 Schwarzer in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mark Schwarzer | ||
| Date of birth | 6 October 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia | ||
| Height | 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Chelsea | ||
| Number | 23 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Colo Cougars | |||
| Penrith | |||
| Blacktown Association | |||
| Marconi Stallions | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990–1994 | Marconi Stallions | 58 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | Dynamo Dresden | 2 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 4 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Bradford City | 13 | (0) |
| 1997–2008 | Middlesbrough | 367 | (0) |
| 2008–2013 | Fulham | 172 | (0) |
| 2013– | Chelsea | 0 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1989 | Australia U17 | 6 | (0) |
| 1990–1991 | Australia U20 | 8 | (0) |
| 1993–2013 | Australia | 109 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:17, 9 July 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 September 2013 | |||
Mark Schwarzer OAM (born 6 October 1972) is an Australian association football player who plays as agoalkeeper for Premier League club Chelsea. He represented Australia at international level from 1993 to 2013, and was selected for both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.
Having progressed through the youth ranks of Colo Cougars, Penrith, Blacktown Association and Marconi Stallions, he turned professional for National Soccer League side Marconi Stallions in 1990. After making 58 appearances for the club, he moved to Bundesliga side Dynamo Dresden in 1994, appearing twice, and then to Bundesliga side 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1995, appearing four times. Schwarzer joinedPremier League side Bradford City in 1996, and made sixteen appearances before joining Premier League side Middlesbrough in February 1997. He made 445 appearances for Middlesbrough, but decided to leave the club in May 2008. He then switched to Premier League side Fulham, and made 218 appearances for the club until he switched to current club Chelsea in July 2013. He is currently 8th in the all-time Premier League appearances table.[1]
Having played for Australia at under-17 and under-20 level, Schwarzer made his full international debut in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Canada in 1993. During the course of his international career, he won a total of 109 caps for his country. He became Australia's most capped player when he surpassed Alex Tobin's appearance record in January 2011. In November 2013, Schwarzer announed his retirement from international football.
Early career
Schwarzer's first club was Colo Cougars in Richmond, New South Wales. Schwarzer has worn the same pair of shin pads since he started his professional career at the age of 19 with Marconi Stallions, in theNational Soccer League.[2] He left the Sydney-based club to play in Germany with Dynamo Dresden andFC Kaiserslautern. He then travelled to England to play for Bradford City, where he eventually joinedMiddlesbrough in February 1997.[3]
Middlesbrough
Schwarzer made his debut for Middlesbrough against Stockport County in the League Cup semi-finals. He played in the final against Leicester City, a 1–1 draw, but injury kept him out of the replay, which Middlesbrough lost. He was part of the side, however, who beat Bolton Wanderers to win the 2004League Cup Final, producing a superb display having recovered after his mistake in letting in a soft shot.
Perhaps his most important save for Middlesbrough came in the last match of the 2004–05 seasonagainst Manchester City, saving a Robbie Fowler penalty in stoppage time to preserve a 1–1 draw. The draw was sufficient to put Middlesbrough in seventh in the final league table and ensure qualification for the UEFA Cup. Had Fowler converted the penalty, Man City would have qualified for the UEFA Cup at Middlesbrough's expense.
Schwarzer was granted a transfer request by Middlesbrough late in 2005 and sought to join a new club, but he withdrew his request on 20 January 2006, and rejoined the team. A fractured cheekbone sustained against West Ham United, however, looked like it had ruled Schwarzer out for the rest of the season, but he returned for the UEFA Cup final against Sevilla, albeit playing with a protective mask. When he played in Middlesbrough's 1–0 victory over Portsmouth on 29 December 2007, he became the Premier League's longest-serving foreigner at one club beating Dennis Bergkamp's record of 315 games.[4]
Fulham
Schwarzer's contract with Middlesbrough expired in June 2008, and although he was offered a new contract,[5] manager Gareth Southgate had to plan a future with a new goalkeeper, as on 21 May 2008, Schwarzer signed a two-year deal at Fulham, ending an 11-year association with the Teesside club.[6] Schwarzer revealed in an interview with The World Game that he had received offers from Bayern Munich and Juventus but declined their offers because they could not guarantee him the position as the number-one keeper.[7]
Schwarzer made his Fulham debut in a 2–1 defeat to newly promoted Premier League side Hull City, but he followed up by keeping a clean sheet in his next match in a 1–0 win at home to Arsenal and played every minute of the 2008–09 season. He kept ten clean sheets during the 2008–09 season in all competitions.
Schwarzer's contribution was phenomenal as his performances lead Fulham to a high seventh place finish and a place in Europe the next season, a massive improvement on Fulham's 17th place finish just a season before. Notable scalps included wins overArsenal, Manchester United and a draw with Chelsea largely due to many spectacular saves from Schwarzer. He received the Fulham Player of the Year 2008–09 in his first year at the club. He was also named the Premier League's Player of the Month for February 2010, in which he only conceded one goal in his team's two wins and two draws that month, making him the first Australian to do so.
He played an important role in Fulham reaching the Europa League Final in 2010, but Schwarzer lost his second European final with a narrow defeat to Atlético Madrid of Spain.
After impressive displays in 2009–2010 season Schwarzer caught the eye of Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger who stated that Arsenal are in the market for a new keeper after seeing the form of Manuel Almunia and Łukasz Fabiański come into questioning. It had been reported that a bid of around £2m in May 2010 had been made for Schwarzer and second bid of around the same value had been made in August 2010, however both were rejected by Fulham.[8]
It was reported on 11 August 2010 that Schwarzer had handed in a transfer request, paving a way for his move to Arsenal to be complete, which was later confirmed by Fulham Manager Mark Hughes who also rejected his request. On 31 August 2010, it was reported that Arsenal had made a last-ditch bid to bring Schwarzer to the Emirates Stadium before the transfer window closed, however Fulham Manager Mark Hughes denied that any approach was made.
Schwarzer signed a contract extension with Fulham on 18 January 2012, committing himself to the club until at least the summer of 2013.[9]
Schwarzer made a notable injury-time penalty save against Mikel Arteta to help Fulham earn a 3–3 draw against Arsenal.[10]
On 5 June 2013, Schwarzer announced he was leaving Fulham following arrival of Maarten Stekelenburg. He said, "I've been hearing that for a while," he said of Stekelenburg's arrival. "It's no great surprise and I'll be looking for another club."[11]
Schwarzer was one of twelve players released by Fulham at the end of the 2012–2013 Premier League season.[12]
Chelsea
On 9 July 2013, Schwarzer signed a one-year contract with Fulham's West London rivals Chelsea on a free transfer. He has been quoted saying "It's one of the biggest and best clubs in the world, and it's an honour to sign for Chelsea. I didn't take much convincing to come here".[13][14] He made his competitive debut in a 2-0 away victory over Swindon Town in the 2013-14 Football League Cup.[citation needed]
International career
Schwarzer made his international debut for Australia against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier. He came on as a substitute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 17 minutes into the match.[15] In the return leg in Sydney, he covered himself in glory when he saved two penalties to send Australia to the final phase of qualifying against Argentina. Schwarzer did not play in these matches, and Australia were defeated 2–1 on aggregate.
He was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. AfterUruguay won the first leg 1–0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1–0 in Sydney. In the penalty shoot-out, Schwarzer saved two penalties to see Australia victorious 4–2.
At the World Cup Finals, he played the first two games in Australia's group matches, conceding a controversial goal against Japan and two goals against Brazil. In the third match, he was replaced by Željko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance, he was reinstated for the Round of 16 match against Italy.
Even though he predicted the direction of the penalty kick, he was unable to save the penalty in the second round of the World Cup against Italy, which was scored by Francesco Totti in injury time and sent Australia out of the World Cup.
After the World Cup in 2006, he vowed to return for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He played in all of Australia's matches in the 2007 Asian Cup. Although he performed admirably against Oman in the 1–1 draw, he made an error which led to a goal in the 3–1 loss to Iraq and could not match Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi during the penalty shootout, which saw the Socceroos crash out of the competition in their début at the tournament. Schwarzer said that the penalty shootout in the Asian Cup quarter-finals was the first penalty shoot-out in his career that he had ever lost.[16]
Schwarzer saved an 89th minute Shao Jiayi penalty against China in Australia's 0–0 draw in the 2010 World Cup qualifier in March 2008, continuing his record of stopping penalty kicks.[17] He received his second yellow card of the tournament against Qatar in Doha, in which Australia were 3–1 winners. He also missed Australia's second leg game against the Chinese in Sydney. He played every minute for the Socceroos in round two of qualification, conceding only one goal, which was in the final game against Japan.
Schwarzer made several vital saves to secure Australia's Asian Cup Qualifier 2–1 comeback win over Oman in Muscat after conceding from his penalty save rebound.
He was the country's first-choice keeper for all three matches of the Group Stage in the 2010 World Cup in a group composed of Australia, Germany, Ghana, and Serbia. In the first match, Australia were crushed 4–0 by the Germans, but they recovered with a 1–1 draw against Ghana in the next game. In the final match, Australia beat Serbia 2–1, thus finishing third in the group with four points, just missing qualification to the Round of 16 on goal difference with Ghana.
After the tournament, Schwarzer declared his interest in performing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, at which time he would be 41 years old.[18][19] However, on 5 November 2013, Schwarzer announced his retirement from international football.
