article includes current squads of Germany U-19, U-18, U-17, U-16 and U-15 national football teams. Main coaches Germany national under-19 squad * The following players were called up for the friendly matches. * Match dates: 23, 26 and ...

Personal life

Fährmann attended the Gesamtschule Berger Feld. His brother Falk Fährmann is also a goalkeeper, who played for

FSV Zwickau FSV Zwickau is a German association football club located in Zwickau, Saxony. Today's club claims as part of its complex heritage sides that were East Germany's first champions: 1948 Ostzone winners SG Planitz and 1950 DDR-Oberliga champions ZSG ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Schalke 04 * DFL-Supercup: 2011 *

: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Schalke 04 website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrmann, Ralf 1988 births Living people People educated at the Gesamtschule Berger Feld Sportspeople from Chemnitz German men's footballers Footballers from Saxony Men's association football goalkeepers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Premier League players FC Schalke 04 players FC Schalke 04 II players Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players Norwich City F.C. players SK Brann players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway