Wynton Rufer

Wynton Rufer
CNZM

Rufer in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Wynton Alan Whai Rufer
Date of birth	(1962-12-29) 29 December 1962 (age 61)
Place of birth	Wellington, New Zealand
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980	Stop Out	5	(2)
1981	Wellington Diamond	19	(7)
1982	Norwich City	0	(0)
1982	Miramar Rangers	8	(3)
1982–1986	FC Zürich	100	(43)
1986–1988	FC Aarau	37	(18)
1988–1989	Grasshoppers	22	(12)
1989–1995	Werder Bremen	174	(59)
1995–1996	JEF United	54	(38)
1997	1. FC Kaiserslautern	14	(4)
1997	Central United	30[ citation needed ]	(12)
1998	North Shore United	11[ citation needed ]	(3)
1999–2002	Auckland Kingz	48	(12)
Total		522	(213)
International career
1980–1997	New Zealand	23	(12)
Managerial career
1998–1999	North Shore
1999	New Zealand U16
1999–2002	Kingz
2014–2015	Papua New Guinea
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Wynton Alan Whai Rufer CNZM (born 29 December 1962) is a New Zealand retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent more than a decade of his professional career in Switzerland and Germany, achieving his greatest success at Werder Bremen, where he won a total of four major titles and finished the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League 1993–94 season. He was also a member of the New Zealand national team in its first FIFA World Cup appearance in 1982. He was named the Oceania Footballer of the Century by the Oceania Football Confederation.

Club career

Early career

Rufer was born in Wellington to a Swiss father, Arthur Rufer, and a New Zealand Māori mother, Anne Hine Rufer (née Campbell). He affiliates to the Ngāti Porou iwi. ^[1] After leaving the city's Rongotai College, he played his first football for Wellington Diamond United, Stop Out and Miramar Rangers.

After being voted New Zealand's Young Player of the Year in 1981 and 1982, ^[2] Rufer attracted the attention of Norwich City manager Ken Brown, who invited the player and his older brother Shane Rufer to Norfolk for a trial. He impressed and signed a professional contract on 23 October 1981, ^[3] becoming the first Kiwi to do so. However, he was denied a work permit to play in England, so he joined FC Zürich in May of the following year.

Switzerland

Rufer would play in Switzerland in the following seven years, also representing FC Aarau and Grasshoppers: whilst at the former, he topped the scoring charts at 21 in the 1987–88 season, helping his club to the fourth place. With the Hoppers, he won the domestic cup, precisely against Aarau, and surpassed the 100-goal mark in his years in the country.

Werder Bremen

In the 1989 summer, Rufer signed with Werder Bremen, coached by Otto Rehhagel. His Bundesliga debut came on 29 July, in a 0–0 draw at FC St. Pauli, and his impact was immediate, as he netted six times in his first 13 league matches. Overall, he would play an enormous part in the side's achievements, pairing with Klaus Allofs up front: on 6 May 1992, both scored in the final of the season's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, in Lisbon (2–0 win against Monaco).

In the 1992–93 league season, as Werder won the third championship in the club's history, Rufer finished second in the scoring charts, at 17. On 8 December 1993, he scored two against Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League, in a 5–3 home win (Anderlecht led 3–0 with 25 minutes to go); he finished as that competition's topscorer, alongside Barcelona's Ronald Koeman, and added his second German Cup. ^[4]

Rufer was voted Oceania's Player of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1992. ^{[3] [5]}

Later years

In 1994–95, the 31-year-old left Bremen and moved to JEF United Ichihara of the J1 League, finishing as the club's leading scorer in his second year. When Rehhagel took on the task of resurrecting 1. FC Kaiserslautern's fortunes in 1996 – the club would eventually return to the top division, as champions – he called upon Rufer in February 1997, and he contributed with four goals in 14 second division matches. ^[6]

Rufer returned to his country and successively represented Central United, North Shore United and Auckland Kingz, retiring at the age of nearly 40. He then founded a football coaching school, WYNRS, which produced football stars such as women's international Annalie Longo. ^[3]

With his brother Shane, Rufer took on player-coaching duties at North Shore United in 1998, before coaching the national Under-16 men's squad ahead of the 1999 Junior World Cup Finals, notably achieving a draw against the Under-16 men's teams of Austria and win over Norway in an unofficial U-16 World Cup tournament in Nice, France in 1998. He was appointed player-coach of the country's first professional football team, Auckland Kingz, participating in the Australian Soccer League for two seasons before retiring in 2001, having been named Oceania's Player of the Century ahead of Frank Farina (Australia) and Christian Karembeu (France, of New Caledonia descent). ^[4]

International career

Made his A-international debut for New Zealand against Kuwait on 16 October 1980 in the friendly international Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia aged 17 years and 291 days. ^[7] Added late to the squad for New Zealand in their World Cup qualification campaign in 1981 and played his first World Cup qualifier on 14 December 1981 against Kuwait, aged 18, scoring in a 2–2 draw for the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Rufer quickly established himself in the All Whites side. Late in the following year, he netted the 2–1 winner in the decisive playoff against China, which propelled the nation to its first World Cup ever. ^[4]

In the final stages in Spain, 19-year-old Rufer was the youngest member of the squad, appearing in all three group losses, against Scotland, the Soviet Union and Brazil. ^[8] In total, he gained 23 full caps, scoring 12 goals. ^{[9] [10]} From 1985–89, he only collected a total of five international appearances, namely due to the fact Zürich would not release him; ^[4] from there until 1996, he did not appear for the national side at all.

Managerial career

In February 2014, Rufer was appointed manager of Papua New Guinea. He was also responsible for managing Papua New Guinea U19 at the 2014 OFC U-20 Championship. ^[11]

Personal life

During his time in Switzerland, Rufer converted to Christianity and married his wife, Lisa, in 1986. They have two sons, Caleb and Joshua, who are also footballers. ^[12] His brother Shane and his nephew Alex also played professional football and played for the New Zealand national team.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total		Ref.
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stop Out	1980	National Soccer League	5	2			–		–		5	2	[13]
Wellington Diamond United	1981	National Soccer League	19	7			–		–		19	7	[13]
Miramar Rangers	1982	National Soccer League	8	3			–		–		8	3	[13]
FC Zürich	1982–83	Nationalliga A	23	9	4	2	7	1	–		34	12	[14]
	1983–84		22	8	4	2	3	1	–		29	11	[14]
	1984–85		22	10	3	3	5	1	–		30	14	[14]
	1985–86		28	14	1	1	5	1	–		34	16	[14]
	1986–87		5	2	0	0	4	2	–		9	4	[14]
	Total		100	43	12	8	24	6	0	0	136	57	–
FC Aarau	1986–87	Nationalliga A	15	7			0	0	4	3	19	10	[15]
	1987–88		22	11			0	0	14	9	36	20	[15]
	Total		37	18			0	0	18	12	55	30	–
Grasshoppers	1988–89	Nationalliga A	22	12			2	0	14	6	38	18	[15]
Werder Bremen	1989–90	Bundesliga	34	10	5	5	10	4	0	0	49	19	[15]
	1990–91		33	15	6	4	0	0	0	0	39	19	[15]
	1991–92		29	5	4	1	8	4	2 [lower-alpha 1]	2	43	12	[15]
	1992–93		32	17	5	5	4	4	1 [lower-alpha 2]	1	42	27	[15]
	1993–94		33	10	6	5	10	8	1 [lower-alpha 3]	1	50	24	[15]
	1994–95		13	2	3	0	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 4]	1	18	3	[15]
	Total		174	59	29	20	33	20	5	5	241	104	–
JEF United	1995	J.League	26	17							26	17	[13]
	1996		28	21							28	21	[13]
	Total		54	38							54	38	–
1. FC Kaiserslautern	1996–97	2. Bundesliga	14	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	4	[15]
Central United	1996–97	National Soccer League	30	12			–				30	12
North Shore United	1997–98	National Soccer League	11	3			–				11	3
Auckland Kingz	1999–2000	National Soccer League	25	6			–				25	6	[15]
	2000–01		18	6			–				18	6	[15]
	2001–02		5	0			–				5	0	[15]
	Total		103	31							103	31	–
Career total			536	217	41	28	59	26	37	23	673	294	–

1. Two appearances, two goals in German Super Cup
2. One appearance, one goal in UEFA Super Cup
3. One appearance, one goal in German Super Cup
4. One appearance, one goal in German Super Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
New Zealand [13]	1980	4	0
	1981	2	3
	1982	6	2
	1983	0	0
	1984	0	0
	1985	3	1
	1986	0	0
	1987	0	0
	1988	1	0
	1989	1	0
	1990	0	0
	1991	0	0
	1992	0	0
	1993	0	0
	1994	0	0
	1995	0	0
	1996	3	2
	1997	3	4
Total		23	12

Key

‡	Indicates goal was scored from a penalty kick

List of international goals scored by Wynton Rufer

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 October 1981	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Kuwait	1–0	1–2	1982 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	19 December 1981	Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	2–0	5–0
3				5–0
4	10 January 1982	National Stadium, Singapore	China	2–0	2–1
5	10 January 1982	Queen Elizabeth II Park, Christchurch, New Zealand	Hungary	1–1	1–2	Friendly
6	26 October 1985	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Israel	1–0	3–1	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	5 October 1996	Doha, Qatar	Qatar	?–?	2–3	Friendly
8				?–?
9	11 June 1997	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Papua New Guinea	3–0	7–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
10				4–0
11	18 June 1997	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Fiji	1–0	5–0
12				3–0

Honours

Grasshoppers ^[16]

• Swiss Cup: 1988–89
• Swiss Super Cup: 1989 ^[17]

Werder Bremen ^[16]

• Bundesliga: 1992–93
• DFB-Pokal: 1990–91, 1993–94
• DFB-Supercup: 1993, 1994
• UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1991–92

1. FC Kaiserslautern

• 2. Bundesliga: 1996–97

Central United

• Chatham Cup: 1997

Individual

• New Zealand Young Player of the Year: 1981 and 1982 ^[18]
• Oceania Footballer of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1992 ^{[3] [5]}
• FIFA Oceania Footballer of the Century ^[16]
• UEFA Champions League Top-scorer: 1993–94 ^[4]
• Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to soccer, in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours ^[19]
• New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2005 ^[16]
• Maori Sports Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2007 ^[16]
• Rufer is a member of the FIFA Football Committee, with Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini and Bobby Charlton. ^[20] He is also involved with the FIFA Ambassadors Against Racism Committee. ^[21]
• IFFHS Legends ^[22]
• IFFHS Oceania Men's Team of All Time: 2021 ^[23]

References

1. "Wynton Rufer CNZM". Māori Sports Awards. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
2. "Honours List". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
3. "Rufer's a Wynr in New Zealand". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
4. Maddaford, Terry (15 December 2001). "Soccer: Rufer - simply the best we've had". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
5. Pierrend, José Luis (26 February 2009). "Oceania Player of the Year". RSSSF . Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
6. Arnhold, Matthias (23 February 2017). "Wynton Alan Whai Rufer - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF . Retrieved 3 March 2017.
7. Mamrud, Roberto (23 February 2017). "Wynton Alan Whai Rufer - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF . Retrieved 3 March 2017.
8. "NZ 1982 World Cup". New Zealand Soccer. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
9. "A-International Appearances – Overall". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
10. "A-International Scorers – Overall". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
11. "Wynton Rufer appointed PNG national coach". pngfootball.com.pg. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
12. "Young Rufer focused on making name for himself". Stuff. 13 November 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
13. "Wynton Rufer". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
14. "Wynton Rufer". dbFCZ (in German). Retrieved 20 July 2018.
15. "Wynton Rufer » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
16. "Wynton Rufer". wynrs.co.nz. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
17. "Switzerland Super Cup Finals". RSSSF . Retrieved 22 February 2022.
18. "Wynton Rufer". Ultimatenzsoccer. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
19. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2008". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
20. "The greatest honour for any footballer". FIFA.com. 24 May 2002. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
21. "FIFA Ambassadors against Racism". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009.
22. "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
23. "IFFHS ALL TIME OCEANIA MEN'S DREAM TEAM". IFFHS. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.

External links

• Wynton Rufer at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• FC Zürich stats (in German)
• Ultimate NZSoccer profile and biography
• Norwich City archives
• Wynton Rufer at Aussie Footballers
• Wynton Rufer at National-Football-Teams.com
• Wynton Rufer – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Wynton Rufer at J.League ( archive ) (in Japanese)
• The official WYNRS site