Historical figure
Chhunly Pagenburg
Chhunly Pagenburg is a German former professional footballer of Cambodian heritage who played once for the Cambodia national team, in 2013.[1][2] A forward who grew up in the youth teams of 1. FC Nürnberg, he won the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) with the club in 2007.[3]
Early life and German career
Pagenburg was born in Nuremberg in November 1986.[1] The Nuremberg paper nordbayern.de wrote in 2020 that his first name means "luck in spring" when translated from Khmer.[2] The sources give different accounts of his youth career. The Nuremberg paper wrote that he came to 1. FC Nürnberg at the age of seven, and it gives his years at the club as 1999 to 2008.[2][3] The Phnom Penh Post wrote in 2011 that he started in the youth team of SB Phönix Nürnberg in 1998 and played for the youth sides of SpVgg Greuther Fürth and then Nürnberg. He played for Germany's under-19 and under-20 teams in 2004 and 2005, and with the under-19 side he reached the semifinals of the European Championship in 2004.[4]
For Nürnberg he played twelve games in the Bundesliga, Germany's top division, and eleven in the second division, scoring once. His biggest success came in 2007, when the club won the DFB-Pokal.[3] He later played for TSV 1860 Munich, FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt, Eintracht Trier and FSV Frankfurt.[1][3][4] He told nordbayern.de that a serious injury at Erfurt kept him out for a year, and that further problems at Frankfurt ended his career.[3] The paper wrote that he had to stop playing professionally in spring 2015, at 28, because of a chronic inflammation of the spine.[2]
Cambodia national team
In 2011 the Phnom Penh Post named Pagenburg as one of three players of Cambodian heritage abroad who could strengthen the Cambodia national team. It wrote that the Football Federation of Cambodia welcomed such players but wanted to see them play before calling them up. Pagenburg told the Post that he would be very happy to play for Cambodia, but that he did not know whether it was possible because he did not hold a Cambodian passport.[4]
He went on to play one match for Cambodia, a friendly against Guam at the National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh on November 19, 2013. Guam won by two goals to none.[1]
After football
In October 2020 the members of 1. FC Nürnberg elected Pagenburg to the club's supervisory board. He said he stood for the board because he wanted sporting expertise to be represented there.[3][2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 National Football Teams, Chhunly Pagenburg, player record (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 nordbayern.de, Glück im Herbst? Pagenburg will in den Aufsichtsrat des FCN (October 12, 2020; in German)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 nordbayern.de, FCN-Aufsichtsrat Pagenburg: "Wollte nicht mit 40 im Rollstuhl sitzen" (November 4, 2020; in German)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Phnom Penh Post, Footballers coming home? (October 6, 2011)