Stefan Maierhofer (born 16 August 1982) 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He last played for Würzburger Kickers. Between 2008 and 2011, he made 19 appearances for the Austria national team, scoring one goal. Maierhofer failed to make the grade with German giants

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 football team, ...

, making just two first team appearances. After spells with second division teams

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a Football in Germany, German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era ( ...

and Greuther Fürth he returned to his homeland with

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

. He enjoyed the best goalscoring form of his career here, which earned him a move to

English 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 ...

club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in 2009, where he made just ten appearances before returning to Austria.

Club career

Maierhofer was initially trained as a restaurant specialist/cook. The tall striker joined

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

from Austrian side SV Langenrohr in July 2005, and signed a professional contract with the club one year later, eventually making two

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 ...

appearances as a late substitute, during 2006–07. In two seasons with Bayern Munich's reserve team, he scored 21 goals in 42

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

appearances and was the team's top goalscorer in both seasons. In January 2007, Maierhofer moved to 2. Bundesliga side

until the end of the season, scoring three goals in 14 league appearances. In July 2007, he signed a two-year contract with another team in the division, SpVgg Greuther Fürth, but the club sent him on a six-month loan to

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

in January 2008. He helped Rapid win the 2008 Bundesliga title, after scoring seven goals in 11 league matches for the club, including braces in a 2–0

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

win over

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

and a 7–0 away win against the club's main title rivals Red Bull Salzburg. Consequently, Rapid decided to make the deal permanent and signed Maierhofer on a three-year contract. The 2008–09 season saw his best goalscoring return as he struck 27 goals, including two in Champions League qualifiers, helping the club end the league campaign as runners-up. He signed for newly promoted

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 ...

side

in a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee – reportedly an initial £1.8m – on 31 August 2009. He scored on his debut in a 3–1 defeat at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He suffered a hernia injury which put him out of action for several months, and upon regaining fitness was no longer in contention at Wolves. He was instead sent on a one-month loan to

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

in March 2010, but failed to make an impact. During summer 2010, he was told he was no longer part of Wolves manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

's plans and was instead loaned to 2. Bundesliga club

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

on a season-long loan for the 2010–11 campaign. He scored 12 goals during the season, including a goal in a DFB Cup semi final to take the Zebras to the final where they lost to

Schalke Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a Professionalism in association football, professional sports club from the Gelsenkirchen-Schalke, Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, N ...

. On 23 August 2011, Maierhofer returned to Austria when he signed for Red Bull Salzburg in a two-year deal. After a year and a half in Salzburg, Maierhofer returned to Germany, signing for

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in January 2013, but left in the summer. On 14 March 2014, Maierhofer joined

side

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

on a short-term deal until the end of the 2013–14 season. On 19 November 2014, he signed a short-term deal with SC Wiener Neustadt of the

for the rest of 2014. He was part of the starting XI against Wolfsberger AC three days later and scored the first goal in a 2–0 home win. On 12 February 2016, he signed half-year contract with option to buy with FK AS Trenčín.

International career

Maierhofer's good performances during his initial loan spell at Rapid Wien secured him his first call-up to the Austria national team in April 2008, when he was named to the country's preliminary squad for the

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 ( ...

finals. However, he would not make the final cut. On 20 August 2008, he eventually made his international debut, in a 2–2 friendly against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

on 5 September 2009.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

FC Bayern Munich II *

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal. The IFA came into existence in 1893, and was named after the association. The IFA Shield to ...

: 2005 Rapid Wien *

: 2007–08 Red Bull Salzburg * Austrian Bundesliga: 2011–12 AS Trenčín *

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Football in Slovakia, Slovak football league system. It was formed ...

: 2015–16 *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maierhofer, Stefan 1982 births Living people People from Wien-Umgebung District Austrian men's footballers Austria men's international footballers Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Austrian Regionalliga players Premier League players English Football League players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Slovak First Football League players Swiss Challenge League players First Vienna FC players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers TuS Koblenz players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players SK Rapid Wien players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players MSV Duisburg players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Millwall F.C. players 1. Wiener Neustädter SC players AS Trenčín players FC Aarau players SV Mattersburg players Admira Wacker players FC Würzburger Kickers players Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Austrian expatriate sportspeople in England Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Men's association football forwards Footballers from Lower Austria