Tobias Rau (born 31 December 1981) is a German former professional
footballer who played as a
left back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
.
In a career blighted by injuries, he retired from professional play at only 27.
Club career
Wolfsburg
Rau was born in
Braunschweig,
Lower Saxony. 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 association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...
, he moved to the professionals with
VfL Wolfsburg.
Rau amassed 52 official appearances for the latter side.
His
Bundesliga debut came on 18 August 2001, starting and featuring 52 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against
SC Freiburg.
Bayern Munich
In June 2003, Rau's solid performances caught the attention of powerhouse
FC Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...
. However, several serious injuries and stiff competition from Frenchmen
Willy Sagnol and
Bixente Lizarazu 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 offers the sports of ...
, 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, all in 2003. His debut came on 12 February in a
friendly
Friendly may refer to:
Places
* Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England
* Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States
* ...
with
Spain played in
Palma, Majorca, and his only goal contributed to a 4–1 home defeat of
Canada 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
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
.
Rau returned to playing football in 2012, joining
Kreisliga amateurs TV Neuenkirchen.
Career statistics
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Tobias
1981 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Braunschweig
German footballers
Association football defenders
Bundesliga players
Eintracht Braunschweig players
VfL Wolfsburg players
FC Bayern Munich footballers
Arminia Bielefeld players
Germany under-21 international footballers
Germany B international footballers
Germany international footballers
Footballers from Lower Saxony