Ansho, Stefan

Anshau attracted attention for the first time, speaking for the German Hamburg , in which he spent two seasons. In 1997, he moved to Blackburn Rovers and played for this team for two years. At the end of the 1998/99 season , Blackburn left the Premier League , and Liverpool coach Gerard Houlier decided to use this to strengthen his team’s defenses. Ansho’s contract indicated that if Blackburn departs, Stefan will be able to join any team that offers three and a half million pounds for him, and the Reds bought Anshaw from Rovers for the required amount.

At Liverpool, Stefan composed an “impenetrable” central defenders duet with Sami Hüypiy , who became one of the most important links in the team that won the treble ( League Cup , FA Cup and UEFA Cup ) in 2001. By the way, Ansho’s hand play in his own penalty area in the 90th minute of the final match for the League Cup almost cost Liverpool a victory, as a penalty was awarded, with which Birmingham equalized. As a result, extra time was appointed, and when it did not reveal a winner, the teams had to break through a penalty shootout. Fortunately for the Ansho team, out of six hits in the series, only Hamann beat the fourth, and McAllister , Barmby , Ziege , Fowler and Carragher made their attempts. As a result, Liverpool took the first of five cups that the team managed to win in 2001.

Soon, Ansho lost his place for a while due to an injury and was replaced by Croatian midfielder Igor Bishchan , but then returned again to help Liverpool take fourth place in the 2003/04 season , which gave the Merseysiders the right to participate in the Champions League (that the Reds campaign ended with a strong-willed victory in the Istanbul Final on May 25, 2005). However, after the summer of 2004, Ulle was replaced by Rafael Benitez as head coach of Liverpool, Ansho's career at this club came to an end. Benitez saw Jupi Jamie Carragher as a partner, and in January 2005, Stefan moved to Celtic as a free agent, in which, however, he stayed for a short while, soon returning to England.

In the summer of 2005, Ansho’s contract with Celtic expired, and although the Glasgow club offered to renew it, Stefan chose to go to Wigan , which was coached by former Liverpool reservist Paul Jewell . Ansho became the main player in this team, but only a year later he decided to join the team in which the English stage of his career had once begun, by signing a contract with Blackburn Rovers . A large number of injuries did not allow him to regularly appear on the field, and after two not very successful seasons of Stefan in this team, on May 19, 2008, the Rovers coach Mark Hughes decided to terminate his contract. Interestingly, just a few days later, Hughes himself decided to leave Blackburn, leaving for Manchester City .

In October 2008, Stefan announced his retirement. ^[2] Coached the Blackburn and Bulle youth team.

• FA Cup (2001)
• UEFA Cup (2001)
• League Cup (2001, 2003)
• UEFA Super Cup (2001)
• England Super Cup (2001)

• Player profile and coach profile on the Transfermarkt website
• Player profile on Liverbird.ru (Russian)
• Player profile on LFCHistory.net