Thomas Wolter

{{short description|German former professional footballer (born 1963)}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Thomas Wolter

| image =

| fullname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|10|4|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Hamburg, West Germany

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = 1.80 m

| position = Midfielder, defender

| currentclub =

| youthyears1 = 1971–1979 | youthclubs1 = TuS Ottensen

| youthyears2 = 1979–1984 | youthclubs2 = HEBC Hamburg

| years1 = 1984–1998 | clubs1 = Werder Bremen | caps1 = 312 | goals1 = 12

| nationalyears1 = 1992 | nationalteam1 = Germany | nationalcaps1 = 1 | nationalgoals1 = 0

| manageryears1 = 2002–2013 | managerclubs1 = Werder Bremen II

}}

Thomas Wolter (born 4 October 1963) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or a defender, and the current manager of SV Werder Bremen's youth academy.

Club career

Born in Hamburg, Wolter arrived at SV Werder Bremen in the summer of 1984, from local amateurs Hamburg Eimsbütteler Ballspiel Club. After only three games in his first season in the Bundesliga he became first-choice, and remained his entire professional career with the same club.

Due to injury, Wolter was only able to appear in 16 matches in the 1987–88 campaign as the Hanseatic League team won the second national championship in its history, the first in 23 years. He also appeared in four German Cup finals in the late 80s/early 90s, winning two and losing two.

Wolter played in 34 official contests in 1991–92 – this included six in the season's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup which ended in conquest, with the player being stretchered off in the first half of the 2–0 final win against Monaco.{{cite web|url=http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/ecwc/history/season=1991/intro.html|title=1991/92: Bremen shine in Stadium of Light|publisher=UEFA|date=1 June 1992|access-date=23 May 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503064833/http://en.archive.uefa.com/competitions/ecwc/history/season%3D1991/intro.html|archive-date=3 May 2010}} He retired in June 1998 at almost 35 years of age, with nearly 400 official games – 312 in the (West) German top-flight{{Cite web | url = http://rsssf.com/players/thwolterdata.html | title = Thomas Wolter - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga | first = Matthias | last = Arnhold | date = 25 July 2019 | accessdate = 26 July 2019 | publisher = RSSSF.com}} - to his credit.

In the molds of another Werder legend, Thomas Schaaf, Wolter continued his career at the club as a manager, starting in the reserve team.{{cite web|url=http://www.spox.com/de/sport/fussball/dritte-liga/1102/Artikel/interview-thomas-wolter-werder-bremen-amateure-abstieg-thomas-schaaf.html|title=Man kann den Spielern nicht immer helfen|trans-title=One can not always help the players|publisher=Spox|language=German|date=24 February 2011|accessdate=29 March 2012}} In July 2013 he was appointed at the youth academy, while Viktor Skrypnyk replaced him at the reserves.

International career

Wolter gained one cap for Germany,{{Cite web | url = http://rsssf.com/miscellaneous/thwolter-intl.html | title = Thomas Wolter - International Appearances | first = Matthias | last = Arnhold | date = 25 July 2019 | accessdate = 26 July 2019 | publisher = RSSSF.com}} playing 60 minutes in a 3–1 friendly loss with Brazil in Porto Alegre, on 16 December 1992.