Tobias Rau (born 31 December 1981) is a German former professional footballer who played as a left back.

[2] His Bundesliga debut came on 18 August 2001, starting and featuring 52 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against SC Freiburg.

[2] In the summer of 2005, Rau signed with Arminia Bielefeld, where he would also be a backup and suffer severely with injuries – only an average of eight league matches in four years – being released on 30 June 2009[5] before announcing his retirement on 6 July.

[7] His debut came on 12 February in a friendly with Spain played in Palma, Majorca, and his only goal contributed to a 4–1 home defeat of Canada on 1 June.

[8] In July 2009, shortly after retiring, Rau announced his return to school to start a career as a teacher despite having offers from clubs abroad and from the 2.