Draft:Nathan Altaffer

Nathan Altaffer (13 January 1970 - present) was a former American soccer player who most notably played for 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Holstein Kiel. He was a central midfielder known to get forward and score goals.

Early Career
Nathan Altaffer began his career as an 18 year old midfielder in the '88/89 season with TSV Buchbach in the 6th tier of Germany. He made his first-team debut on March 12th, 1989 after appearing as a substitute on 74' in a 1-1 draw with 1860 Rosenheim. Although neither scoring nor assisting a goal, he still impressed the first-team manager, garnering him 6 more appearances before the end of the season.

The following season, Altaffer played a much more important role for the club, earning 6 goals and 7 assists in 26 games, with one of his more notable goals being a last minute winner in a 3-2 result against VfR Baumholder. He was considered to be one of TSV Buchbach's most promising players in recent years as reflected by his encouraging stats for such a young age.

The '90/91 season was Altaffer's last for the TSV Buchbach. He earned a stunning 13 goals and 9 assists in 30 games, winning high accolades among the supporters due to his impressive midfield displays and commanding presence. However, on July 7th, 1991, Altaffer received a £150,000 transfer to Holstein Kiel.

Rest of Career
In 1991, Altaffer's move to the Regionalliga Nord consisted of a total of 24 goals in 72 appearances for the young midfielder. In 1994, Altaffer moved to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga.

However, this move never panned out, as Altaffer received a foot fracture in a preseason friendly against MSV Duisberg. After that, Altaffer struggled to recover from his injury and barely saw any playing time during the Bundesliga years, with the final total being only 33 appearances.

Altaffer then left to SC Preußen Münster and became the captain of the club, with him receiving 121 appearances and scoring 34 goals and assisting a further 35. Altaffer never quite captured his sparkling form that earned his move to the Bundesliga, but he did well playing in the lower leagues for the rest of his career. He ended up retiring in 2004.