Tobias Rau (born 31 December 1981) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. In a career blighted by injuries, he retired from professional play at only 27.

Club career

Wolfsburg

Rau was born in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. After making his professional debut at the third level of the German league pyramid with hometown club

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. They compete in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier o ...

, he moved to the professionals with

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. Rau amassed 52 official appearances for the latter side. His

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 ...

debut came on 18 August 2001, starting and featuring 52 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

Bayern Munich

In June 2003, Rau's solid performances caught the attention of powerhouse

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. However, several serious injuries and stiff competition from Frenchmen

Willy Sagnol Willy David Frédéric Sagnol (born 18 March 1977) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of the Georgia national team. Sagnol spent much of his professional career p ...

and

Bixente Lizarazu Bixente Jean Michel Lizarazu (, born 9 December 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He rose through the ranks at Bordeaux, where he was part of a team that finished second in the French First Division in ...

restricted his chances to 19 games across all competitions (with a further eight for the reserve team).

Arminia Bielefeld

In the summer of 2005, Rau signed with

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

, where he would also be a backup and suffer severely with injuries – only an average of eight league matches in four years – being released on 30 June 2009 before announcing his retirement on 6 July.

International career

Rau played seven times for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, all in 2003. His debut came on 12 February in a friendly with

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

played in

Palma, Majorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of M ...

, and his only goal contributed to a 4–1 home defeat of

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 ...

on 1 June.

Personal life

In July 2009, shortly after retiring, Rau announced his return to school to start a career as a teacher despite having offers from clubs abroad and from the 2. Bundesliga. Rau returned to playing football in 2012, joining

Kreisliga The Kreisliga (), along with the ''Kreisoberliga'' () and the ''Kreisklasse'' (), are the lowest set of divisions in the German football league system, set at step 8 and below. Structure Whereas the top amateur divisions are organised by the 21 ...

amateurs TV Neuenkirchen.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Tobias 1981 births Living people Footballers from Braunschweig German men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bundesliga players Eintracht Braunschweig players VfL Wolfsburg players FC Bayern Munich footballers Arminia Bielefeld players Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's B international footballers Germany men's international footballers 21st-century German sportsmen