First Team

Knocked off the goalkeeping throne

The five youngest goalkeepers in VfL history.

The 2026/2027 season is just one matchday old – and VfL Wolfsburg’s history has already been rewritten. Jakub Zielinski has become the latest Wolf to join the ranks of the club’s youngest-ever goalkeepers. With his performance against 1. FC Kaiserslautern, he has left several keepers – and some historic records – in his wake.

5th place: Ralf Kirchhoff (20 years, one month, 25 days)
Ralf Kirchhoff was just 20 years old when he made his debut against VfB Oldenburg. That match was almost 43 years ago. He was unable to keep a clean sheet, however, conceding to Andrzej Grebosz in the 68th minute. The Wolves nevertheless ran out 3-1 winners away from home in the Oberliga Nord.

4th place: Klaus-Dieter Müller (19 years, 10 months, 20 days)
In October 1963, Klaus-Dieter Müller became the first VfL goalkeeper to make an appearance before turning 20. He made his first appearance between the posts for the Wolves on Matchday 8, but was unable to prevent defeat as the Green-and-Whites lost 3-2 to HSV Barmbek-Uhlenhorst.

3rd place: Ingo Friedrichs (19 years, three months, 29 days)
The goalkeeper in third place on this list made a total of three appearances for VfL. Ingo Friedrichs started in goal on the first three matchdays of the 1983/1984 Oberliga Nord season. He helped secure a 1-1 draw away to SV Meppen on his debut, but suffered two home defeats in his other appearances, against St. Pauli and Werder Bremen’s amateur side. Shortly afterwards, Ralf Kirchhoff, who was 281 days older, made his first appearance between the posts for the Wolves.

2nd place: Waldemar Josef (18 years, 10 months)
Wolfsburg-born Waldemar Josef made 131 appearances in goal for VfL. Following his debut, Josef was a regular for the Wolves from 1980 to 1982 and again from 1986 to 1988. In addition to 117 appearances in the Oberliga Nord and another eight in the promotion round for the 2. Bundesliga, Josef also featured six times in the DFB Cup. It was in that competition that he made his debut on 25 August 1979, at the tender age of 18. A 3-0 defeat against Stuttgart meant there was no place in the second round, however. What followed was a long chapter at VfL and a record that stood for almost 47 years. Since Saturday, though, that title has belonged to someone else…

Historisches schwarz-weiß-Foto des VfL Wolfsburg.

1st place: Jakub Zielinski (18 years, five months, 18 days)
Since Saturday, Jakub Zielinski has held the title of the youngest goalkeeper ever to play for VfL. In keeping a clean sheet in the goalless opening match of the 2026/2027 season, he also claimed the record in the process. But that is not the only list “Kuba” has joined. At 18 years, five months and 18 days, Zielinski is the 24th-youngest debutant in VfL history. In the 2. Bundesliga, meanwhile, only striker Mirco Thiel was younger when making his second-tier debut for VfL, by around a month. And there is more: after just his first appearance, Zielinski has already broken into the top ten youngest goalkeepers in 2. Bundesliga history, putting his name alongside goalkeeping legends such as Robert Enke – with the Green-and-Whites’ debutant sitting sixth in that ranking.