Steffen Karl

Steffen Karl

Personal information
Date of birth	(1970-02-03) 3 February 1970
Place of birth	Hohenmölsen, East Germany
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Medizin Halle-Nietleben
	Empor Halle
1982–1987	Hallescher FC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1989	Hallescher FC	31	(2)
1989–1990	Stahl Hettstedt
1990–1994	Borussia Dortmund	72	(2)
1994	→ Manchester City (loan)	6	(1)
1994–1995	FC Sion	24	(5)
1995–1998	Hertha BSC	90	(2)
1998–2000	FC St. Pauli	31	(0)
2000–2001	Vålerenga	10	(2)
2001–2003	Lokomotiv Sofia	16	(1)
2003–2005	Chemnitzer FC	51	(2)
2005–2008	Fortuna Chemnitz
International career
1991	Germany U21	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steffen Karl (born 3 February 1970 in Hohenmölsen, Saxony-Anhalt) is a retired German footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Football career

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, prior to the club's back-to-back league conquests; following a run-in with coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, prior to 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 represent Hertha BSC and FC St. Pauli in the second division. In his second season at the former, he played 30 matches en route to promotion, but never played again in the top division of his country. 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.

In 2003, 33-year-old Karl returned to Germany, playing with former East German sides. Two years later, whilst 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. 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.

External links

• Steffen Karl profile at Fussballdaten