World Cup

8 days to go: Mitch Langerak's FIFA World Cup Story

2 min read 6 June 2018

As part of our countdown to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, we profile every Australian player who's been to a World Cup.

Today we continue the countdown with Mitch Langerak, an Australian goalkeeper who went to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

READ: FIFA World Cup Countdown for the Caltex Socceroos

Cap number: 566

World Cups played at: 2014

Position: Goalkeeper

Age at World Cup: 25 (now 29)

Clubs played for: Melbourne Victory, South Melbourne, Borussia Dortmund, VfB Stuttgart, Levante, Nagoya Grampus

Mitch Langerak on the training pitch in Brazil.

Best World Cup moment

Mitch Langerak didn’t make a single appearance at his only FIFA World Cup in 2014.

He deputised for Mat Ryan throughout the entirety of the tournament and was on the bench for matches against Chile, Netherlands and Spain.

Career highlight

Stunning form with Melbourne Victory earned Langerak a dream move to German giants Borussia Dortmund in 2010.

It was an honour-laden period at Dortmund for Langerak who was involved in winning Bundesliga campaigns in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and UEFA Champions League runners-up in 2012-13.

Langerak was a part of the Australia squad which won the 2015 AFC Asian Cup but didn’t make an appearance between the sticks.

Post-playing career

Langerak is still playing and currently turns out for Japanese club Nagoya Grampus.

Did you know?

Langerak holds the unfortunate record of conceding the fastest goal in Bundesliga history. It came after just nine seconds against Bayer Leverkusen back in August 2014.