Horst Heldt (born 9 December 1969) is a German

football 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 ...

executive and former player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the former general manager of 1. FC Köln.

Playing career

Heldt was born in

Königswinter Königswinter ( ksh, Köningkswinte; Low Franconian: ) is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Königswinter is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite Bad Godesberg, at t ...

. He played at 1. FC Köln from 1990 until 1995, before transferring to

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

. After four years there, he went 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 1999. After the club was relegated in 2001, he played for Austrian side

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

. In January 2003, Heldt returned to Germany, to

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 ...

. He always played as a midfielder. His tally of Bundesliga matches is 359. Heldt also played for the German national team twice in 1999.

Managerial career

After only being a substitute and not getting any playing time at VfB Stuttgart in the first half of the 2005–06 season under coach

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

, Heldt decided to end his active career on 3 January 2006 to take over the post of general manager of the club. As manager, Heldt supported the sacking of Trapattoni and the hiring of new coach

Armin Veh Armin Veh (; born 1 February 1961) is a German football manager and former player who last managed Eintracht Frankfurt. He won the German championship with Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart in 2007. Veh and his team also had the chance to win "the ...

. Due to Heldt, Veh's initial stop-gap contract was extended into the 2006–07 season which became Stuttgart's most successful ever, winning the championship and qualifying for the German Cup final. On 3 July 2010, he moved to

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. After the sacking of

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

, Heldt became responsible for sport and communications on the managing board of Schalke. Heldt decided to step down at the end of the 2015–16 season. Heldt worked for Hannover 96 from March 2017 to April 2019. In summer, Hannover was promoted to the

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 ...

. On 9 April 2019, Hannover 96 announced the release of Heldt. On 19 November 2019, 1. FC Köln announced Heldt as new general manager alongside new head coach Markus Gisdol.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heldt, Horst 1969 births Living people People from Königswinter Sportspeople from Cologne (region) German footballers Association football midfielders Bundesliga players 1. FC Köln players TSV 1860 Munich players Eintracht Frankfurt players SK Sturm Graz players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia