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 * Dort ...

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 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 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, 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. K ...

, where he made his debut on 15 July 2011 against Energie Cottbus. He was released by Dynamo after one season.

Personal

Eilhoff completed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen yea ...

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