Paul Scharner

Paul Scharner Personal information Full name Paul Josef Fritzl Scharner Date of birth March 11, 1980(1980-03-11) (age 28) Place of birth Scheibbs, AustriaHeight 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Playing position Central Defender/ MidfieldClub information Current club Wigan AthleticNumber 18 Youth clubs P1987–1993
1993–1996
1996–1998 SVG Purgstall
VSE St. Pölten
Austria WienSenior clubs1 Years Club App (Gls)* 1998–2004
2004
2004–2006
2006– Austria Wien
SV Salzburg
SK Brann
Wigan Athletic84 0(3)
18 0(3)
32 0(7)
78 (10) National team 2002–2006 Austria12 0(0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 19:38, 16 May 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Paul Josef Herbert Scharner (born March 11, 1980 in Scheibbs) is an Austrian footballer. He was originally used as a midfielder, earning caps for the Austrian national team, but since late 2005 he has been utilised as a central defender for his club team Wigan Athletic.

In the Austrian Bundesliga, Paul Scharner played for Austria Wien and SV Salzburg, before joining Norwegian club SK Brann in 2004.

He was voted player of the year by the Brann fans in 2005, and one of the best players on all the major player rankings in Norwegian newspapers and TV channels in 2005.

Scharner signed a 3.5 year deal with Wigan Athletic in December 22, 2005, and joined the squad after the holidays. Wigan agreed a fee of £2,500,000 (€3,700,000, 29,500,000 NOK), making it the biggest transfer in SK Brann's history. [1]

In his first match for Wigan, Scharner scored the winning goal against Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

Scharner has retired from playing international football for his country Austria, after falling out with the Austrian FA. He has labelled the set-up a shambles and blamed the unprofessional set-up of the national FA as the reason behind his decision.

In 2008 he showed interest in returning to the Austrian squad, and also had a personal meeting with Austrian headcoach Joseph Hickersberger regarding a possible return, but didn't show up in the Austrian 31-player preselection for the Euro 2008.

1 Honours
2 External links

Honours

External links

Paul Scharner career stats at Soccerbase
Official site (German)

v • d • e Wigan Athletic F.C.– current squad

1 Kirkland • 2 Taylor • 3 Edman • 5 Palacios • 6 Sibierski • 8 Kilbane • 9 Heskey • 10 Koumas • 11 Brown • 12 Pollitt • 14 King • 15 Aghahowa • 16 Valencia • 17 Boyce • 18 Scharner • 19 Bramble • 20 Olembé • 21 Cywka • 23 Bent • 24 Skoko • 25 Melchiot • 26 Bouaouzan • 27 Kupisz • 28 Moore • 29 Montrose • 30 Saunders • 31 Figueroa • 32 Hagen • Manager: Bruce

PersondataNAME Scharner, Paul Josef Herbert ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scharner, Paul SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer DATE OF BIRTH 1980-3-11 PLACE OF BIRTH Scheibbs, AustriaDATE OF DEATH 2008-3-16 PLACE OF DEATH Wigan, England