Jean-Marie Pfaff (born 4 December 1953) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent most of his professional career with Beveren and Bayern Munich. Pfaff was capped 64 times playing for Belgium, and participated at the 1982 FIFA World Cup and 1986 FIFA World Cup tournaments. Pfaff was named goalkeeper of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and he was the first player to receive the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper award in 1987.
Pfaff was born in Lebbeke, East Flanders. He grew up in a family of 12 children (6 boys, 6 girls). His father was a door-to-door salesman of fabrics and carpets. The Pfaff family lived in a caravan in Lebbeke and in the summer, the whole family was obliged to help their father with sales.
As a street footballer, his goalkeeping skills were quickly noticed. Pfaff joined the youth team of Eendracht Aalst, the club of his brothers Louis and Jean-Baptist Pfaff. When Louis and Jean-Baptist arranged a transfer to KSK Beveren in 1965, the younger brothers Jean-Marie and Toon also made the switch to the Waasland club.
When Jean-Marie Pfaff was barely 12, his father died of cancer. Obviously, this had enormous consequences for the family.
At the end of the 1971–72 season, aged 18, Pfaff made his debut for the first team of Beveren in the Belgian First Division. By then, it was already certain that the club would be relegated to the second division. The following season, Pfaff became a regular goalkeeper. Beveren also became champions, which meant the team was immediately promoted back to the first division.
At the end of the second half of the 1973–74 season, Pfaff was moved to the bench by coach Jef Jurion, but under Urbain Braems he became the first goalkeeper in the 1974–75 season.
During the 1977–78 season, Pfaff reached the Belgian top with SK Beveren. The team then just missed out on the European places in the competition (5th place), but it did manage to reach the Belgian Cup final for the first time. With a 2–0 victory against Charleroi after a few decisive saves by Pfaff, the team also grabbed the cup. This allowed them to compete in Europe the following season. In 1978, Jean-Marie Pfaff won the Belgian Golden Shoe, a trophy that is rarely awarded to goalkeepers.
Beveren would reach its peak in the 1978–79 season. The club became national champion for the first time in its existence, with Pfaff not conceding a goal in half of the matches (17). In the European Cup Winners' Cup, Beveren surprisingly eliminated Inter Milan in the quarter-finals after strong performances by Pfaff. In the semi-finals they were eliminated by Barcelona after two 1–0 defeats. These were Pfaff's first goals conceded in the tournament (both penalties).
Beveren reached the Belgian Cup final again in 1980, after a brilliant performance by Pfaff in the return match of the semi-final against Standard. However, the cup final was surprisingly lost against underdog Thor Waterschei (1–2) and so the team was deprived of European Cup football the following season. That 1980–81 season ended in a major downer for Pfaff when he was suspended for four months by the RBFA on 11 March 1981. After all, Pfaff had allegedly kneed linesman Thirion after the cup match at home against Lokeren. In those days, the officials' report was all that mattered, but television images would later show that there was no question of a knee strike at all. After the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 28-year old Pfaff moved to the German top club Bayern Munich for a transfer fee equivalent to 400,000 euros.
In Munich he didn't only discover a new football culture, but he was also exposed to the immense pressure of an absolute top club. Despite a false start in his debut match at Bremen (he underestimated one of Uwe Reinders' famous long throw-ins and rebounded the ball into his own goal), Pfaff quickly became an indispensable link in the team. Three years after the abrupt end of Sepp Maier's career - the Bayern icon who was critically injured in a car accident, Bayern had finally found a successor for the goalkeeper for the coming years.
Although in his first season at the club, Bayern disappointed at all levels. In October, they were already knocked out in the second round of the German cup by Eintracht Braunschweig, and they finished fourth in the Bundesliga. In the European Cup Winners' Cup, Scottish side (and eventual winners) Aberdeen proved too strong in the quarter-finals. Due to his performances in the second half of the season, Pfaff was named a world-class goalkeeper by the leading magazine Kicker in July 1983.
In the 1983-84 season Bayern finished on a fourth place again. In the second round of the UEFA Cup, Bayern drew twice 0–0 against PAOK. The penalty shootout ended when Pfaff saved Konstantinos Malioufas' attempt, and then scored Bayern's tenth penalty himself. Nevertheless, the European adventure ended early when they were eliminated by Tottenham Hotspur in the third round. On 31 May 1984 they did win the DFB Cup after a draw in the final against Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the penalty shootout, Michael Rummenigge scored the decisive goal after Pfaff had saved Norbert Ringels' attempt.
Pfaff became champion for the first time with Bayern Munich in the 1984–85 season when they finished with a 4-point lead over Werder Bremen. The team reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup after 2 great victories against Roma, but they were eliminated by the English Everton. At home, Bayern was stuck at 0–0, and in the return match at Goodison Park they lost 1–3. The final of the DFB Pokal was reached again, but the match in the Olympiastadion in Berlin was surprisingly lost 1–2 against Bayer Uerdingen.
In the first half of the 1985–86 season, Pfaff was plagued by injuries, even lost his starting place at Bayern and had to fear that he would not be in the Belgian selection that was qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. But with his iron will, he worked on his comeback and convinced all his premature critics. The competition was concluded with the same number of points as Werder Bremen (49), but with 1 more win Bayern became champions again. A cup win was also celebrated once more. The team proved to be too strong for VfB Stuttgart in the final and won easily with 5–2. Their story in the European Cup had already ended in the quarter-finals in Brussels where they lost 2–0 to Anderlecht. In the Kicker rankings, Pfaff climbed once more from international class to world class.
The 1986–87 Bundesliga was convincingly won by Bayern for the third time in a row, eventually ending with a 6 point lead over Hamburger SV. Their cup story had already ended in November after a heavy 3–0 defeat at Fortuna Düsseldorf. In the European Cup, Bayern were now able to eliminate Anderlecht with two wins this time. In the return match at the Bernabeu stadium, Real Madrid were also unable to make up for their heavy 1-4 defeat in the first leg. The final was played on 27 May 1987 in the Praterstadion, Vienna. Bayern, missing several key players due to suspensions and injuries, lost to FC Porto. For his performances with Bayern and with Belgium at the World Cup, Pfaff received the first trophy of best goalkeeper in the world in 1987 by the IFFHS.
Bayern lost the title to Werder Bremen in the 1987–88 season, finishing second. In both the German Cup and the European Cup, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals (against Hamburger SV and Real Madrid respectively).
At the age of 35, Pfaff decided to return to his home country and signed a contract with SK Lierse. The huge difference in level with a club like Bayern did not deter him.
The club finished in mid-table in tenth place in the 1988–89 season. After one season in Belgium, he accepted the request of his former coach Urbain Braems to join him at Trabzonspor in Turkey.