Stefan Markolf
Stefan Markolf (born 3 January 1984) is the first deaf German professional footballer. Career. After joining the professional squad of 1. FSV Mainz 05 in 2007, where the defender was mostly substituted, he was signed by third division club Wuppertaler SV in 2008. After eight years he returned to KSV Hessen Kassel. Personal. Markolf was born deaf (about 90 percent hearing loss). Thanks to speech therapy, he has nearly perfect pronunciation of the spoken language. In spite of his hearing loss, he has a good overview in the football matches. He wears special hearing aids while playing. Stefan