Amaury Armindo Bischoff (born 31 March 1987) is a 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 ...

who plays for French club SR Colmar as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Born in France, he has represented both France and Portugal at youth level. After starting out at

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

, he went on to spend most of his career in Germany, mainly with

Preußen Münster Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia. It also refers to: Ships * ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902 * SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate * SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship * , vorpostenboot ...

. He also had a one-year spell in England, with Arsenal.

Club career

Early years

Born in Colmar,

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; german: Oberelsass, ) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means ''Upper Rhine''. Haut-Rhin is th ...

to a French father – from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

– and a Portuguese mother, Bischoff began his football career at SR Colmar, finishing his development at Strasbourg. Aged 18, he moved to Germany and signed for

, going on to spend the majority of his spell with the reserve side but training with the main squad several times. On 14 March 2007, Bischoff made his debut for Werder's first team, coming on as a substitute for

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

in the 74th minute of a 2–0 home win against

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate * Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...

for that season's

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

(3–0 on aggregate). It would be his only official game for the club.

Arsenal

Bischoff left Werder Bremen on 1 July 2008, after rejecting a contract extension. Shortly after, he made a statement in which he said that his transfer to Arsenal was imminent; it was subsequently confirmed on 30 July, with manager Arsène Wenger stating he knew the signing was a "gamble on talent" due to the player's injury record. Bischoff made his debut in an Arsenal shirt on 6 October 2008, in a

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

match against Stoke City, making his first appearance with the first team on 11 November in a 3–0 home victory over

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

in the

fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 77th minute. He made two more in the domestic cups for the main squad, both as a substitute: the 2–0 League Cup loss at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

in December 2008, and the 4–0 defeat of Cardiff City in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. On 2 May 2009, Bischoff played his first and only game in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, replacing

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton and previously for the English national team. Walcott is a product of the Southampton Academy and started his career with ...

in the 64th minute of the side's 3–0 away victory against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He was released by the Gunners when his contract expired on 30 June, having been unable to break into the first team.

Portugal

On 26 August 2009, Bischoff signed with Académica in Portugal, on a two-year deal. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 2 October in a 2–4 home defeat to Marítimo, starting and being replaced at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

. It would be one of only four competitive appearances during the season, which he finished on loan to Segunda Liga side Aves. On 30 June 2011, after declining all offers to renew his contract, Bischoff left

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, it is the largest cit ...

. He joined former club Aves shortly after, for two years.

Preußen Münster

Bischoff returned to Germany in summer 2012, going on to spend several seasons in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

with

and eventually becoming captain. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, he scored a career-best ten goals to help his team to the fourth position. At the start of the 2016–17 campaign, Bischoff requested permission to be removed from the

Preußenstadion Preußenstadion is a multi-use stadium in Münster, Germany. It is used as the stadium of SC Preußen Münster SC Preußen Münster (English: Prussia Münster) is a German sports club based in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia which is mostly r ...

-based squad, as his mind was not "in the game".

Hansa Rostock

On 21 January 2017, Bischoff signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

also in the German second division. In June 2019, it was announced he would leave the club after having chosen not to accept an offer of a contract extension.

Later career

Bischoff joined

Bahlinger SC Bahlinger SC is a German association football club from the Kaiserstuhl town of Bahlingen, Baden-Württemberg. History The club was founded 16 June 1929 as ''FC Bahlingen'' and merged with ''TV Bahlingen'' in 1946 to form the present-day side ...

of the

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

on 5 August 2019, on a two-year contract. He returned to France and Colmar 17 years after leaving in June 2021, aged 34.

International career

Bischoff started representing

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at under-18 level. However, on 14 May 2007, he chose to play for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. On 10 February 2009, in his debut with the Portugal under-21s (ultimately his only appearance), Bischoff opened a 3–1 friendly win against Switzerland in the fourth minute.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bischoff, Amaury 1987 births Living people French people of Portuguese descent French people of German descent Sportspeople from Colmar Footballers from Alsace Portuguese footballers French footballers Association football midfielders Championnat National 3 players SR Colmar players RC Strasbourg Alsace players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players SV Werder Bremen II players SV Werder Bremen players SC Preußen Münster players FC Hansa Rostock players Bahlinger SC players Premier League players Arsenal F.C. players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players C.D. Aves players France youth international footballers Portugal under-21 international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in England