Pascal Zuberbühler (born 8 January 1971) is a Swiss 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, rugb ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He played in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 seaso ...

for

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

and

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (Fra ...

. He also had a season on loan to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

, and late in his career he represented

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

in England. Zuberbühler earned 51 caps for Switzerland between 1994 and 2008, and was selected for

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

, the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, 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 th ...

and

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

. At the middle tournament, the Swiss were the only team in the competition's history to be eliminated without conceding a goal.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Frauenfeld Frauenfeld ( Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic ...

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is par ...

, Zuberbühler played his youth football with local amateur club

FC Frauenfeld FC Frauenfeld is a Swiss football team that currently plays in 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier in the Swiss football pyramid. The club was founded in 1906. They finished the 2008/2009 season in 13th position in Group 5 resulting in releg ...

and advanced to their first team, who at that time played in the 1st League, the third tier of Swiss football. During the winter break of the

1991–92 Nationalliga A Statistics of the Swiss National League A in the 1991–92 football season. Overview It was contested by 12 teams, and FC Sion won the championship. First stage Table Results Second stage Championship group Table Results Promotion/ ...

season he transferred to and signed his first professional contract with

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds t ...

. He played his league debut for his new club on 8 April 1992 in the away game against Lausanne-Sport. The game ended in a 1–1 draw. Zuberbühler played with GC for seven and a half years. During this time he made 187 league appearances for

, winning the Nationalliga A three times ( 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98) and the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

once (1993–94).

Basel

Zuberbühler joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

's first team for their 1999–2000 season under new head-coach Christian Gross. The two clubs made a goalkeeper swap with

Stefan Huber Stefan Huber (born 14 June 1966) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Huber played his youth football by local club FC Unterstrass. He then moved to Grasshopper Club and b ...

. After playing in one test match and one UI Cup game Zuberbühler played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game on 7 July 1999 as Basel played a 1–1 with

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label= Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Lugano has a populat ...

. In the 50th minute Zuberbühler was substituted out of the game with a head wound. The following season, after just three league matches, Basel accepted an enquiry from

. Zuberbühler was loaned out to them under head-coach Christoph Daum for the season. Zuberbühler played 13 league games and five Champions League games for them. But after a few months he was replaced between the posts by Adam Matysek under the new coach

Berti Vogts Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup w ...

. As he was being mobbed by his own fans, Zuberbühler decided to leave Leverkusen. His contract was dissolved in March 2001. After his loan period, when he returned to Basel his replacement Miroslav König had been playing so well that head-coach Gross did not want to change the starting team. Zuberbühler was loaned out to

Aarau , neighboring_municipalities= Buchs, Suhr, Unterentfelden, Eppenberg-Wöschnau, Erlinsbach , twintowns = Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Delft (Netherlands), Reutlingen (Germany) Aarau (, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the ...

for the rest of the season. For Aarau he made two league appearances. In their next season 2001–02 Zuberbühler was again first choice goalkeeper with Basel and played in all the competitive games (league, cup and UI Cup). Zuberbühler won the double with the club and advanced to the final of the UI Cup, but here they suffered defeat,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

won 5–2 on aggregate. Zuberbühler made a name for himself with his saves in a 1–1 tie with Liverpool in a Champions League game on 25 September 2002. In their 2002–03 season Basel were runners-up in the league, but they were able to repeat the cup win. Zuberbühler held a clean sheet as Basel beat Xamax 6–0 in the final. In their 2003–04 season and 2004–05 season Zuberbühler and Basel were able to win the domestic league championship another two times. Between the years 1999 and 2006 Zuberbühler played a total of 340 games for Basel. 214 of these games were in the

, 20 in the

, 20 in the Champions League, 24 in the

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 ...

, 11 in the UI Cup and 51 were friendly games.

West Bromwich Albion

Zuberbühler signed a two-year contract for

on a free transfer from Basel on 14 July 2006. His first appearance in an Albion shirt was in a friendly against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

, where he earned praise from his manager

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

. He then kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

on his competitive début as Albion beat

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

2–0 on 5 August. Zuberbühler was dropped from the first team by new manager

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

after starting 15 games, apparently due to the fans booing and sarcastically applauding him when he played. The Scot made him available for loan in November. He returned to the first team after

Russell Hoult Russell Hoult (born 22 November 1972) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He notably spent time playing in the Premier League and played for Leicester City, Derby County and West Bromwic ...

was suspended, and responded by keeping a clean sheet in the 3–0

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 compet ...

win at rivals

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

on 28 January 2007, but it proved to be his last game for the club. New signing

Dean Kiely Dean Laurence Kiely (born 10 October 1970) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the goalkeeping coach at Premier League club Crystal Palace and the Republic of Ireland national team. Born in England, he won ele ...

immediately replaced him in the first team, and he felt this harmed his chances for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

, due to be held in his home country. In February 2007, he was told by his club that he was "surplus to requirements", and that they would not stand in his way should a club come in for him. He signed an 18-month contract at Swiss side Neuchatel Xamax, moving there on a free transfer.

Fulham

In July 2008, on the invitation of former Switzerland national team boss

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to ...

, Zuberbühler joined

on trial. He first appearance for the club was against South Korean side

Busan I'Park Busan IPark ( ko, 부산 아이파크) is a South Korean professional football club based in Busan that competes in K League 2, the second tier of the South Korean football pyramid. Its current home ground is Busan Gudeok Stadium. The club was o ...

as a second-half substitute for

David Stockdale David Adam Stockdale (born 20 September 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for York City. Stockdale started his career with the Huddersfield Town youth system before joining York City's youth system in 2000, w ...

in a 1–0 defeat. On 6 August, Fulham signed him on a one-year deal. He made his only appearance on 23 September in the third round 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 ...

, a 1–0 loss away to Championship club

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, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

. He earned a new one-year contract in June 2009. In 2009–10 season he fell behind Stockdale in the pecking order, but eventually fought his way back to being

Mark Schwarzer Mark Schwarzer (; born 6 October 1972) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He represented Australia at international level from 1993 to 2013, and was selected for both the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups ...

's back-up and was in the matchday squad for the Europa League Final. He had signed another one-year deal to remain at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

, but was not picked for the team's Premier League squad for the 2010–11 season and faced an uncertain future at the club. On 1 July 2011, Fulham confirmed that Zuberbühler had left the club on a free transfer, after coming to the end of his contract.

International career

upZuberbühler in 2006 Zuberbühler was capped 51 times by

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and was a member of their squads for the

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, and

, all under the management of Kobi Kuhn. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Switzerland topped a group ahead of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

, then lost in the last 16 on penalties against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

; he saved the Ukrainians' first penalty from

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

. This Swiss team are the only team in the history of the World Cup not to concede a goal. On 11 June 2008, he played his last game with the Swiss national team, during the 2–0 victory over Portugal in

, held in his home country.

Coaching career

Zuberbühler had a short stint as the

Philippines national football team The Philippines national football team ( Filipino/ tl, Pambansang koponan ng futbol ng Pilipinas, lit=) represents the Philippines in international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internatio ...

goalkeeping coach, reuniting with Fulham teammate

Neil Etheridge Neil Leonard Dula Etheridge (born 7 February 1990) is a Filipino-English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Birmingham City. Born in England, he captains the Philippines national team. He joined the Fulham Academy af ...

, prior to the first round first leg 2014 World Cup qualifier against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in June 2011. He returned for a second spell in November 2012, ahead of the

2012 AFF Suzuki Cup The 2012 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup, was the 9th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of Southeast Asia. It was co-hosted for group stage by Malaysia and Thailand a ...

, and again in 2015. In June 2015, Zuberbühler joined

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

as a goalkeeping coach. He left in March 2017 when new manager Gary Rowett placed

Kevin Poole Kevin Poole (born 21 July 1963) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is the goalkeeping coach at Solihull Moors. During a long career, Poole played in the Premier League for Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers, ...

in his position. In November that year, he was hired as a goalkeeping specialist for

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

References

External links

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Yahoo! Sports profileLeverkusen who's who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuberbuhler, Pascal 1971 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Swiss footballers Switzerland international footballers Swiss expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Grasshopper Club Zürich players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC Basel players FC Aarau players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Fulham F.C. players Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Swiss-German people FC Frauenfeld players Derby County F.C. non-playing staff People from Frauenfeld Sportspeople from Thurgau