Early career Rolfes started his career at
Werder Bremen after progressing through their academy. During the
2000–01 season, he scored five goals in 26 league appearances for the
reserve team. He scored against
Dresdner SC,
Fortuna Düsseldorf,
Lüneburger SK,
Erzgebirge Aue and
Fortuna Köln. He would score seven goals in 31 league appearances and a goal in two
DFB-Pokal during the
2001–02 season and two goals in 17 league appearances and an appearance during the
DFB-Pokal during the
2002–03 season. He also made a
UEFA Cup appearance for the first team during the
2002–03 season. He came on in the 68th minute for
Krisztián Lisztes. where he made 13 appearances. In his
final season with the reserve team, he scored four goals in 26 league appearances. He made exactly 100 league appearances and four
DFB-Pokal appearances for the reserve team and managed to notch 19 goals (one in the DFB-Pokal) from his defensive midfield position. Despite his good form,
Werder Bremen manager
Thomas Schaaf did not feature him as a regular; in 2004, he moved to
Alemannia Aachen and scored three goals in 28 league appearances in his one season there. He also made two appearances in the
DFB-Pokal and seven appearances in the
UEFA Cup. and 39 in the
2008–09 season. Rolfes suffered a serious knee injury on 2 July 2009. During the
2009–10 season, Rolfes missed matchdays 10 to 17 and made his final appearance on matchday 19 against
1899 Hoffenheim. He made only 13 appearances in all competitions during the season. He continued to be a regular late into his career. He made 40 appearances in the
2011–12 seasons, 43 in
2013–14 season, and 33 in the
2014–15 season. On 7 December 2014, he announced his decision to retire from football after the 2014–15 season. ==International career==