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How the fingerprints of Pfannenstiel — you can call him “Lutz,� pronounced like “Loots� — will shape City’s future during what the team is describing as a long-term deal only will be known in time, with no direct on-field results arriving until the club begins games in 2023, But there can be no debate about Pfannenstiel’s familiarity with fascinating.

If the 47-year-old German soccer executive and former journeyman goalie who just became St. Louis’ soccer equivalent of Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and Blues general manager Doug Armstrong is not the most interesting man in soccer, he has to be, as Hall of Fame Cardinals manager Tony La Russa liked to say, tied for first.

Before showcasing an eye for talent and a knack for developing it in sporting director and scouting roles with German clubs Fortuna Dusseldorf and TSG Hoffenheim over most of the past decade, Pfannenstiel’s lifelong soccer journey produced some truly jaw-dropping chapters.

The native of a German ski town called Zwiesel spent two decades crisscrossing the globe during a career that made him the only player to play in all six continental FIFA membership associations, a raucous and at times terrifying trek Pfannenstiel expanded upon in “The Incredible Adventures of The Unstoppable Keeper,� an autobiography he wrote after he retired from playing at age 38.

A whirlwind of a book includes tales of a terrifying 101-day jail stint in Singapore in 2001 for an allegation of match-fixing that he always has disputed, the story of an on-field collision that temporarily collapsed his lungs and nearly killed him while playing in England in 2002, and an explanation of how Pfannenstiel once kept a penguin (briefly) in his New Zealand bathtub.

While playing, Pfannenstiel managed to model, moonlight as a techno music DJ and helped create an international nonprofit organization, Global United FC, dedicated to raising climate change awareness. He met his wife, Amalia, through a phone-in translating service he used while playing in Ukraine. And these are just a few of the highlights from a book that covers stints with 25 teams across six continents.

“I probably have enough stories for five lives,� Pfannenstiel said with a chuckle. “It made me into a better person, to understand what life was about. At the end of the day, football is a beautiful game. I think I found my way. I hope that the next five and a half years here in St. Louis will be not as spectacular. The last 10 years have already been calm, right?�

It’s that decade, the most recent one, that made City’s ownership group pursue Pfannenstiel when word got out that he was splitting ways with Fortuna Dusseldorf, a team in Germany’s top soccer division, because of what both sides continue to call personal reasons.

Between his time there and with German club TSG Hoffenheim, and through his work as a coach and soccer commentator on overseas TV broadcasts, Pfannenstiel received praise for his ability to see the game, and find talent that can play it, such as Hoffenheim turned Liverpool star Roberto Firmino. Pfannenstiel already has relocated to St. Louis, where he watched from behind the scenes as City debuted its team name, colors and crest last week.

“Lutz brings an unrivaled level of international soccer expertise to our club that will not only help establish, but maintain a culture that brings championship-level soccer to the St. Louis region,� St. Louis City SC CEO Carolyn Kindle Betz said in a statement. “We cannot wait for him get started as we welcome him to one of the best sports cities in the country.�

Pfannenstiel will be responsible for all on-field operations; finding and signing coaches, staff and players; and creating and developing a youth academy, a project the club has deemed essential to its success.

He suggested fans eventually will be able to expect a team that plays a modernized version of soccer, one with a compact defense, fast, vertical attacks and an importance placed on team play, not individualism.

He pumped the brakes on the notion that he must hire a head coach immediately, pointing out how much the national and international coaching landscape could change before that role is required here.

He pressed the gas on his first mission, establishing an academy program he hopes feeds upward to the MLS level in the near future, and without the high costs often found at the U.S. youth levels.

“Pay to play must be history,� Pfannenstiel said. “It cannot be any part of us.

“I want to create a standout academy where young kids from the city, the county, the region, the state, the neighboring states, have the opportunity to live their dream. St. Louis is a soccer-crazy city with lots of successful players at high school, university and academy levels. We can do something here that is extremely exciting.�

Of all the places soccer has carried him, the sport never brought Pfannenstiel to St. Louis until now. You can find international reports that suggest he turned down offers from Italian club Inter Milan and others to come here. He said this chance in St. Louis was the only MLS opportunity that would have interested him.

“Some English clubs. Some Italian clubs. Some Spanish clubs made me offers,� Pfannenstiel said, not naming names. “But St. Louis reached out. I had a good long talk with Carolyn. A lot of the things she said, I simply really liked them. I could see myself there. The most appealing thing was to start the clock, on a blank piece of paper. There is no academy. There is no stadium. You can flow in all of your ideas and all of your creativity to create it, to build it, to masterpiece something.�

The 228th page of Pfannenstiel’s autobiography ends with an acknowledgement that an already-fascinating life still has blank pages ahead.

The final line reads, “I suspect that the truly important tasks in my life are only just beginning.�