Stefan "Paule" Beinlich (born 13 January 1972) 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 ...

. His main asset was a powerful long-range shot, and he often scored from

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

s; he was one of the first players from the country to play in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, spending three years at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Club career

Beinlich was born in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, and played as a youth for

BFC Dynamo Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly abbreviated to BFC Dynamo () or BFC (), alternatively sometimes called Dynamo Berlin, is a German football club based in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg of Ber ...

, making his first senior appearances for their feeder club, SG Bergmann-Borsig, In 1991, he moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

with

, signing along with his compatriot

Matthias Breitkreutz Matthias Breitkreutz (born 12 May 1971) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Crivitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, he played during his career for BFC Dynamo, SG Bergmann-Borsig, Aston Villa F.C., FC Hansa ...

, but both players had unassuming stints, appearing very rarely during their three-year stay. Beinlich's only goal for Villa came in a 5–1 defeat to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in April 1994. In 1994, he moved to

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

, helping it promote in his first year, and scoring 19 times in the following two top level seasons combined (34 in total). Beinlich continued to display excellent football in his three seasons with

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

; in his last year, he tied a career-best 11 goals (in the first division) as the club lost the league to

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. After three years apiece with

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

and

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 ...

, with relative playing time, Beinlich retired in 2008, after two seasons with former side Hansa. He had to retire due to

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

problems, and totalled 288 games in the first division, scoring 56 goals.

International career

Beinlich's international debut for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

occurred on 2 September 1998 against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, playing the whole 2–1 friendly win. His last two matches were in 2000, also friendlies, before and after the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, for which he was not picked.

Post-retirement

On 30 May 2010, Beinlich was officially presented as

's new director of football. On 8 June 2012, after Hansa had been relegated, Beinlich announced that he would resign at the end of the month. In January 2013, he then became managing director of 1. LAV Rostock. On 27 November 2019, Beinlich returned to Hansa Rostock once again, this time as the club's academy manager. Beinlich also still remained his position at 1. LAV Rostock.

Honours

Hertha Berlin *

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Hamburger SV *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beinlich, Stefan 1972 births Living people Footballers from Berlin Sportspeople from East Berlin East German men's footballers German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Premier League players SG Bergmann-Borsig players Aston Villa F.C. players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FC Hansa Rostock players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Hamburger SV players Hertha BSC players Germany men's international footballers German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England