Christian Fuchs (; born 7 April 1986) is an Austrian 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 ...

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 ...

. He began his senior career as a teenager at

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land D ...

before signing his first professional contract at 17 with

SV Mattersburg SV Mattersburg was an Austrian association football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland. History The club was formed in 1922 and played its home games at the 17,100 capacity Pappelstadion. The club played in the Bundesliga since the 2003� ...

, challenging for the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. The ...

title and taking part in European competitions. In 2008, he left for Germany, signing for

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundesli ...

. After a season on loan at Mainz 05, he signed for

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

in 2011, where he contested the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

but suffered a serious knee injury. In 2015, he signed for Leicester, winning 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 Foo ...

in his first season at the club. After leaving Leicester in 2021 he spent one season with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club Charlotte FC. A full international for a decade starting from his debut in 2006, Fuchs earned 78 caps for the Austria national team. He played for the nation at

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 association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

and

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, captaining them for the first time in 2010 and on a permanent basis from 2012, before retiring from international duty in 2016.

Club career

Early career

Born in Neunkirchen,

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt ...

, his father was an amateur

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 began as a forward at local team SVg Pitten before moving to

1. Wiener Neustädter SC 1. Wiener Neustädter SC was an Austrian association football club. They qualified once for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, by reaching the Austrian Cup Final in 1965. European cup history Honours *Austrian Cup **Finalist (1x): 1964/65 * Austrian ...

at the age of 14. At the age of 15, while still an amateur and at mainstream school, Fuchs played for their senior team. When he was 17, he signed his first professional deal at

, a team who despite coming from a town of 6,000 drew league record average crowds of 17,000, came third in the

and played in European competition. Prior to

, he joined the German side

. He later described it as a useful move to play regularly while attracting attention from bigger teams. In 2010, he was signed on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

, a newly promoted team who ended the season in the top five.

Schalke

On 6 June 2011, Fuchs signed a contract until 30 June 2015 with

. The transfer fee is reportedly undisclosed by Schalke's sport and communications manager Horst Heldt. Fuchs was assigned the number 23 shirt, previously worn by Danilo Fernando Avelar. In his time at the team from

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 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 River (a tributary of the Rhine), it li ...

, he competed in the

, but suffered a long-term knee injury.

Leicester City

On 3 June 2015,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

announced the signing of Fuchs on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal with the Foxes effective from 1 July. Signed under previous manager Nigel Pearson, Fuchs didn't have a regular spot in new manager Claudio Ranieri's squad until October. Fuchs made an appearance in Leicester's third round League Cup tie against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

, providing an assist for Andy King's extra time winner. Following a 5–2 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 26 September, Ranieri elected to shake up his defensive back four, inserting Fuchs and teammate

Danny Simpson Daniel Peter Simpson (born 4 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who last played as a right-back for Championship side Bristol City. A product of the Manchester United academy, Simpson played on loan for Royal Antwerp, Sunder ...

in place of

Jeffrey Schlupp Jeffrey Schlupp (; born 23 December 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger or occasional left back for club Crystal Palace and the Ghana national team. Schlupp started his career as a striker. Early life Jeff ...

and Ritchie De Laet, respectively. Fuchs made his first Premier League start the next week against

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. In his first season, Leicester finished as champions on odds of 5,000–1, making Fuchs the first Austrian to receive a

winners' medal since Arsenal's Alex Manninger in 1998. Following the insertion of Fuchs into the lineup on Matchday 8, Leicester City led the Premier League in clean sheets along with Arsenal, with 15. Fuchs himself led the league during this period in successful tackles with 77, while finishing second in interceptions with 98. Prior to signing for Leicester, Fuchs had an offer to play in the United States, where his family live, but he turned it down. He said in March 2016, "My intention is to play in the US. I have come

o Leicester O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

for three years. I decided that I would sign one last contract in Europe, when I left Schalke, then go to the US." On 21 October 2016, Fuchs signed a new contract with Leicester, keeping him with the club until June 2019. The next day, Fuchs scored his first goal for Leicester against Crystal Palace, volleying home a corner-kick clearance by Christian Benteke for the team's final goal in a 3–1 victory. In May 2019 he signed a new one-year contract with Leicester. On 18 June 2020, Leicester announced that Fuchs had signed one-year extension. On 21 May 2021, it was announced that Fuchs would be leaving Leicester at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Charlotte FC

On 7 June 2021, it was announced that Fuchs would join

expansion side Charlotte FC. On 27 July 2021, With Charlotte due to play MLS from the 2022 season, Fuchs joined

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

side

Charlotte Independence Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid. The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memoria ...

for the remainder of 2021. After playing as a regular with Charlotte in their expansion season, Fuchs announced on 5 January 2023 he would be retiring from professional football.

International career

Fuchs made his debut for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 23 May 2006 in a friendly match against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, replacing

Stefan Lexa Stefan Lexa (born 1 November 1976) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a right winger. Club career Much-travelled Lexa was born in Klagenfurt but was raised in Germany. At the age of seven years he started at SV Heimstet ...

for the final six minutes of the 4–1 loss at the

Ernst-Happel-Stadion Ernst-Happel-Stadion (), known as Praterstadion until 1992, sometimes also called Wiener-Stadion, is a football stadium in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. With 50,865 seats, it is the largest stadium in Austria. It ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He was part of the Austrian international squad as they co-hosted

alongside Switzerland. He made only one appearance in the group stage elimination, playing the entirety of the 1–0 loss to Germany in their last match of the tournament. On 11 August 2010, in the absence of regular skipper

Marc Janko Marc Janko (born 25 June 1983) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Janko was a successful goal-scorer, particularly during his time at Austrian Bundesliga club Red Bull Salzburg, where he scored 75 league goal ...

, Fuchs captained his nation for the first time in a 1–0 friendly loss to the Swiss in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

. That 17 November, he scored his first international goal, equalising in a 2–1 home friendly loss to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. Fuchs received the armband on a permanent basis at the behest of manager

Marcel Koller Marcel Martin Koller (born 11 November 1960) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Al Ahly in the Egyptian Premier League. Playing career Born in Zürich, Koller played his entire career ...

on 13 August 2012. He played all ten games as they qualified for

, the first time they did so, and featured in every minute of the group stage elimination in France. Afterwards, he retired from international play with a total of 78 caps, declaring "I am very proud of the 10 years that I have spent with the national team. I did everything with passion and, as I said, I am very, very proud."

Coaching career

On 6 January 2023, it was announced that Fuchs would be an assistant coach for Charlotte FC for their 2023 season.

Personal life

Fuchs' wife Raluca Gold-Fuchs, with whom he has a stepson, son, and daughter, is a businesswoman formerly of Goldman Sachs. She lives with their children in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

and Fuchs sees them once a month. He runs a public relations company and a football academy in the same city, and plans to move there permanently after his football career. The ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its p ...

'' described Fuchs as "not your stereotypical footballer... ehas more strings to his bow than an orchestra". He is noted for his online video series "No Fuchs Given", a play on his surname and the English-language obscenity "''

fuck ''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to ar ...

''"; the series consists of himself and teammates doing unusual football-related challenges, such as him and Robert Huth shooting the ball as hard as possible at each other's backsides. He also has a stated dream to become an

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Sp ...

and has demonstrated his skills on the BBC's NFL coverage. His surname "Fuchs" is the German word for "

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Austria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fuchs goal.''

Honours

Schalke 04 * DFL-Supercup: 2011 Leicester City *

: 2015–16 *

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 competit ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Austria U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain national under ...

third place:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

Individual *'' kicker''

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 footbal ...

Team of the Season:

2010–11 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 ...

, 2011–12

References

External links

*
Christian Fuchs – Official Website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuchs, Christian 1986 births Living people People from Neunkirchen District, Austria Austrian footballers Association football defenders 1. Wiener Neustädter SC players SV Mattersburg players VfL Bochum players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players FC Schalke 04 players Leicester City F.C. players Charlotte FC players Charlotte Independence players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Premier League players Austria international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2016 players Austrian expatriate footballers Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Footballers from Lower Austria Major League Soccer players Charlotte FC non-playing staff Expatriate soccer players in the United States Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States