Mark Schwarzer

Mark Schwarzer was a goalkeeper formerly of Fulham. Originally rising to prominence in England with Middlesbrough, Mark joined Fulham in the summer of 2008 where he remained for five years. An influential member of the Australian national team, he was selected in both 2006 & 2010 World Cups. His son Julian, also a goalkeeper, was briefly part of the academy.

Before Fulham
Schwarzer's first club was Colo Cougars in Richmond, New South Wales of his home nation Australia. Schwarzer has worn the same pair of shin pads since he started his professional career at the age of 19 with Marconi Stallions, in the National Soccer League. He left the Sydney-based club to play in Germany with Dynamo Dresden and Kaiserslautern. He then traveled to England to play for Bradford City, where he eventually joined Middlesbroughin February 1997 where he stayed for over a decade. Schwarzer's contract with Middlesbrough expired in June 2008, and although he was offered a new contract, Schwarzer revealed in an interview that he had received offers from Bayern Munich and Juventus but declined their offers because they could not guarantee him the position as their first choice goalkeeper.

Fulham (2008-2013)
Schwarzer made his Fulham debut in a 2–1 defeat to newly-promoted Premier League side Hull City, but he followed up by keeping a clean sheet in his next match in a 1–0 win at home to Arsenal and played every minute of the 2008–09 season. He kept ten clean sheets during the 2008–09 season in all competitions.

Schwarzer's contribution was phenomenal as his performances lead Fulham to a high seventh place finish and a place in Europe the next season, a massive improvement on Fulham's 17th place finish just a season before. Notable scalps included wins over Arsenal, Manchester United and a draw with Chelsea largely due to many spectacular saves from Schwarzer. He received the Fulham Player of the Year award 2008–09 in his first year at the club. He was also named Barclays Premier League's Player of the Month for February 2010, in which he only conceded one goal in his team's two wins and two draws that month, making him the first Australian to do so.

He played an important role in Fulham reaching the Europa League final in 2009-10, but Schwarzer lost his second European final of his career with a narrow defeat to Atlético Madrid.

After impressive displays in 2009–10 season Schwarzer caught the eye of Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger who stated that Arsenal are in the market for a new keeper after seeing the form of Manuel Almunia and Łukasz Fabiański come into questioning. It had been reported that a bid of around £2m in May 2010 had been made for Schwarzer and second bid of around the same value had been made in August 2010, however both were rejected by Fulham.

It was reported on 11 August 2010 that Schwarzer had handed in a transfer request, paving a way for his move to Arsenal to be complete, which was later confirmed by Fulham Manager Mark Hughes who also rejected his request. On 31 August 2010, it was reported that Arsenal had made a last-ditch bid to bring Schwarzer to the Emirates Stadium before the transfer window closed, however Hughes denied that any approach was made.

Schwarzer signed a contract extension with Fulham on 18 January 2012, committing himself to the club until at least the summer of 2013. The 2012-13 season proved to be his last for Fulham, and it was a fairly successful one for him, with three penalty saves and many strong performances.

After Fulham
With his contract run down, Chelsea signed him on a free transfer for one year, with Mark still hoping to represent his native Australia in the 2014 World Cup the following year before his possible retirement. He made a handful of appearances as the number two 'keeper before moving to Leicester City.

He managed to earn a Premier League winners' medal with the Foxes in his final year as a professional in 2015-16, as they managed to beat all odds and win the League despite being 5000-1 favourites at the start of the season.

Upon retirement, Mark moved into the world of football punditry.