Wynton Rufer burst on the national consciousness when the national team, the All Whites, qualified for the World Cup finals in 1982 and it was not long before he was recognised internationally as well. He played for clubs in Switzerland before he moved to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga in 1989. There, he became a household name, one of the celebrated superstars of European soccer. In his six years with Werder Bremen, there was league and cup success and he scored one of the goals in the Werder 2-0 defeat of Monaco in the 1992 European Cup Winners Cup final. He also played in Japan, returned for another winner's medal with Kaiserslautern in Germany before returning to New Zealand. He was player-coach of New Zealand's first professional team. He was voted Oceania Player of the Year three times and was named Oceania Footballer of the Century. He is a Fifa ambassador and serves on two Fifa committees. Return to the Inductee list