Dennis Eilhoff (born 31 July 1982) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Career

Youth

Born in

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum * Dortmun ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Eilhoff began his career with SC Delbrück in 1990. Four years later he played for TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus, the present

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

. In 1996, Eilhoff moved to Arminia Bielefeld. During his youth he belonged to the German national under-17 team.

Club career

Starting in 2000, Eilhoff was in the squad of Arminia Bielefeld. His first appearances were in the 2000–01 season of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. He could never stand out against the regular goalkeeper

Mathias Hain Mathias Hain (born 31 December 1972) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the brother of Uwe Hain, himself a former goalkeeper. Hain was known for his great shot stopping ability and, during his time at Ar ...

with the result that he only came to four matches in all before 2006 including two matches in the 2005–06 season of the Bundesliga. In the 2006–07 season, he was loaned out to

TuS Koblenz TuS Koblenz is a German association football club, located in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Fussball Club Deutschland Neuendorf, which was formed in 1911, is viewed as the foundation of the modern club. History Nazi era (1933–1945) The or ...

for two years in the 2. Bundesliga. Starting in the 2006–07 season, he was the regular goalkeeper where he passed every match except one. In the 2008–09 season, he returned to Arminia Bielefeld. Due to injury of the first goalkeeper

Rowen Fernandez Rowen is a village on the western slopes of the Conwy valley in the parish of Caerhun and the former County of Caernarfonshire in Wales. It lies off the B5106 road, between Tal y Bont and the Groes Inn. ''Buildings of Gwynedd'' 2009 refers ...

, Eilhoff could play for the most part in the first half of this season. By his performance he stayed first choice despite the convalescence of Fernandez. On this account he renewed his contract with Arminia in February 2009 until 2011. Even after the relegation to the 2. Bundesliga he stayed loyal to his club. In June 2011, Eilhoff left Arminia Bielefeld and signed a one-year-contract with

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Ka ...

, where he made his debut on 15 July 2011 against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus ( Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. He was released by Dynamo after one season.

Personal

Eilhoff completed his Abitur at the Nepomucenum Gymnasium of Rietberg in 2001. Since his retirement from professional football, Eilhoff works as a police officer.

References

External links

* * 1982 births Living people German footballers Association football goalkeepers Dynamo Dresden players Arminia Bielefeld players TuS Koblenz players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players People from Witten Sportspeople from Arnsberg (region) Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub