András Schäfer (born 13 April 1999) is a Hungarian 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 lea ...

who plays as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

and the Hungary national team.

Club career

MTK Budapest

Schäfer made his

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians/Magyars, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the ...

debut for MTK, appearing as a substitute away against

Gyirmót FC Győr Gyirmót FC Győr is a Hungarian football club based in Gyirmót , a suburb of Győr. The team currently plays in the second division (Nemzeti Bajnokság II) of the Hungarian championship. History The club was founded in 1993 and its colors ar ...

on 1 April 2017.

Genoa and Dunajská Streda

In January 2019, Schäfer signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on a three-and-a-half-year contract for a fee of around €1 million. Having failed to appear for Genoa's first team since signing for them, he joined

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side Chievo Verona on loan in August 2019. He was recalled by Genoa in January 2020 after failing to play for Chievo. On 17 January 2020, he joined

Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; ; ) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a population of 22,730, with ethnic Hungarians forming the 72% maj ...

, playing in the Fortuna Liga on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season, with an option to purchase. On 9 September 2020, it was announced that he had signed for the club permanently on a four-year contract.

Union Berlin

2021–22 season

On 21 January 2022, Schäfer joined

in the

. On 7 May 2022, Schäfer scored his first goal in the

on the 33rd game week of the

2021–22 Bundesliga The 2021–22 Bundesliga was the 59th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 13 August 2021 and concluded on 14 May 2022. The fixtures were announced on 25 June 2021. Bayern Munich were the defending champi ...

season in a 4–1 away victory against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

at the

Europa-Park Stadion The Europa-Park Stadion, which opened in 2021 and is also known as the Mooswald-Stadion (, is a stadium in Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg, Germany, that serves mainly as the home of Association football, football club SC Freiburg, replacing the Dr ...

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

. In the

season he earned 8 caps and scored 1 goal.

2022–23 season

In the

2022–23 Bundesliga The 2022–23 Bundesliga was the 60th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 5 August 2022 and concluded on 27 May 2023. Bayern Munich were the ten-time consecutive defending champions and retained their ti ...

season he made 16 appearances. On 13 May 2023, he got injured in a 4-2 victory over

. After the match against

, he suffered an injury. On 19 May 2023, the diagnosis was revealed that he had broken his leg. On 2 June 2023, his foot was successfully operated on in Budapest. He also mentioned that he was going through the hardest time in his career due to this injury.

2023–24 season

He returned from injury as a substitute in a 1–1 draw against

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

on 25 November 2023. He started against

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in a 2–0 home victory on 20 December 2023. He was substituted only in the 85th minute. On 24 February 2024, he scored the second goal in a 2–2 draw against 1. FC Heidenheim on the 23rd game week of the

2023–24 Bundesliga The 2023–24 Bundesliga was the 61st season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 18 August 2023 and concluded on 18 May 2024. The fixtures were announced on 30 June 2023. On 14 April 2024, Bayer Leverkusen were ...

season. He was also selected into the best team of the 23rd game week of the Bundesliga, according to WhoScored. On 8 March 2024, he was sent off in a match against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. On 5 May 2024, he gave an assist to

Chris Bedia Chris Vianney Ryan Bilé Bedia (born 5 March 1996) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Swiss Super League club Young Boys on loan from German side Union Berlin. He represented the Ivory Coast under-20s in the 2015 T ...

in a 3–4 defeat against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. In an interview with Union Berlin, he said that he and the whole team were relieved after avoiding relegation on the last matchday of the 2023–24 Bundesliga season. In the 2023-24 Bundesliga season he earned 20 caps and scored one goal.

2024–25 season

On 21 December 2024, he scored his first goal in the

2024–25 Bundesliga The 2024–25 Bundesliga was the 62nd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier men's Association football, football competition. The season began on 23 August 2024 and concluded on 17 May 2025. Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen were the def ...

season in a 4-1 defeat against

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

International career

Schäfer made his debut with the Hungary national team in a 1–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

win over

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on 3 September 2020. On 1 June 2021, he was included in the final 26-man squad to represent Hungary at the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament. On 4 June 2021, in a warm-up match for the tournament, he scored his first international goal to give the ''Magyars'' a 1–0 win over

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He started all three of Hungary's

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matches, scoring the team's second goal against

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in a 2–2 draw. On 14 May 2024, Schäfer was named in Hungary's squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. He played all three matches as Hungary finished third in

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Hungary's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Schäfer goal.''

Personal life

Schäfer belongs on his father's side to the German minority of Hungary with ancestors believed to be from

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, and while he was not able to speak fluent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

when he first moved to Union Berlin, he has been improving, and has recently been able to converse in German without needing a translator. His father's, Péter Schafer, tattoos include the badges of his son's former football clubs. In an interview published on

Nemzeti Sport ''Nemzeti Sport'' (, ) is a Hungarian sports daily. History and profile ''Nemzeti Sport'' was founded in 1903. It is frequently cited by quality English-language media The paper is published in broadsheet format. Between the World War I and Worl ...

, Mátyás Esterházy, his and

Dominik Szoboszlai Dominik Szoboszlai ( ; born 25 October 2000) is a Hungarian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and Captain (association football), captains the Hungary national football t ...

's manager, said that the most important moment in 2023 was Schafer's return from his injury in November. In December 2024, he married Luca.

Philanthropy

In December 2024, he donated 15 million Hungarian Forints to save his former club,

Szombathelyi Haladás Szombathelyi Haladás (), is a Hungarian football club based in Szombathely. ''Haladás'' is the Hungarian word for ''progress''. The club, which was founded in 1919, plays its home games at the Haladás Sportkomplexum which has a capacity of 8, ...

, that was close to bankruptcy.

Honours

Individual *

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Football in Slovakia, Slovak football league system. It was formed ...

Goal of the Month: July/August 2021 *

U-21 Team of the Season: 2020-21

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Andras Living people 1999 births People of Hungarian-German descent Hungarian people of German descent Footballers from Szombathely Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's international footballers Hungary men's under-21 international footballers Hungary men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders MTK Budapest FC players Genoa CFC players AC ChievoVerona players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players 1. FC Union Berlin players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Slovak First Football League players Bundesliga players UEFA Euro 2020 players UEFA Euro 2024 players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen