Slawomir Paul Freier (Polish: Sławomir Paweł Freier; born 26 July 1979) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who was usually employed as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is currently the assistant manager of

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

Biography

Childhood and youth

Freier was born in 1979 in the

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

n city of

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital. It is one ...

(German: Beuthen). At the age of 5, he joined the club ŁTS Łabędy in

Gliwice Gliwice (; , ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder River, Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capital ...

, Poland. At age 11, Freier emigrated with his parents from Upper Silesia to Germany, where the family settled in

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; ) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Ho ...

- Holzen in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Newly arrived there, he joined SV Holzen and three years later moved to BSV Menden. In his youth, Freier received an offer from

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, but his father refused a move to Dortmund. In 1996, Freier joined the youth team of

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

First spell at Bochum

In 1998, Freier was part of Bochum's second team, and on 5 November 1999, he made his professional debut for the first team in a 2–0 win against

SV Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ov ...

on matchday eleven of the 1999–2000 2. Bundesliga campaign. In the 89th minute, he replaced

Delron Buckley Delron Sebastian Buckley (born 7 December 1977) is a South African former professional footballer. His preferred position was the left wing although he could also play as a striker. In September 2021, he was appointed Head Coach of the Univers ...

. With Bochum, Freier celebrated promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

. On 12 August 2000, he made his debut in the Bundesliga in a 1–0 win on first matchday against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

. On 28 April 2001, 31st match day, Freier scored his first goal in the Bundesliga in the 1–1 draw in the derby against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

. At the end of the season, he had made 22 appearances and scored one goal and VfL Bochum was relegated from the Bundesliga. In the 2001–02 season, Freier made 30 appearances scoring seven goals and was promoted again with the VfL Bochum to the Bundesliga. In the next season, Bochum reached the ninth place with Freier making 32 appearances and scoring seven goals. In the 2003–04 season, he played in 27 games and scored one goal. This season, VfL Bochum placed in the final standings in front of their local rivals from

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...

, FC Schalke and Borussia Dortmund (Schalke being a district of Gelsenkirchen).

Spell at Bayer Leverkusen

In four seasons at

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

between 2004 and 2008, Freier amassed 17 goals in 112 league matches.

Return to VfL Bochum and retirement

Freier returned to

at the end of the 2007–08 season, signing a five-year contract.

Post-retirement

Six months after retiring as a player, Freier was hired as assistant coach for the U16 team of

. On 8 June 2015, it was confirmed that Freier was the new assistant manager of the U19 team of Bochum.

International

Freier was a member of the German national team, winning 19

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. He was initially named in Germany's

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

squad but had to withdraw through injury. He was called up as a backup squad member for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

. His only goal for Germany came in a 4–1 win over

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in June 2003.

Statistics

¹ 2010–11 includes the 2. Bundesliga/

promotion/relegation playoffs.

References

External links

* * *
Leverkusen who's who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freier, Paul 1979 births Living people People from Bytom German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers VfL Bochum players VfL Bochum II players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Oberliga (football) players Men's association football wingers German people of Polish descent Polish emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany German football managers