Steffen Karl

Steffen Karl
	Karl (back row, second from right) with Hallescher FC in 1988
Personal information
Date of birth	3 February 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth	Hohenmölsen, East Germany
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
	Medizin Halle-Nietleben
	Empor Halle
1982–1987	Hallescher FC
Senior career*
Years	Team
1987–1989	Hallescher FC
1989–1990	Stahl Hettstedt
1990–1994	Borussia Dortmund
1994	→ Manchester City (loan)
1994–1995	FC Sion
1995–1998	Hertha BSC
1998–2000	FC St. Pauli
2000–2001	Vålerenga
2001–2003	Lokomotiv Sofia
2003–2005	Chemnitzer FC
International career
1991	Germany U21
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steffen Karl (born 3 February 1970) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Football career

Born in Hohenmölsen, Saxony-Anhalt, Karl started his professional career in East Germany, representing Hallescher FC and modest BSG Stahl Hettstedt. In January 1990, he moved to the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, making his competition debut on 30 March, playing eight minutes in a 2–0 home win against SV Waldhof Mannheim.

Almost always a backup at Borussia during his four half-year spell (his best output consisted in 28 games in the 1991–92 season), Karl left the club in the 1994 summer, before the club's back-to-back league conquests; following a run-in with coach Ottmar Hitzfeld,^[1] before this definitive release, he also played five months with Manchester City, on loan.

Karl played one year in Switzerland with FC Sion before returning to his country and representing Hertha BSC and FC St. Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga. In his second season at the former, he played 30 matches en route to promotion but never played again in his country's top division. In the following three years, he moved abroad again, playing for Vålerenga Fotball (one year) and PFC Lokomotiv Sofia (two). He became the first German to appear in the A PFG.^[2]

In 2003, 33-year-old Karl returned to Germany, playing with former East German sides. Two years later, while at Chemnitzer FC – he also represented VfB Fortuna Chemnitz until his final retirement in 2008 – he became the first player to be arrested in connection with Germany's match-fixing scandal, being suspected of helping manipulate the results of a May 2004 match between Chemnitz and SC Paderborn 07.^[3] He was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence for his role in the affair, and banned for eight months by the German Football Association.^[4]

References

^ "Nichts geht mehr, Steffen Karl!" [End of the line, Steffen Karl!] (in German). CFC. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
^ Lelyov, Momchil (20 July 2006). "“А” група погледна към елита на Европа. За пръв път в първенството ще ритат холандец и испанец" (in Bulgarian). 7sport.net. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
^ "Karl arrested in German scandal". BBC Sport. 11 March 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
^ "Footballer banned for eight months for match-fixing". People's Daily Online. 24 December 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

External links

Steffen Karl at fussballdaten.de (in German)

[1] "Nichts geht mehr, Steffen Karl!" [End of the line, Steffen Karl!] (in German). CFC. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

[2] Lelyov, Momchil (20 July 2006). "“А” група погледна към елита на Европа. За пръв път в първенството ще ритат холандец и испанец" (in Bulgarian). 7sport.net. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.

[3] "Karl arrested in German scandal". BBC Sport. 11 March 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

[4] "Footballer banned for eight months for match-fixing". People's Daily Online. 24 December 2005. Retrieved 26 February 2012.

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