Pfannenstiel has certainly spread his wings since his spells with Dunedin Technical and Otago United over a decade ago.
The former German youth international played with distinction in national and southern leagues, but the multitalented Bavarian now has many more strings to his bow.
He wrote a best-selling autobiograpy, The Incredible Adventures of the Unstoppable Keeper, which covers his itinerant goalkeeping career on several continents and features several Dunedin escapades, including reportedly having kept a penguin in his bath while living here.
The affable keeper came to Dunedin after spending jail time in Singapore. He was accused of match fixing but consistently denied any wrongdoing, and the charges were dropped.
''New Zealand and Dunedin gave me the chance to get back on track after prison,'' Pfannenstiel said.
''I spent 101 days locked up, which isn't good for the body or the mind. New Zealand restored my passion for football.''
Now a TV pundit, Pfannenstiel did match comments for CNN at the recent Champions League clash between Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
He is also a talent scout for Bundesliga club Hoffenheim.
The keeper has played for clubs in Germany, New Zealand, England, Singapore, United States, Brazil, South Africa, Finland, Malaysia, Belgium, Canada, Namibia, Norway, Armenia and Albania.
On this visit, he has been doing a statistical analysis of goalkeepers in the Fifa Under-20 World Cup, and welcomed a chance to speak with local coach and former national league goalkeeper Neil Mackenzie, as Technical trained this week.
An advocate of finding and developing youth players, Pfannenstiel had nothing but praise for Mackenzie's decade of involvement with the Milk Cup tournament that pits young New Zealanders against some of the best under-17 teams in the world.
Under the lights at De Carle, Technical player-coach Aaron Burgess had his own priorities, as he trained his squad for today's critical clash with Caversham.
The match venue has been changed to Logan Park to fully utilise pitches that were prepared for Fifa training matches.
Technical is just one competition point behind Caversham with 21, although coach Tim Horner's side has played one game less.
In the first round, unbeaten Caversham won the derby 3-1, and it has only dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Mosgiel.
Horner also realises the importance of this game, and while Sam Collier is injured, the jury is still out on midfielder Andrew Ridden, who will have a fitness test before kick-off.
Mosgiel has slipped into third place but also has a game in hand, and will be looking to increase its 17 points on its home ground, Memorial Park, against second-bottom Northern.
Possibly also benefiting from a better pitch surface at Logan Park, Roslyn-Wakari and Green Island, who are separated by only one competition point, are sure to turn on good football, played at pace.
In women's premier league games tomorrow, University B travels to Queenstown, the top University team plays Dunedin Technical's premier side at Culling Park, and Roslyn-Wakari plays Technical Maroon at De Carle Park.
