Fabian Ernst (; born 30 May 1979) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He was regarded as a two-way player who can stop the opposition and start attacks with his passing from

central midfield In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Born in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Ernst started his career with hometown club

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

. From 1998 to 2000, he played for

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

in the

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 ...

, playing in 48 games. The

moved to

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. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in 2000, where he was a major force in the league helping the club win the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

of Bundesliga and

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

in the 2003–04 season. In 152 games in the Bundesliga, he scored 11 goals. He moved to

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

in summer 2005, spending three and a half years there. He joined

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

on 2 February 2009, signing a contract which lasted until 2012. In his first season with Beşiktaş he scored two goals. At the end of the season, he was elected "The Best Player Of The Team" by the supporters. On 16 September 2010, Ernst headed in a

last-minute goal The term "last-minute goal" is used in sport, primarily association football, to describe a goal scored very late in a game, usually one that affects the outcome of the game. The definition of a "last-minute goal" commonly used is one scored eith ...

against Bulgarian side

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

to help his team to a winning start in the group stages of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. In the 2012–13 season, he joined Kasımpaşa, another football club headquartered in Istanbul. He was also captain of the team. In June 2013, he announced that he was thinking about retirement. After a career break from the summer 2013 until the summer 2014, Ernst signed a contract with

OSV Hannover OSV Hannover is a German association football club based in the Oststadt district of Hanover, Lower Saxony. History The club was founded in 1923 as ''Freie Sportvereinigung Hannover Ost''. The club was dissolved in 1933 in the course of the Naz ...

although he had bids from other bigger clubs.

International career

In 2002, Ernst played his first international game, representing Germany against

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. Ernst was a member of the German squad at

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 ...

. As of the end of 2007, he had won 24

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored one goal for his country. After that first season by Schalke 04, he found himself not being selected by his national squad for FIFA World Cup 2006, just like for Euro 2008 and FIFA World Cup 2010.

Managerial career

In July 2020, Beşiktaş J.K. and Ernst announced that their cooperation to establish youth academies across continental Europe, focusing in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Ernst goal.''

Honours

Werder Bremen *

: 2003–04 *

: 2003–04 Schalke 04 *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German association football, football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five t ...

: 2005 Beşiktaş *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

: 2008–09 *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

; 2008–09;

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual * 2008–09 Golden Team of the Year –

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Fabian 1979 births Living people German men's footballers Footballers from Hanover Men's association football midfielders Germany men's international footballers Germany men's B international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Süper Lig players Hannover 96 players Hamburger SV players SV Werder Bremen players FC Schalke 04 players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey