Raphael Schäfer (Polish:'' Rafał Szaefer''; born 30 January 1979) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Biography

Early years

Raphael Schäfer was born in 1979 as a member of the German minority in the Upper Silesian town of

Kędzierzyn-Koźle Kędzierzyn-Koźle () is a city in south-western Poland, the administrative center of Kędzierzyn-Koźle County. With 58,899 inhabitants as of 2021, it is the second most-populous city in the Opole Voivodeship. Founded from the merger of the prev ...

and in 1986 with his father emigrated from Poland as Aussiedler to settle in

northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

. Raphael Schäfer learned

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 ...

in a few months. Schäfer began his footballing career at SC Drispenstedt in a suburb of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

. At the age of 12 he was scouted by

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

and joined the ranks of their youth teams. He became part of the first-team squad with 17 but never made it into the starting line-up. Thus, he decided to join

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

side

VfB Lübeck VfB Lübeck is a German association football club playing in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, in the country's north. It is most known for reaching the semifinals of the German Cup in the 2003/2004 season. They played in the 2. Bundesliga from 199 ...

before the 1998–99 season. At Lübeck he quickly became the first-choice goalkeeper but his team failed to qualify for the 2. Bundesliga in three consecutive seasons.

1. FC Nürnberg

Schäfer transferred to 1. FC Nürnberg in July 2001. The club had just been promoted to the

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 ...

and he became the second choice goalkeeper behind former German Under-21-international Darius Kampa. When Kampa had a series of weak showings for the team, coach

Klaus Augenthaler Klaus "Auge" Augenthaler (born 26 September 1957) is a German former professional football player and manager. A defender, he won seven Bundesliga titles in his 15-year club career with Bayern Munich. He also represented the West Germany natio ...

gave Schäfer the chance to shine in his first Bundesliga game against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

in March 2002. Despite playing a good game, Schäfer still remained as second choice as Augenthaler still considered Kampa his first choice keeper. When the club was

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

the following year, Schäfer had played three games for the Franconian side. At the start of the 2003–04 season, Nürnberg were plagued by financial trouble and looking to cash in on several players including Kampa. Manager Wolfgang Wolf appointed Schäfer as the first choice goalkeeper as he expected Kampa to leave the club before August 2003. However, Kampa was not sold but Schäfer remained the number one goalkeeper. He stayed in this position throughout the entire season despite substantial fan backing for his rival, Kampa. Even after Kampa was sold to Mönchengladbach before the 2004–05 season, which saw Nürnberg back in the top flight, Schäfer still had to fight off skepticism in his abilities from parts of the Nürnberg supporters. He answered his critics by showing substantial improvements throughout the following two seasons and was voted skipper of the Nürnberg team before the start of the 2006–07 season.

VfB Stuttgart

In July 2007, he moved to Nürnberg's Bundesliga rival

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 ...

, making his debut for them on 10 August against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

. However, his performances were not as they were expected to be and he could not live up to the expectations. In summer 2008, he was replaced by Jens Lehmann as Stuttgart's number one keeper.

Return to Nürnberg

In summer 2008, Schäfer returned to 1. FC Nürnberg and immediately became number one keeper again.

Honours

;1. FC Nürnberg *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2006–07 * Promotions to the

in 2003–04 and 2008–09

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schäfer, Raphael 1979 births Living people German men's footballers Hannover 96 players VfB Lübeck players 1. FC Nürnberg players VfB Stuttgart players Sportspeople from Kędzierzyn-Koźle Polish emigrants to Germany German people of Polish descent Polish people of German descent Silesian-German people Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Opole Voivodeship