Rainer Rauffmann
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Markos Rainer Rauffmann | ||
| Date of birth | 26 February 1967 | ||
| Place of birth | Kleve, West Germany | ||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1972–1983 | Siemens Amberg | ||
| 1983–1984 | FC Amberg | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1987–1991 | FC Amberg | ||
| 1991–1992 | Blau-Weiß Berlin | 18 | (6) |
| 1992–1995 | SV Meppen | 105 | (37) |
| 1995–1996 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 26 | (4) |
| 1996–1997 | Arminia Bielefeld | 4 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | → LASK (loan) | 16 | (3) |
| 1997–2004 | Omonia | 153 | (192) |
| Total | 322 | (242) | |
| National team | |||
| 2002–2003 | Cyprus | 5 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Markos Rainer Rauffmann (born 26 February 1967) is a retired German-born Cypriot footballer who played as a striker.[1]
After having played mainly for modest clubs in his country, he revived his career in Cyprus, where he played with success for AC Omonia, eventually representing the Cypriot national team, despite having already reached his 30's.
Club career
Germany
Born in Kleve, North-Rhine Westphalia, Rauffmann moved at the age of 16 to FC Amberg, a local team playing in the German third division, but only managed to stay a season there, before moving to the seventh level. After five seasons in the amateur leagues, he returned to the club, now as a semi-professional.
In 1991, Rauffmann signed for SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin, which at the time was playing in the second division, but spent most of his first professional spell as a right back, still managing to score on six occasions, although the club eventually suffered relegation.
For the next three seasons he continued to play in that category, now for SV Meppen, where he made the transition to forward. In 1995 Rauffmann made the biggest move of his career when he signed for Eintracht Frankfurt in the top level. His competition debut came on 12 August, in the season's opener against Karlsruher SC, and he netted in a 2–2 home draw; during the course of the campaign, he was fairly used, but again dropped down a level.
In the ensuing summer, Rauffmann signed with Arminia Bielefeld, but only lasted a few months, finishing the season on loan to Austria's LASK Linz.
Cyprus
In the summer of 1997, at age 30, Rauffmann moved to AC Omonia in Nicosia, which had been unsuccessful in winning a Cypriot First Division title for four years. He made an immediate impact in his new team, scoring two goals on his debut. Reborn as a player, he bagged 42 league goals in his debut season (47 in total), a record in European domestic leagues in the year, but failed to win the European Golden Shoe because of the punctuation system of the trophy.
Rauffmann forged a strong offensive partnership with the team's captain Costas Malekkos. However, a penalty kick miss in the 25th game of the season, against Anorthosis Famagusta FC, eventually cost the team the title, lost to precisely that opponent.
The following year, he again had a great individual season, but his 42 goals (35 in league) weren't enough to win Omonia any title, the league again being lost to Anorthosis, now on goal difference; his first club accolade arrived in 2000, with the conquest of the domestic cup, 4–2 against APOEL FC.
In the 2000–01 season, Rauffmann, now captain after Malekkos' departure, led Omonia to its first league title in eight years, in spite of a poor start, netting 30 league goals – the league was won in the last day of the season; in the following campaign, the player, who had won four consecutive topscorer trophies, had his worst scoring record of his six-year spell with the club, netting 16 times.
Rauffmann won his second championship with Omonia in 2002–03, at the age of 36, scoring a total of 41 goals in 40 official matches, and also reaching the Cyprus national team, playing five matches in one year. However, at the beginning of the following season, he injured his knee at Makario Stadium against Doxa Katokopia, and retired before the end of 2003, with a total of 286 goals in 378 official matches for Omonia.
After the end of his playing career, Rauffmann had a brief spell as manager at Olympiakos Nicosia without much success. He returned to Omonia shortly after, working mainly with the club's scouting staff.
Honours
- Cypriot First Division: 2000–01, 2002–03
- Cypriot Cup: 1999–2000
- LTV Super Cup: 2001, 2003; Runner-up 2000
Individual
- Cypriot League: Top scorer 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01
Personal
After having baptised himself a Greek Orthodox, Rauffmann married Cypriot Maria, and the couple later welcomed daughter Michaela.
References
- ↑ "Rainer Rauffmann". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
External links
- Rainer Rauffmann at fussballdaten.de (German)
- Rainer Rauffmann at National-Football-Teams.com
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