Stolen Penguins And Dying In Bradford - The Story of Aberdeen's New Upstairs Figure

Stolen Penguins And Dying In Bradford - The Story of Aberdeen's New Upstairs Figure

Aberdeen FC have appointed a new sporting director, the one and only Lutz Pfannenstiel.

Pfannenstiel is a highly accomplished sporting director, having previously worked for St Louis City SC in the American MLS, in which he played a huge part in making the club the first expansion team to win a regular season conference title in 2023.

Prior to this he was the sporting director in his native home of Germany for current 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf. In Pfannenstiel's time at the club, they were a division higher, playing in Germany's top flight, the Bundesliga.

During this time he played a crucial background role in guiding them to their highest league finish in nearly 30 years when they finished 10th in the 2018/19 season.

Though he is evidently an accomplished sporting director and will likely help steer Aberdeen back in a positive direction, that is not the key focus of the story today; instead, we're going to be looking at how Aberdeen's new upstairs figure has led one of the most insane lives football has ever seen.

Our exclusive interview with new Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel is now available to watch on the AFC YouTube channel.

📺 https://t.co/NbIus20LyS pic.twitter.com/q58ZFoco19

— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) November 17, 2025

Time As One Of Football's Ultimate Journeymen

To understand how Lutz ended up in half of the situations that he did, it makes sense to note how much of a frankly bizarre career he had.

Starting off as a talent back home in Germany, he made his way through the U17 national team set-up in hopes of one day making it into the nation's starting 11, playing international football. He had as much self-belief as any top footballer does, so much so that he began his career with a questionable decision, to say the least.

After his time at 1. FC Bad Kotzting, multiple offers came through, including one from Bavarian giants Bayern Munich. Most players would jump at the chance for such a move so early in their career; however, Pfannenstiel, fearing becoming a perennial backup, instead opted for an offer from Malaysian side Penang FA at just 20 years old.

This was the catalyst for a spate of interesting moves for the German keeper, which ultimately led to him being the first and only player to have played in all 6 of FIFA's confederations.

The Unstoppable Keeper
The Well Travelled
Lutz Pfannenstiel pic.twitter.com/KXX2J4rJSe

— SUPERB FOOTY PICS (@SuperbFootyPics) December 17, 2024

He hopped from club to club, never really settling down anywhere; he did have a penchant for returning to certain clubs once or twice, such as New Zealand's Dunedin Technical, whom he signed for on 3 separate occasions. Over the course of his career, he managed to become a former player for 23 different clubs all over the globe.

For 99.9% of footballers this would likely be the most interesting fact about them; it's an incredible record and achievement, and it is unlikely anyone will contest to take this record from the German any time soon. For Pfannenstiel, however, this is hardly even a footnote in comparison to some of the other things he got up to.

The Time He Stole A Penguin

Yes, that's right Lutz Pfannenstiel once stole a penguin. Aberdeen have hired a man who has committed penguin theft.

The act came about during his time in New Zealand, and the story goes that he kidnapped a penguin from a local colony whilst living on the islands. In his view, he only borrowed it and had plans to return the animal the next morning.

In the meanwhile the penguin stayed with Pfannenstiel for an evening; well, I say 'with'; it stayed in his bathtub before he was told he had to return it to the colony immediately or he would face deportation. For the sake of his career and for the penguin, he did return it.

He frequently jokes about 'that bloody penguin' and his efforts to keep it as a pet in his bathtub, stating that it's all anyone ever asks him about as though it's an incredibly normal act to have committed.

As much as I'd love to agree with him, it's probably a pretty fair question to ask. I mean, how many footballers, or people for that matter, have kidnapped a penguin before, and how could you not have questions about it?

"I did have a penguin in my bathtub once."

New Aberdeen sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel addresses his colourful past, including how he once "borrowed" a penguin and was "dead in Bradford".

He was also asked if he backs manager Jimmy Thelin.

More: https://t.co/csrEdhLMon pic.twitter.com/zGbfXRPFdN

— BBC North East Scot (@BBCNorthEast) November 18, 2025

The Time He Died In Bradford

Not just a penguin kidnapper, Aberdeen's new sporting director also once died 3 times and came back to life in West Yorkshire, or more specifically, in Bradford.

This event occurred when he was playing for non-league side Bradford Park Avenue. He went in for a 50/50 challenge against Harrogate Town's Clayton Donaldson and was sadly left in a coma after the challenge went horrifically wrong and Donaldson collided with his sternum.

The ensuing result was a collapse of Pfannenstiel's lungs and a shutdown of his nervous system. The ordeal was so bad that doctors pronounced him clinically dead on 3 occasions.

Boxing Day 2002 I died on the pitch in Bradford,but I was lucky to survive.Not many people have 2 birthdays..... pic.twitter.com/ihDNz5tZbD

— Lutz Pfannenstiel (@1_LPfannenstiel) December 26, 2014

Thankfully, the German goalie went on to make a full recovery despite not even realising quite how severe of an ordeal he went through at the time.

In an interview he stated, “I didn’t initially realise how serious it was. When I woke up in the hospital later that day, I was angry at the nurses because we were winning 2-0 and I wanted to keep a clean sheet and help us get three points.

“One week later, I was on the field playing again. The doctors advised against it, and I was probably irresponsible, but if I’d waited a couple of months, I would’ve become too frightened to return."

The Time He Spent Over 100 Days In A Singaporean Prison

Before dying 3 times in Bradford and kidnapping a wild penguin, Pfannenstiel spent over 100 days in a Singaporean prison over alleged match-fixing-related charges.

Whilst playing for Singaporean side Geyland United, in January 2001 the keeper was judged to have made a 'corrupt verbal agreement' and was found guilty of accepting a match-fixer's offer to raise three separate sums of 7,000 Singaporean dollars to bet on his team's games.

Lutz himself has strongly denied ever committing the act he was found guilty of, and to be honest, he may be telling the truth, seeing as he was released after 101 days due to lack of evidence.

In an interview with the Guardian, he spoke about his time in prison and how it made him grow up so quickly.

“It was a horrible time, and I still have nightmares about it. When you wake up and you’re lying next to murderers and rapists without a toothbrush and without toilet paper, it makes you re-evaluate the life you had before."

“It’s difficult to instantly move on from things like that, although it did make me appreciate what is really important in life. Footballers go to training in their nice cars and expensive clothes without a care in the world. In that respect, prison made me grow up fast.

"You have to get back on your feet, and I knew that the only way was up. It can’t get much worse than false imprisonment 6,000 miles from home.”

Other Things He Got Up To

If all of the above wasn't enough to understand how insane of a life this man had, here's a short list of some of the other things he got up to just as a cherry on top of all the rest:

1. He once modelled for Armani
2. After his playing career he went into TV punditry
3. Set up a climate change charity, Global United, for which he managed to enlist the help of legends like Zinedine Zidane, Lothar Matthaus, Zico and Carlos Valderrama
4. Published an autobiography which got him named 'the craziest man in football' by FourFourTwo magazine

All you can really say is fair play.

Conclusion

In short, Lutz Pfannenstiel has led perhaps one of the most insane and unfathomable lives in the history of football. There's an argument to be made about him leading one of the most insane lives of all time, full stop, but certainly in football.

Aberdeen have hired a penguin kidnapping, Armani modelling, climate change tackling, former Singaporean prisoner who managed to come back from being declared clinically dead 3 times.

And yet despite all this, it appears to be a very astute appointment; his footballing track record speaks for itself. Both at Fortuna Dusseldorf and St Louis City SC, he has pulled the clubs back from some very poor situations.

LUTZ PFANNENSTIEL WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE!!!!

…

WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!!! https://t.co/Goo3dsDcbv pic.twitter.com/K4dXGwNpzx

— Second City St. Louisan🇺🇸🇳🇬 (@M_McDaniel2012) April 16, 2023

But don't expect it to be an uneventful appointment if his life is anything to go by. Lutz Pfannenstiel may have a great footballing track record for his new job, but it might take a while before we can truly move past asking about the man himself. To be perfectly honest, I'm unsure we ever will.