Manuel Zeitz (born 1 August 1990) is a German 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 plays 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 ...

for

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. FC Saarbrücken (german: 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken e. V.) is a football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. The club began its existence as the football de ...

Club career

Zeitz was born in

Völklingen Völklingen (french: Vœlklange, Moselle Franconian: ''Välglinge'') is a town in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, approx. 10 km west of Saarbrücken, and directly borders France. The to ...

. He joined

in 2004, having previously played for SC Großrosseln, and made his debut for the club in the Oberliga Südwest during the 2008–09 season. Saarbrücken won the league this year, and promotion to the

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

, and Zeitz established himself as a key player, scoring 11 goals in 32 matches as the club won the title, and a second consecutive promotion. He has been an ever-present in Saarbrücken's first half-season in the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

, and was named as the best

defensive 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 boundari ...

in the league for this period by the magazine

Kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

. He signed for 1. FC Nürnberg at the start of the 2011–12 season. After one season playing solely for the reserves, he first signed for

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 ...

on loan for one year, before signing a regular two-year contract until June 2015. In January 2014 he returned to Saarbrücken on loan for the remainder of the season, but was unable to prevent them being relegated from the 3. Liga. He then signed a two-year contract until June 2016 for

FC 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 ...

, also in the 3. Liga.

International career

Zeitz has been capped twice for Germany's under-20 team, making his debut on 6 September 2010 against Switzerland.

Honours

* Oberliga Südwest (V): 2009 *

(IV): 2010

References

External links

* * 1990 births Living people German footballers Germany youth international footballers Association football midfielders 1. FC Saarbrücken players 1. FC Nürnberg players 1. FC Nürnberg II players SC Paderborn 07 players FC Energie Cottbus players FC Energie Cottbus II players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players People from Völklingen Footballers from Saarland {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub