Vale: Manfred Schaefer
Football NSW was saddened to hear the news of the passing of former Socceroo great and one of the legends of our game, Manfred Schaefer.
The defender represented Australia 73 times between 1967 and 1974, 49 of those ‘A’ Internationals.
He was a member of our nation’s pioneering first FIFA World Cup squad in 1974, starting all three of Australia’s group games at the tournament in West Germany.
Schaefer migrated to Australia from East Germany at the age of 10 and took up football at high school.
At club level, he joined Blacktown before transferring to St George in 1959, who he would go on to play over 450 games for, winning the NSW State League in 1972.
Schaefer retired off the back of the 1974 World Cup, moving into technical area where he enjoyed a long career as both a coach and an assistant.
He managed the likes of St George, Sydney Olympic, Brunswick-Juventus, APIA Leichhardt, Sydney Croatia, Marconi, Adelaide Sharks and Parramatta Power between 1975 and 2004.
Schaefer was inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame for his service to the game in 1999.
All of Football NSW sends its condolences to the Schaefer family, those closest to Manfred, and everyone he impacted through football over the years.
