Global goalie Lutz Pfannenspiel chases new goals

By Peter Auf der Heyde Feb 10, 2012, 2:32 GMT

Libreville, Gabon - German goalkeeper Lutz Pfannenstiel is known as the global goalie for being the only footballer to have played the game in all six confederations.

He was jailed in Singapore for alleged match-fixing, clinically dead in England, played in Rio's Maracana stadium and has also seen action in Malaysia, Finland and Namibia during a career at 25 clubs in 13 countries.

Sitting in the press centre in Libreville on the occasion of the Africa Cup of Nations, the 38-year-old Pfannenstiel insists that ticking off the FIFA confederations was not the original intention.

'That was never a driving force in my career and just happened. In 2008, I was playing in the American league for Vancouver Whitecaps, when my then agent contacted me and told me that I had an offer from a club in Brazil,' he says.

'He pointed out that if I should take up the offer, I would have played on all six continents. When I told me that, I got interested in the idea. Signing for the Brazilian club would also, at least partially, fulfil a childhood dream, as I had always wanted to play for Flamengo.

'So I decided to just go for it.'

Although the CA Hermann Aichinger club was not quite Flamengo, he still considers his first match in the country as one of the highlights of his career.

'We played a cup game in the Maracana stadium and for the first five minutes, I just reflected on my career and thought about all that I had achieved and that I was the first German playing in Brazil,' he says.

'I just felt completely content. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal shortly afterwards and then all those pleasant thoughts vanished as fast as they had come.'

Born in the Bavarian town of Zwiesel, Pfannenstiel was a German youth international, but failed to break through into German football.

'I think I was just too impatient. I wanted to play immediately and not spend time sitting on the bench somewhere. If I had stayed, I probably would have spent a few years as reserve goalkeeper in the Bundesliga, then moved a league down and would now be goalkeeper coach at a third division club.'

Instead, he started on his footballing journey around the world, picking up plenty of memories - pleasant and not so pleasant - along the way.

'In Singapore, I had a fantastic contract, but most of it was spent on lawyers' fees trying to clear my name,' he says.

Pfannenstiel was arrested, accused of match-fixing, found guilty and given a five-month jail sentence and spent more than 100 days in jail.

'Of the three games that were supposed to have been fixed, we won two and the other one was a draw. The judge told me that I played too well and that because I had played better than I did normally, I must have been guilty.'

Another memory that he could do without occurred during a term at England's Bradford when he was struck on the solar plexus and collapsed.

'I was clinically dead and had to be brought back to life three times. The injury was so bad that the match was called off,' he recalls.

Although the family father retired some time ago, his lifestyle has not changed considerably as he is now in charge of international scouting and relations for German Bundesliga club Hoffenheim.

Pfannenstiel has also founded the global initiative Global United FC, which fights against the increasingly devastating effects of climate change, using football players.

'We have some 400 players who are involved, many of them top names like Zinedine Zidane or Christian Karembeu. It is much easier for people like that convey a message of the need for social climate protection than it is for some minister of the environment or some Greenpeace professor in a suit,' he says.

Describing the initiative as 'my baby,' Pfannenstiel now has a new goal of leaving future generations with a livable and enjoyable environment.

In pursuit of that goal, he is even willing to pack out his boots now and then and fly off to some obscure country to play for a good cause.

Especially if he has not yet played there!

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