Lutz Pfannenstiel

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Lutz Pfannenstiel
Pfannenstiel with St. Louis City SC in 2022
Personal information
Full name Lutz Pfannenstiel
Date of birth (1973-05-12) 12 May 1973 (age 50)
Place of birth Zwiesel, West Germany
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1979–1989 SC Zwiesel
1989–1991 FC Vilshofen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1993 1. FC Bad Kötzting 68 (0)
1993–1994 Penang FA 12 (0)
1994–1995 Wimbledon 0 (0)
1995–1997 Nottingham Forest 0 (0)
1996–1997 → Orlando Pirates (loan) 7 (0)
1997 TPV 8 (0)
1997 FC Haka 0 (0)
1998–1999 Wacker Burghausen 14 (0)
1999–2000 Geylang United 46 (0)
2001 Dunedin Technical 18 (0)
2001–2002 → Bradford Park Avenue (loan) 1 (0)
2001–2002 Huddersfield Town 0 (0)
2002 Dunedin Technical 18 (0)
2002 ASV Cham 12 (0)
2002–2003 → Bradford Park Avenue (loan) 14 (0)
2003 Dunedin Technical 18 (0)
2003 → Bærum SK (loan) 13 (0)
2004 Calgary Mustangs 28 (0)
2004–2006 Otago United 36 (0)
2006–2007 Vllaznia Shkodër 14 (0)
2007 Bentonit Ijevan 12 (0)
2007 Bærum SK 9 (0)
2007 Vancouver Whitecaps 4 (0)
2008 Hermann Aichinger 24 (0)
2008–2009 Flekkerøy IL 14 (0)
2009 Manglerud Star 11 (0)
2009–2011 Ramblers 45 (0)
Total 477 (0)
International career
1986–1987 Germany U-17 5 (0)
Managerial career
2007 Bentonit Ijevan (head coach & sporting director)
2008 Flekkerøy IL (assistant coach)
2008–2009 Cuba (assistant coach)
2009 Manglerud Star (goalkeeper coach)
2009–2010 Ramblers (head coach & sporting director)[1]
2009–2010 Namibia (assistant coach)
2011–2018 1899 Hoffenheim
(head of international relations and scouting)
2018–2020 Fortuna Düsseldorf (managing director sports)
2020– St. Louis City SC (sporting director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lutz Pfannenstiel (born 12 May 1973) is a German former professional football goalkeeper, coach, scout, TV analyst, and the current sporting director for St. Louis City SC. He holds the record for the only footballer to play professionally in each of the six recognized continental associations. Since 2010, he has been a soccer analyst on various television networks — including ZDF, BBC, CNN, ORF, SRF, DAZN, Eurosport, and ESPN, where he currently covers the Bundesliga with Derek Rae. Pfannenstiel was appointed sporting director for MLS side St. Louis City SC ahead of their entry to the league in 2023.[2]

Early life[edit]

Pfannenstiel was born in Zwiesel, Bavaria.[3]

Club career[edit]

Pfannenstiel played for 25 different clubs all around the world during his career,[4] including stints in Germany, Malaysia, England, New Zealand,[5] Singapore, United States, Brazil, South Africa, Finland, Canada, Namibia, Norway, Armenia and Albania.[6] Pfannenstiel showed immense promise as a youngster and represented Germany's under-17s. By the time he was 19, Bayern Munich had come knocking, but Pfannenstiel turned them down, knowing he would never be their No. 1 keeper, choosing instead to play for smaller clubs.[7][8] After signing for Hermann Aichinger in Brazil, he became the first (and only) professional to have played in all six FIFA confederations.[9][10] Throughout his career, Pfannenstiel played in over 500 professional games.

International career[edit]

Pfannenstiel is a former member of the Germany U-17 team.[11]

Coaching career[edit]

In April 2008, Pfannenstiel became the Assistant Coach for Reinhold Fanz coaching the Cuba national football team[12] and signed a contract in January 2009 to be the player-goalkeeper coach for Manglerud Star.[13] In September 2009, Pfannenstiel left Norway and Europe to sign for Namibian club Ramblers who signed a contract as Player-Coach and Sport director besides working as goalkeeping coach of the Namibia national football team.[14] From February 2011 to 2018, he was the Head Director of International Relations & Scouting for the Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim[15][8][16] From 2018–2020, he worked with Fortuna Düsseldorf as their "managing director sports", and since 2020 he has worked at St Louis City SC in the United States as their sporting director.

Post-retirement[edit]

Pfannenstiel is the first, and so far only, football player to have played professionally in all six FIFA confederations.[17] Since his retirement from active footballing he has worked for German side TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, while also pursuing television and writing.

He wrote his biography Unhaltbar – Meine Abenteuer als Welttorhüter; the book was released on 1 October 2009.[18] and the UK bestseller The unstoppable keeper released in August 2014.[7] During the 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, Pfannenstiel worked as a pundit for the German television station ZDF, alongside fellow goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.[19][20] He works as an expert for BBC World and CNN as well as Eurosport. He also works as a coaching instructor for FIFA and the German Football association (DFB) to educate coaches all over the world.

In 2011, Pfannenstiel also founded Global United FC, an international, non-profit, registered association in Germany dedicated to protecting the environment and raising awareness for climate change issues.

Legal and health issues[edit]

While playing football in Singapore, Pfannenstiel was accused of match-fixing and jailed for 101 days. He was later cleared of the charges.[20][10]

Pfannenstiel stopped breathing three times after a collision with Clayton Donaldson while playing for Bradford Park Avenue against Harrogate Town in a Northern Premier League match on 26 December 2002. The injury was so serious that the referee, Jon Moss, abandoned the match.[21] Bradford Park Avenue were leading 2–1 at the time of the incident.[22]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Fußball-Weltenbummler will nun Namibia voranbringen". az.com.na (in German). 29 September 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  2. ^ "St. Louis City SC hire Lutz Pfannenstiel as sporting director before 2023 launch | MLSsoccer.com".
  3. ^ "Lutz – Global Goalie". Lutz-Pfannenstiel.de (in German). Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  4. ^ "Pfannenstiel – globetrotting German goalie with 24 clubs". Agence France-Presse. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Soccer: Have ball, will travel – and there's plenty of that for goalie". The New Zealand Herald. 15 December 2004. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  6. ^ Lutz Pfannenstiel, intercontinental Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine Diaro Olé (in Spanish)
  7. ^ a b "Lutz Pfannenstiel: The goalkeeper who gave up Bayern Munich for the Crazy Gang, Bradford and a whirlwind trawl across continents". The Independent. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  8. ^ a b Will Sharp (3 November 2014). "Meet Lutz Pfannenstiel, football's 25-club, 13-country, six-continent man". The Guardian. Guardian News and Madia. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Prost Amerika Interviews Lutz Pfannenstiel". 8 October 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2008. In 2008, I'll be playing in South America and in doing so, I'll become the only player ever to play professional football on every continent.
  10. ^ a b John Bennett (3 April 2012). "The extraordinary life of German goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  11. ^ Pfannenstiel, Lutz (26 September 2009). "Malaysia wirkte auf Pfannenstiel wie eine Droge". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  12. ^ Myrrhe, Anke (30 July 2008). "Keine Fluchtgefahr". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  13. ^ "Lutz Pfannenstiel unterschreibt bei Manglerud Star in Norwegen". soccess.net. 30 January 2009. Archived from the original on 26 July 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  14. ^ "Globetrotter Pfannenstiel zieht es nach Afrika". FIFA. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  15. ^ "Traumjob für Lutz Pfannenstiel – Zwiesler Weltenbummler wird Scout bei der TSG Hoffenheim". FUPA (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  16. ^ "Hoffenheim v Manchester City: 'The friendly club who do things differently'". BBC Sport. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  17. ^ "Lutz Pfannenstiel, gardien du monde". Parlons Foot (in French). 23 January 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  18. ^ Krull, Patrick (27 September 2009). "Sagenhafte Abenteuer eines unhaltbaren Torwarts". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  19. ^ Benninghoff, Dirk (15 June 2010). "Noch mehr als die Tröte nervt das Gerede darüber". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  20. ^ a b "Slik satte supernomaden verdensrekord" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  21. ^ "Footballer saved by kiss of life". Telegraph & Argus. 27 December 2002. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2008.
  22. ^ "Goalkeeper's wife tells of match terror". Craven Herald & Pioneer. 28 December 2002. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2008.

External links[edit]

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