Marcel Witeczek (born 18 October 1968) 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 mostly as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. Over the course of 15 seasons, he played in 410

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 ...

games (50 goals; 474/59 counting both major levels of German football), representing four teams, including league powerhouse

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, with whom he won his only titles.

Playing career

Born in

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Tichau; szl, Tychy) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, approximately south of Katowice. Situated on the southern edge of the Upper Silesian industrial district, the city boders Katowice to the north, ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, Poland, Witeczek moved to Germany aged 13 with his family. He was a successful youth player in his country of adoption, earning runners-up medals at both the

1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, ...

and the 1987 World Youth Championship, winning the Golden Shoe at the latter tournament, with seven goals in as many games. However, he missed the decisive shootout penalty in the final against Yugoslavia, which West Germany lost. At club level, Witeczek began his career with

Bayer Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

, making his first division debut on 8 August 1987, not yet 19, in a 2–0 win at

FC Homburg Fußball-Club 08 Homburg or simply FC Homburg is a German association football club based in Homburg, Saarland, that competes in the Regionalliga Südwest. The club was founded on 15 June 1908 as ''Fussball Club Homburg'' by a group of seventeen ...

. He moved on to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1991 and

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

two years later. With the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

ns, he enjoyed his most successful period, appearing in 124 official matches over the course of four seasons, winning two league accolades and the 1995–96

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

, to whose conquest he contributed with two goals, all against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the semifinals (one in each leg, in a 4–3 aggregate qualification). Aged almost 29, Witeczek signed for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, suffering relegation in his second season but achieving promotion in his fourth, always as an important first-team member - never appeared in less than 30 league contests in that timeframe; after two slower years, he left for regional league side

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the merger of two earlier ...

, where he remained two further seasons. After one year out of football, 37-year old Witeczek joined

Landesliga The Landesliga ( en, Football State League) is a tier of football in some states of the German football league system. In Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, the Landesligas are set right below the Oberliga and therefore ...

(level 5) club FC Albstadt 07, retiring for good at the season's end.

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94, 1996–97 *

: 1995–96 Germany *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

: Runner-up

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

: Runner-up

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Individual *

: Golden Shoe

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Witeczek, Marcel 1968 births Living people People from Tychy Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Polish emigrants to West Germany German footballers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players KFC Uerdingen 05 players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players FC Bayern Munich footballers Borussia Mönchengladbach players SG Wattenscheid 09 players Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers UEFA Cup winning players West German footballers Sportspeople from Oberhausen Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia