Wynton Rufer

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Wynton Rufer(born 29 December 1962) (married to Lisa, 2 sons - Caleb & Joshua) was a celebrated New Zealand soccer representative. His father is Swiss, his mother a part maori of Ngati Porou descent. He played for New Zealand as well as the Werder Bremen club in West Germany, including winning the Cup Winners' Cup with them. He also played for Norwich City, FC Zurich, FC Grasshoppers & FC Aarau(Switzerland), FC Kaiserslautern (Germany) & JEF United (Japan - J League).

Wynton Rufer was part of the New Zealand national team which competed in the finals of the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He signed with FC Zurich before the World Cup in Spain. Wynton Rufer was voted as the Oceania Footballer of the Century ahead of Frank Farina (Australia) and Christian Karembeu (New Caledonia/France). He also won the Oceania Footballer of the Year title three times (1989, 1990 and 1992) & footballer of the decade (1990's). He ended his career with the Football Kingz 2001, National Soccer League (Australia). Rufer, although well past his prime, was one of the only bright lights in the club.

Wynton Rufer founded the Wynrs (pronounced winners) football school for youth players in 1997. www.wynrs.com The school is based in Auckland, New Zealand. There is a grassroots programme and then the academy for the talented players who want to train more. Annalie Longo attributes the Wynrs Academy as the biggest influence on her career.She was the youngest member of the NZ women's U-20 World Cup team in Russia,2006. Mario Hofmann is the recipient of a $US100,000 scholarship with J-League club Kyoto Purple Sanga.The NZ U-17 rep says "I would never be where I am now if it wasn't for Wynton Rufer and the Wynrs programme." 17 year old Michael Fitzgerald is another New Zealander on a scholarship in Japan that has come through Wynrs NZ.

Aside from these successes, it seems that Wynrs is seen as something of a strain on club football in New Zeland. Often, teams are split into those who attend Wynrs and those who do not. It has been said by several high ranking Soccer2 members that Wynrs is unecessary and often separates teams, discouraging team unity. Also, Wynrs is often disliked by coaching staff at clubs as their training methods are not diverse enough to properly prepare players for professional football.

Wynton Rufer is currently a member of the Fifa Football Committee (Pele, Beckenbauer,Platini, Sir Bobby Charlton) the Fifa Ambassadors Against Racism Committee (Thierry Henry, Paolo Maldini)& the Australian Professional Footballers Association Committee (Alex Tobin, Craig Foster, Jesper Olsen.) In 2005 Rufer was the first soccer player to be inducted into the NZ Sports Hall of Fame.

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Frank Farina	Oceania Player of the Year 1989	Succeeded by: Wynton Rufer
Preceded by: Wynton Rufer	Oceania Player of the Year 1990	Succeeded by: Robbie Slater
Preceded by: Robbie Slater	Oceania Player of the Year 1992	Succeeded by: Robbie Slater

	New Zealand squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Wilson \| 2 Dods \| 3 Herbert \| 4 Turner \| 5 Bright \| 6 Almond \| 7 Rufer \| 8 Cole \| 9 Wooddin \| 10 Sumner \| 11 Malcolmson \| 12 Mackay \| 13 Cresswell \| 14 Elrick \| 15 Hill \| 16 Adam \| 17 Boath \| 18 Simonsen \| 19 McClure \| 20 Turner \| 21 Pickering \| 22 van Hattum \| Coach: Adshead