Dirk Heinen (born 3 December 1970) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He works as goalkeeping coach of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

side

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Career

Heinen played most of his matches in his nine-year stint at

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

, before moving to

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. In 2002, he transferred to

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Denizlispor Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...

, but returned to the Bundesliga after just one season there, this time joining

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

. There, Heinen was the substitute keeper for

Timo Hildebrand Timo Hildebrand (born 5 April 1979) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Hildebrand holds a Bundesliga record for keeping a clean sheet for the most cons ...

. He only played three matches there, his last coming in March 2006. After injury he was demoted to third goalkeeper behind Hildebrand and Michael Langer the following season. A German champion with Stuttgart in 2007, he announced his retirement in July 2007, subsequently emigrating to the native country of his wife Sandra,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

). However, in January 2008 the goalkeeper was re-called to German football, moving to

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

, who asked him to join them as they were short of goalkeepers in early 2008 due to injuries. On 15 March 2008, the 37-year-old made his comeback in the Bundesliga against

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

after ''Arminia's'' second keeper

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 refer ...

was injured as well. He retired at the end of the 2007–08 season for good. Since 2008, he is a successful goalkeeper coach in the FAI Regional Center Waterford and in 2017 Heinen was appointed as goalkeeping coach of local

club

. He achieved his goalkeeper and trainer license in Germany.

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

: 2006–07 Bayer Leverkusen *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 1992–93

References

External links

* 1970 births Living people German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players VfB Stuttgart players Eintracht Frankfurt players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Arminia Bielefeld players Denizlispor footballers German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Footballers from Cologne {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub