Mark Schwarzer was born in North Richmond, a semi-rural suburb in North-Western Sydney and attended Richmond North Public School and Colo High School. His parents Hans-Joachim and Doris emigrated to Australia from Germany in 1968. Mark speaks fluently in 3 different languages - English, Spanish and German. Schwarzer and his wife Paloma have two children, a son Julian, and a daughter Amaya. In 2009 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
Schwarzer made his international debut for Australia against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier. He came on as a substitute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 17 minutes into the match. In the return leg in Sydney, he covered himself in glory when he saved two penalties to send Australia to the final phase of qualifying against Argentina. Schwarzer did not play in these matches, and Australia were defeated 2–1 on aggregate.
He was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. After Uruguay won the first leg 1–0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1–0 in Sydney. In the penalty shootout, Schwarzer saved two penalties to see Australia victorious 4–2.
At the World Cup Finals he played the first two games in Australia's group matches, conceding a controversial goal against Japan and two goals against Brazil. In the third match he was replaced by Zeljko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance he was reinstated for the Round of 16 match against Italy.
Even though he predicted the direction of the penalty kick, he was unable to save the penalty in the second round of the World Cup against Italy, which was scored by Francesco Totti in injury time and sent Australia out of the World Cup.
After the World Cup in 2006, Mark vowed to return for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He played in all of Australia's matches in the 2007 Asian Cup although he performed admirably against Oman in the 1–1 draw he made an error which led to a goal in the 3–1 loss to Iraq and could not match Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi during the penalty shootout which saw the Socceroos crash out of the competition in their debut at the tournament. Schwarzer said that the penalty-shootout in the Asian Cup quarter-finals was the first penalty-shootout in his career that he had ever lost.
Schwarzer saved an 89th minute Shao Jiayi penalty against China in Australia's 0–0 draw in the 2010 World Cup qualifier in March 2008, continuing his record of stopping penalty kicks. He received his second yellow card of the tournament against Qatar in Doha, in which Australia were 3-1 winners. He also missed Australia's second leg game against the Chinese in Sydney. He played every minute for the Socceroos in round two of qualification, conceding only one goal in the final game against Japan.
Mark Schwarzer made several vital saves to secure Australia's Asian Cup Qualifier come back win (2-1) over Oman in Muscat after conceding from his penalty save rebound.
FACT: Schwarzer has worn the same pair of shinpads since he started his professional career at the age of 19 with Marconi Stallions, in the old National Soccer League.
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