Career
Early career
Rolfes started his career at Werder Bremen after progressing through their academy. During the 2000-2001 season, he scored five goals in 26 league appearances for the reserve team He scored against Dresdner South Carolina, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Lüneburger Saskatchewan, Erzgebirge Aue, and Fortuna Kölane
He also made an appearances in the DFB-Pokal.
He would score seven goals in 31 league appearances and a goal in two DFB-Pokal during the 2001-2002 season and two goals in 17 league appearances and an appearance during the DFB-Pokal during the 2002-2003 season. He also made a Union of European Football Associations Cup appearance for the first team during the 2002-2003 season.
The match was an 8–0 against Metalurh Donetsk on 3 October 2002. He came on in the 68th minute during for Krisztián Lisztes.
He then was loaned for the remainder of the season with SSV Reutlingen 05 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, SV Werder Bremen manager Thomas Schaaf did not feature him as a regular, so in 2004 he moved to Alemannia Aachen and scored three goals in 28 league appearances in his one season there.
Bayer Leverkusen
Year 2005 came out to be a crucial year for Rolfes, with Bayer Leverkusen signing him and since then he has become a fan favorite, quickly winning a regular spot and not much after, captaincy in the full squad.
He appeared in 37 matches in the 2005-2006 season, 49 in the 2006-2007 season, 47 in the 2007-2008 season, and 39 in the 2008-2009 season. Rolfes suffered a serious knee injury on 2 July 2009.
During the 2009-2010 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 returned to fitness the following season.
He appeared in 36 matches in all competitions. He continued to be a regular late into his career. He made 40 appearances in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 seasons, 43 in 2013-2014 season, and 33 in the 2014-2015 season.
On 7 December 2014, he announced his decision to retire from football after the 2014-2015 season.
Rolfes made his international debut for Germany in a friendly against Denmark on 28 March 2007 in Duisburg. He was part of the German team that finished as runners-up at Euro 2008.