Stephan Hain (born 27 September 1988) 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 striker. A prolific goalscorer, Hain became top goalscorer of the

2016–17 Regionalliga The 2016–17 Regionalliga was the ninth season of the Regionalliga, the fifth under the new format, as the fourth tier of the German football league system. Regionalliga Nord 18 teams from the states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schles ...

season, netting 32 goals in 28 appearances for

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

Career

Early years

Hain was born in Zwiesel,

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, and started playing football for hometown club SV 1922 Zwiesel, before moving to TSV Lindberg where he played for a year and a half. In November 2001, he moved to SpVgg Ruhmannsfelden, where he spent six years playing at youth level.

FC Augsburg

In the summer of 2007, Hain moved to

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

. He made his senior debut on 21 October 2007, starting in the 2. Bundesliga match against Erzgebirge Aue before being replaced by Anton Makarenko in the 62nd minute of a 3–0 away loss. He would go on to play more frequently during the 2009–10 season, scoring three goals in 16 games. In the first half of the 2010–11 season, he improved his goal tally and made it into the starting lineup. During the 2010–11 winter break, Hain extended his contract until 2013. He scored the winning 2–1 goal against

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt and known as simply Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hessen and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt ...

on 8 May 2011 which secured Augsburg's promotion to 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 ...

. On 28 January 2012, in a game against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

, he scored 20 seconds after coming on as a substitute. This became the fastest goal scored for a substitute in the Bundesliga, equalling the record set by Dave Mitchell in 1986.

1860 Munich

On 21 May 2013, Hain joined 2. Bundesliga club 1860 Munich. He scored his first goal for the club on 18 April 2015, the winner in added time in a home game against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. Hain's contract expired in June 2016 and was not renewed.

SpVgg Unterhaching

Hain moved to

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern () is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tier of the German football league system, b ...

club

on 28 July 2016. He ended his first season as the top goalscorer of the league, scoring 32 goals in 28 league games, which contributed to Unterhaching's return to the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

. In the 3. Liga, Hain continued his goal scoring form, netting 19 goals in 37 league games in the 2017–18 season and finishing shared second in the top scorers list, three behind Manuel Schäffler. In January 2019, he extended his contract with Unterhaching until 2023. He suffered successive injuries during the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons, including an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

, which sidelined him for an extended period. In July 2023, after winning the

in the 2022–23 season, he retired from professional football and relocated to New Zealand with his family to pursue a new professional career.

Honours

SpVgg Unterhaching *

: 2022–23

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hain, Stephan 1988 births Living people German men's footballers People from Regen (district) Footballers from Lower Bavaria Men's association football forwards FC Augsburg players TSV 1860 Munich players SpVgg Unterhaching players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players 21st-century German sportsmen