Mark Schwarzer

Early career

Schwarzer's first club was Colo Cougars in Richmond, New South Wales. He started his professional career at age 19 with Marconi Stallions in the National Soccer League. He left the Sydney-based club to play in Germany in 1994 with Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He then travelled to England to play for Bradford City in 1996, where he eventually joined Middlesbrough in February 1997.

Middlesbrough

Schwarzer made his debut for Middlesbrough against Stockport County in the League Cup semi-finals on 26 February 1997. He featured in the final against Leicester City, which ended as a 1–1 draw, but was injured for the replay. He also played in the 1998 League Cup final against Chelsea, but was unable to prevent Middlesbrough from slipping to a 2–0 defeat. He was part of the side, however, who beat Bolton Wanderers 2–1 to win the final six years later, despite making an error described by BBC Sport as a "howler" which allowed Kevin Davies a consolation goal for Bolton. In the last match of the 2004–05 season against Manchester City, he saved 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, Manchester City would have qualified for the UEFA Cup at Middlesbrough's expense. Schwarzer was granted a transfer request by Middlesbrough on 6 January 2006 and sought to join a new…

Schwarzer made his international debut for Australia against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier in 1993. He came on as a substitute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 15 minutes into the match. In the return leg in Sydney, he made headlines 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 World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. After Uruguay won the first leg 1–0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1–0 in Sydney on 16 November 2005. 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 Zeljko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance, he was reinstated for the round of 16 match against Italy. Although correctly predicting the direction of Francesco Totti's injury-time penalty, he was unable to save it. Schwarzer played in all of Australia's matches at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Despite making two good saves in the opening match against Oman, which finished as a 1–1 draw, he made an error which led to a goal in the 3–1 loss to Iraq. In the quarter-final, he could not match Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu…

Club

International

Schwarzer was born in North Richmond, a semi-rural suburb in north-western Sydney, and attended Richmond North Public School and Colo High School. He played for the local soccer club the Colo Cougars. His parents, Hans-Joachim and Doris, emigrated to Australia from Stuttgart, West Germany in 1968. He speaks fluent German. In 2009, Schwarzer was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. In June 2007, Schwarzer branched out from his football career and co-wrote "Megs and the Vootball Kids" with Neil Montagnana-Wallace. The short children's novel focused on the titular 'Megs', aka Edward Morison, during his move from his home country of England to Australia. While finding his feet, Megs befriends a quirky Hungarian cleaner who works at the primary school. The novel saw success and was followed by four sequels: "Megs, Scarves and Sombreros," "Megs and the Complete Left Foot," "Megs and the Crazy Legs," and "Megs and the Wonder Strike." After rejecting offers from A-League clubs Sydney FC and Perth Glory in 2016, Schwarzer retired at age 43, joining Optus Sport as a panellist. Schwarzer was later involved in the network's coverage of UEFA Euro 2020, 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and Euro 2024. In 2026, Schwarzer served as an expert commentator for FIFA's world feed during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Schwarzer's son, Julian, is also a retired goalkeeper. As Schwarzer's wife (Julian's mother) has Filipino nationality, the younger Schwarzer was eligible to play for the Philippines…