Stefan Effenberg
German association football player
Stefan Effenberg (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtɛfan ˈʔɛfn̩bɛʁk]; born 2 August 1968) is a German football pundit and former professional player. Nicknamed Der Tiger (IPA: [deːɐ̯ ˈtiːɡɐ]), he was known for his leadership skills, passing range, long-range shooting and physical strength as an iconic midfielder of his time, but was also a temperamental and controversial character.
In the Bundesliga alone – where he most notably represented Bayern Munich in six seasons across two different spells – Effenberg collected 109 yellow cards, an all-time record at the time of his retirement. With Bayern, he won three Bundesliga titles and captained the club to the UEFA Champions League title in 2001.
Effenberg appeared for Germany 35 times and at two international tournaments, UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1994 FIFA World Cup. His international career was marred by frequent run-ins with management.
Club career
Born and raised in Niendorf, Hamburg on 2 August 1968, Effenberg started his professional career with Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he became an undisputed first-choice by the age of 20. This attracted the interest of Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich, where he scored 19 goals in his first two seasons after his transfer, although the club failed to win any silverware with Effenberg in the lineup.
When Lothar Matthäus, who also represented Mönchengladbach, returned to Bayern in 1992, Effenberg moved to ACF Fiorentina. Despite the presence of Brian Laudrup and Gabriel Batistuta, Fiorentina was relegated from Serie A in his first season.
The public source identifies “Stefan Effenberg” as german association football player. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stefan, Effenberg and German.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q44522. VIAF identifies the subject as 52536863. The Library of Congress control number is n2003111593. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968, 2001, 1992 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stefan Effenberg” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.