Mark Schwarzer

NSL Career: Marconi 58 (0) / 1990/91 - 1993/94

Socceroos Career: 109 (0) A Internationals / 1 (0) B International

Arguably Australia's greatest keeper, Mark Schwarzer proved himself early in the NSL before embarking on a successful 20-year career in Germany and England. Tall and agile, Schwarzer's match-winning performances saw him become a national team hero during Australia's greatest era.

Born in Sydney to German immigrants, Schwarzer began his junior career outside of Sydney at Colo Cougars as a seven year old. Schwarzer later moved to the Nepean Association where began his career-long competition with fellow keeper Zeljko Kalac, who played in the same district.

Unable to overthrow Kalac from the representative side, Schwarzer moved to Blacktown. After progressing to Blacktown's U-16 side, Schwarzer decided against staying with the club's state league side without specialised coaching and joined Marconi where he was tutored by former Socceroos B keeper Nick Sokoloff. 

The young keeper progressed through the Marconi ranks and made his NSL debut at the age of 18.

With Marconi's two-time championship-winning keeper Bob Catlin in the side, Schwarzer had to bide his time at the club, making his second league appearance the following season.

Schwarzer held down the keeper position for the last nine league games of the season, keeping four clean sheets, and played in Marconi's NSL Cup Final loss to Adelaide City. Catlin left for England at the end of the season, giving Schwarzer an opportunity to permanently hold down his position in the starting line up. 

Marconi signed experienced gloveman Tony Pezzano from Wollongong to cover Catlin and Pezzano put the young Schwarzer on notice, starting the first six games of the season. Pezzano failed to keep a clean sheet before being replaced by Schwarzer, who kept three clean sheets in his first three starts before cementing his position. 

Schwarzer finished the season with seven clean sheets, second behind Adelaide City's Robert Zabica, and was named the NSL Keeper of the Year as Marconi finished second in the league. Schwarzer kept clean sheets in both legs of Marconi's major semi-final win over South Melbourne and grand final victory over Adelaide City. Following the 1992/93 season, Schwarzer made his full international debut in the first leg of Australia's 1994 World Cup inter-confederation play-off against Canada after Socceroos keeper Robert Zabica was sent off in the first half.

The inexperienced international became the hero for Australia in the second leg, saving two penalties in a penalty shoot-out which saw the side qualify for the final play-off against Argentina. Schwarzer continued to improve during the 1993/94 season, playing in all but four league matches for Marconi and helped the side reach the minor semi-final in which they lost three-one to Adelaide City.

Wanting to take his game to the next level and challenge Mark Bosnich and Zeljko Kalac for the Socceroos goalkeeping position, Schwarzer turned down a trial with top German side Borussia Dortmund to sign for East German giants Dynamo Dresden. Schwarzer made just two league appearances for Dresden as their second choice keeper before moving to Kaiserslautern. Schwarzer faced similar issues at Kaiserslautern, being relegated to third choice behind the club's goalkeeping coach Gerry Ehrmann. 

The Australian keeper made just four Bundesliga appearances for the club before they were relegated at the end of the 1995/96 season and was unable to get his spot back while the club competed in 2. Bundesliga. Schwarzer moved to English First Division side Bradford City during the 1996/97 season and made an immediate impact as he made 13 league appearances before joining Premier League side Middlesbrough for the remainder of the season, turning a huge profit for Bradford. 

Schwarzer became Middlesbrough's number one following the club's relegation to the First Division and helped them gain promotion back to the Premier League. Schwarzer remained Middlesbrough's main keeper for the next 10 seasons in the Premier League, playing in two League Cup Finals (winning in 2004) and the UEFA Cup Final in 2006 (lost four-nil to Sevilla). 

During his time at Middlesbrough, Schwarzer continuously competed for the Socceroos keeper position with Kalac and started in both World Cup qualifying play-offs against Uruguay in 2001 and 2005. The 2005 play-off resulted in a penalty shoot-out at the end of the second leg where Schwarzer, reminiscent of his heroics against Canada in 1993, made two saves as Australia qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974.

Schwarzer started in two of Australia's 2006 World Cup group stage matches and was influential in helping the side reach the second round but was unable to stop Francesco Totti's last minute penalty as Australia lost one-nil to eventual champions Italy. The Socceroos gloveman joined Fulham for the 2008/09 season and spent five seasons at the club: helping them remain a mid-table side, being named club champion in 2009 and started in all of Australia's 2007 Asian Cup and 2010 World Cup matches. 

In his forties, Schwarzer joined Premier League giants Chelsea and made four league appearances as back-up to Petr Čech. Schwarzer failed to make an appearance for Chelsea during the 2014/15 season and joined Leicester City where he made six league appearances, making his Leicester debut at the age of 42.

The veteran keeper remained with the club until the end of the 2015/16 season but was ineligible for a championship medal after making no league appearances. Following the 2015/16 season, Schwarzer hung up his boots at the age of 43 - retiring as the only player outside of the UK to play 500 EPL matches (currently eighth on the all-time appearances list), placed third on the EPL's all-time clean sheets list and ended his international career as the most capped Socceroo in history.

Schwarzer has since become a football presenter and podcaster for Optus Sport and was selected as keeper in both Marconi's Greatest XI and FFA's Socceroos Team of the 2000s and early 2010s. Schwarzer's English-born son Julian, who is also a keeper, began his junior career at his father's former club Fulham and has gone on to represent the Philippines national team.