Simon Rolfes

Simon Rolfes (born 21 January 1982) is a retired German footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Simon Rolfes
Rolfes in 2019
Personal information
Full name Simon Rolfes
Date of birth (1982-01-21) 21 January 1982
Place of birth Ibbenbüren, West Germany
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1986–1999 TuS Recke
1999–2000 Werder Bremen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2004 Werder Bremen II 100 (18)
2002–2004 Werder Bremen 0 (0)
2003 → SSV Reutlingen (loan) 13 (0)
2004–2005 Alemannia Aachen 28 (3)
2005–2015 Bayer Leverkusen 288 (41)
2010 → Bayer Leverkusen II 1 (0)
Total 430 (62)
National team
2002 Germany U21 1 (0)
2004–2005 Germany Team 2006 3 (0)
2007–2011 Germany 26 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Early career

Rolfes started his career at Werder Bremen after progressing through their academy. During the 2000–01 season, he scored five goals in 26 league appearances for the reserve team.[2] He scored against Dresdner SC, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Lüneburger SK, Erzgebirge Aue, and Fortuna Köln.[2] He also made an appearances in the DFB-Pokal.[3] He would score seven goals in 31 league appearances[4] and a goal in two DFB-Pokal[5] during the 2001–02 season and two goals in 17 league appearances[6] and an appearance during the DFB-Pokal[7] during the 2002–03 season. He also made a UEFA Cup appearance for the first team during the 2002–03 season.[7] The match was an 8–0 against Metalurh Donetsk on 3 October 2002.[8] He came on in the 68th minute during for Krisztián Lisztes.[8] He then was loaned for the remainder of the season with SSV Reutlingen 05[9] where he made 13 appearances.[10] In his final season with the reserve team, he scored four goals in 26 league appearances.[11] He made exactly 100 league appearances[12] and four DFB-Pokal appearances for the reserve team and managed to notch 19 goals (one in the DFB-Pokal) from his defensive midfield position.

Despite his good form, SV Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf did not feature him as a regular, so in 2004 he moved to Alemannia Aachen and scored three goals in 28 league appearances in his one season there.[13] He also made two appearances in the DFB-Pokal and seven appearances in the UEFA Cup.[13]

Bayer Leverkusen

Year 2005 came out to be a crucial year for Rolfes, with Bayer Leverkusen signing him and since then he has become a fan favorite, quickly winning a regular spot and not much after, captaincy in the full squad. He appeared in 37 matches in the 2005–06 season,[7] 49 in the 2006–07 season,[7] 47 in the 2007–08 season,[14] and 39 in the 2008–09 season.[15] Rolfes suffered a serious knee injury on 2 July 2009.[16] During the 2009–10 season, Rolfes missed matchdays 10 to 17 and made his final appearance on matchday 19 against 1899 Hoffenheim.[17] He made only 13 appearances in all competitions during the season.[17] He missed out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He returned to fitness the following season. He appeared in 36 matches in all competitions.[18] He continued to be a regular late into his career. He made 40 appearances in the 2011–12[1] and 2012–13[19] seasons, 43 in 2013–14 season,[20] and 33 in the 2014–15 season.[21] On 7 December 2014, he announced his decision to retire from football after the 2014–15 season.[22]

International career
Rolfes and Bastian Schweinsteiger in a match against South Africa

Rolfes made his international debut for Germany in a friendly against Denmark on 28 March 2007 in Duisburg.[23]

He was part of the German team that finished as runners-up at Euro 2008. Rolfes started in the quarter-finals against Portugal in Basel, which Germany won 3–2, and started the semi-finals against Turkey, also in Basel, which they also won 3–2. Rolfes scored his first goal on 6 September 2008 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier, a 6–0 win against Liechtenstein. Rolfes was set to be called up to German squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but he got injured and missed the competition and more than ten first games of the 2010–11 season for the "Werkself".

Career statistics

Club performance
As of 23 May 2015.
Club Season League DFB-Pokal DFB-Ligapokal Europe1 Total Ref.
League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Werder Bremen II 2000–01 Regionalliga Nord 26 5 1 0 — 27 5 [2][3]
2001–02 31 7 2 1 33 8 [4][5]
2002–03 17 2 1 0 18 2 [6][7]
2003–04 26 4 — 26 4 [11]
Totals 100 18 4 1 104 19 —
Werder Bremen 2002–03 Bundesliga 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 [7]
Reutlingen 2002–03 2. Bundesliga 13 0 0 0 — — 13 0 [7]
Alemannia Aachen 2004–05 28 3 2 0 7 0 37 3 [13]
Bayer Leverkusen 2005–06 Bundesliga 32 7 2 0 1 0 2 0 37 7 [7]
2006–07 34 3 2 1 1 0 12 0 49 4 [7]
2007–08 34 8 1 0 — 12 1 47 8 [14]
2008–09 33 3 6 1 — 39 4 [15]
2009–10 11 4 2 0 13 4 [17]
2010–11 28 5 1 0 7 0 36 1 [18]
2011–12 31 3 1 0 8 0 40 3 [1]
2012–13 30 3 3 1 7 0 40 4 [19]
2013–14 31 4 4 0 8 3 43 7 [20]
2014–15 24 1 3 0 6 0 33 1 [21]
Totals 288 41 25 3 2 0 62 4 377 48 —
Bayer Leverkusen II 2010–11 Regionalliga West 1 0 — 1 0
Career totals 430 62 31 4 2 0 70 4 533 70 —

International appearances

As of 04:31, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Germany
YearAppsGoals
200770
2008101
200940
201151
Total262

International goals
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result CompetitionRef
1.6 September 2008Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein Liechtenstein0–30–62010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.11 November 2011Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, Kiev, Ukraine Ukraine3–23–3Friendly

Personal life

Rolfes married his wife, Jenny on 12 June 2009.[24] The couple has three daughters: Livia-Marie (born 24 May 2010),[25] Victoria Amelie (born 27 November 2012)[26] and Charlotte Sophie (born 17 July 2015).[27]

Honours

Club
Bayer 04 Leverkusen

References
  1. "Rolfes, Simon" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  2. "Simon Rolfes" (in German). Fussballdaten. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  3. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  4. "Simon Rolfes" (in German). Fussballdaten. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  5. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  6. "Simon Rolfes" (in German). Fussballdaten. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  7. "Simon Rolfes » Club matches" (in German). World Football. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  8. "Torfestival im Weserstadion" (in German). kicker. 3 October 2002. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  9. Pleyer, Frank (19 December 2002). "Simon Rolfes kommt aus Bremen" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  10. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  11. "Simon Rolfes" (in German). Fussballdaten. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  12. Arnhold, Matthias (3 March 2016). "Simon Rolfes - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  13. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  14. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  15. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  16. "Rolfes muss unter das Messer" (in German). kicker. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  17. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  18. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  19. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  20. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  21. "Simon Rolfes". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  22. "Bayer Leverkusen skipper Simon Rolfes announces retirement". ESPN FC. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  23. Arnhold, Matthias (3 March 2016). "Simon Rolfes - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  24. "Rolfes: Es war unvergesslich". Bild.de (in German). 14 June 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  25. "Babyglück bei Familie Rolfes". Bayer 04 Leverkusen (in German). 26 May 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  26. "Simon Rolfes". leverkusen.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  27. "Simon Rolfes zum dritten Mal Vater". Bayer 04 Leverkusen (in German). 19 July 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Carsten Ramelow		 Bayer Leverkusen captain
2008-–2015		 Succeeded by
Lars Bender
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