Manfred Schaefer

Manfred Schaefer (12 February 1943 – 28 March 2023) was a German soccer player who played as a defender. At club level he won titles with St. George Budapest. Born in Germany, he represented the Australian national team internationally, participating in the 1974 World Cup in Germany. As coach he was several times runner-up in the Australian National Soccer League with various clubs.

Early life Schaefer was born in the East Prussian town of Pillau, Germany (now Baltiysk, Russia), near Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). In the dying days of World War II his family fled westward to Bremen. In 1954 the family emigrated with Manfred, by then aged 11, to Australia. Schaefer was a milkman, a job that required him to deliver fresh milk to households in the suburbs every morning, and to which his extraordinary physical fitness was often attributed.

Playing career Schaefer started his football career in 1960 with Blacktown in west Sydney, playing in the second division of New South Wales. In 1963 he joined first division Budapest Club, which was renamed St. George-Budapest SC by 1965. There he played until 1975 alongside other great Australian football stars of the era, such as Attila Abonyi and Johnny Warren, winning the state championship in 1967, 1971, 1974 and 1975, the highest possible achievement in Australian football at the time in the absence of a national competition. He won the state cup, then known as the Ampol Cup, in 1967, 1972 and 1975; and in 1964 and 1972, the Federation Cup of New South Wales. The titles of 1975 he won as player-coach.

Schaefer's debut for the national side occurred on 5 November 1967, in a 5–3 victory over New Zealand, during the Vietnam National Day Tournament in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). He played 73 times in the colours of Australia, 49 times in official international matches in which he scored one goal. His last three matches for Australia were 1974 World Cup, against East Germany, West Germany and Chile. He also represented New South Wales in interstate matches.

Schaefer Terrace in the Sydney suburb of Glenwood is named after him. His daughter Kim Schaefer played a couple of non-A international matches for the Australia women's national soccer team.

Death On 28 March 2023, it was reported that Schaefer had died at the age of 80.