Lars Hirschfeld

Lars Justin Hirschfeld (born 17 October 1978) is a Canadian retired soccer goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeping coach for FC Edmonton.

Lars Hirschfeld
Hirschfeld with Rosenborg in 2007
Personal information
Full name Lars Justin Hirschfeld[1]
Date of birth (1978-10-17) 17 October 1978
Place of birth Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1997 Edmonton Ital-Canadians
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–1998 Edmonton Drillers (indoor) 1 (0)
1998–2000 Energie Cottbus II 60 (0)
2000 Calgary Storm 20 (0)
2001 Vancouver Whitecaps 1 (0)
2001–2002 Calgary Storm 32 (0)
2002–2004 Tottenham Hotspur 0 (0)
2003 → Luton Town (loan) 5 (0)
2004 → Gillingham (loan) 2 (0)
2004–2005 Dundee United 2 (0)
2005 Leicester City 1 (0)
2005 Tromsø 11 (0)
2006–2007 Rosenborg 52 (0)
2008–2009 CFR Cluj 5 (0)
2009 Energie Cottbus 0 (0)
2010–2015 Vålerenga 93 (0)
2016 KFUM 30 (0)
Total 314 (0)
National team‡
1999 Canada U23 4 (0)
2000–2013 Canada 48 (0)
Teams managed
2019– FC Edmonton (goalkeeper coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 October 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2017

Club career

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, of German extraction, Hirschfeld started his career with the Edmonton Drillers, playing indoor soccer. He has also played with Energie Cottbus in Germany, Calgary Storm, and Vancouver Whitecaps.[3]

England and Scotland

In September 2002, he joined Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, but never featured for the first team. He went on loan to Luton Town[4] and Gillingham before being released[5] and joining Dundee United in August 2004.[6] A move to Leicester City followed in January 2005,[7] but Hirschfeld only made one start, keeping a clean sheet against Plymouth Argyle,[8] during the remainder of the 04/05 season.

Norway

Tromsø IL then signed him as a replacement goalkeeper for the remainder of the Norwegian 2005-season. Hirschfeld made some crucial saves during Tromsø's campaign to avoid relegation and was a key figure in the UEFA Cup matches against Esbjerg fB and Galatasaray, both of which Tromsø won. Nordlys, a local newspaper, called Hirschfeld the greatest goalkeeper ever to play for Tromsø IL after only 6 matches at his new club, ranking him ahead of Einar Rossbach, Knut Borch and Bjarte Flem.

The following season, Hirschfeld won the Norwegian Tippeligaen with Rosenborg, having beaten Espen Johnsen for first-string goalie at the club. Hirschfeld was in goal when Rosenborg defeated Valencia CF twice in the UEFA Champions League 2007-08 group stage, recording two clean sheets in home-and-away 2-0 wins. He made a number of saves in his side's 1–1 draw away to English club Chelsea, the last match in charge of Chelsea for manager José Mourinho.[9]

CFR Cluj

Hirschfeld played for CFR Cluj in Romania after joining from Rosenborg for €1,300,000[10] on 6 January 2008. With Cluj he immediately won the domestic double but he only played in 5 games in that first (half) season and he did not play at all for them in 2008/2009.

Energie Cottbus

He signed a two-year contract with Energie Cottbus on 26 June 2009.[11]

Valerenga

On 15 January 2010 left his club Energie Cottbus and signed for Oslo club Vålerenga Fotball in Norway.

KFUM

On 21 January 2016 he signed with KFUM[12] which were promoted to the OBOS-ligaen (Norwegian second level) for the first time in 2015.

Coaching career

FC Edmonton

In January 2019 Hirschfeld joined FC Edmonton as their goalkeeping coach.[13]

International career

He made his debut for Canada in a January 2000 friendly match against Bermuda but had to compete with Pat Onstad for the national goalkeeper's jersey. By November 2009, he earned a total of 29 caps. He has represented Canada in 6 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[14] Hirschfeld's big break with Canada came at the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where he was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament after allowing only four goals in five matches and recording an impressive semifinal shutout against the United States. This caused English club Tottenham Hotspur F.C. to take interest, and Hirschfeld signed with them in September 2002. On 8 June 2012, Hirschfeld was sent off in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Cuba for handling the ball outside his penalty area, but Canada prevailed by a score of 1:0 despite the numerical disadvantage.

Honours

Individual

Rosenborg BK

CFR Cluj

References
  1. "Lars Hirschfeld". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  2. "Lars Hirschfeld". canadasoccer.com. Canadian Soccer Association. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  3. Die Frage des Tages ... an Wolfgang Neubert, Vizepräsident des FC Energie Cottbus Archived 27 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Transfers - February 2003". BBC. 27 February 2003. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  5. "Spurs offload veterans". BBC. 12 May 2004. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  6. "United sign Hirschfeld". BBC. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  7. "Transfers - January 2005". BBC. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  8. "Plymouth 0-0 Leicester". BBC. 8 May 2005. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  9. "Chelsea 1-1 Rosenborg". BBC. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  10. Hirschfeld solgt Archived 8 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Lars Hirschfeld wechselt zum FC Energie Archived 27 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. http://kxweb.no/portal/theme/organization/news/show.do?id=9342860
  13. Sandor, Steven (17 January 2019). "FCE unveils goalkeeping contingent".
  14. Record at FIFA Tournaments - FIFA
  15. "Football: Lars Hirschfeld". FootballDatabase.eu. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
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