Paul Scharner

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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, Austria
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Central Defender/ Midfield
Club information
Current club	Wigan Athletic
Number	18
Youth clubs
P1987–1993 1993–1996 1996–1998	SVG Purgstall VSE St. Pölten Austria Wien
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–2004 2004 2004–2006 2006–	Austria Wien SV Salzburg SK Brann Wigan Athletic	84 0(3) 18 0(3) 32 0(7) 78 (10)
National team
2002–2006	Austria	12 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.

Contents 1 Honours 1.1 England 1.2 Norway 1.3 Austria 2 External links

[edit] Honours

[edit] England

• English League Cup runner up 2006

[edit] Norway

• Norwegian Cup: 2004

[edit] Austria

• Austrian Cup: 2003
• Austrian League: 2003

[edit] 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

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