You don't have to be an international player to leave an impact on the beautiful game.
Sometimes, leaving a long lasting impact on a local club can leave a lasting legacy in your career.
For Alexander Meier, that club is Eintracht Frankfurt.
And as he returns as a U-16 coach at the club after playing in 379 games for them, he is sure to oversee the next generation of Eintracht heroes.
Let us go through his career briefly, including the climax of his career in Australia. Keep reading.
Alexander Meier's first professional club was St.Pauli. In the 2001/02 campaign, Meier appeared in two games for the club.
In the following season, he started getting regular games for the club and bagged seven goals, gaining popularity with the fans and gamblers at online mobile casinos in Germany.
Eventually, he moved to Hamburger SV. Unfortunately, he only played for the first team four times, getting six games for the reserve team in the process.
In 2004, Meier left for Eintracht Frankfurt and started his love story with the club.
The first two seasons for Frankfurt were magnificent for the German as he scored 20 goals over two seasons. His performances resulted in Eintracht reaching the final of the DFB-Pokal in 2006.
Despite having a couple of injury-hit seasons, Meier started to produce his best for the club as he scored 12 goals in the 2009/10 season.
The span of 2011 to 2016 saw Meier at the peak of his powers as he scored 80 goals in five years from attacking midfield.
He finished as the top scorer of the 2014/15 Bundesliga campaign with 19 goals, with players like Arjen Robben behind him in the golden boot race.
Meier's best campaign with Eintracht Frankfurt came in the 2014/15 season, in which he scored 20 goals.
Despite him showing signs of decline in the 2016/17 season, he once again was pivotal in ensuring that Frankfurt reached the final of the DFB-Pokal.
In the 2017/18 season, Meier was only able to play one match, which came against his former club, Hamburger SV. He scored in that game.
Most importantly, he finally enjoyed silverware with the club as Frankfurt won the DFB-Pokal in 2018.
In 2019, St.Pauli announced that they had welcomed back Meier to their club.
He had numerous injuries and was usually an impact sub as he scored six goals in 16 appearances for his return to the boyhood club.
In September 2019, Western Sydney Wanderers announced Meier's signing after St.Pauli had released him. Sydney's management announced Meier as their marquee signing.
However, his time in Australia was short-lived as he only played 12 matches. You could quite easily spend more time playing online casino gaming than Meier did playing for Wanderers!
Meier's contract was terminated by the Wanderers' management because of his off-field problems as his family wasn't granted visas to join him in Australia.
Only 11 days after his contract termination, Alexander Meier announced his retirement from professional football.
Being the assistant of Helge Rasche in the U-16 team of Eintracht, Meier is sure to try his luck in management.
So do not be surprised if you see him in the dugout of any Bundesliga side in the next 5-10 years.
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