Oliver Kirch (; born 21 August 1982) is a retired German
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 ...
.
Kirch 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 ...
for BVB and was either deployed as
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 boundarie ...
or
right wing-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
. In defense, he played as a
right-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
.
Club career
Kirch started playing football at age five and was enrolled at the academy of SuS Legden in 1992; spending nine years as an academy player. Kirch would go on to join the academy of SuS Stadtlohn and then the academy of SpVgg Vreden. Kirch made his senior professional debut playing for
SC Verl
SC Verl is a German association football club based in Verl, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded on 6 September 1924, and since 1970 has consistently played in the higher echelons of amateur football. The club was promoted to the profes ...
in the 2002–03 season before joining
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 ...
in the 2003–04 season, where Kirch made eight appearances in his first professional season. In the 2007–08 Bundesliga season, Kirch left Borussia Mönchengladbach and moved 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 ...
and in his first match, he scored his first Bundesliga goal.
Kirch joined
1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 2010–11 Bundesliga season, where he signed a three-year contract. On 21 April 2012, during the 32nd matchday of the 2010–11 Bundesliga season, Kirch scored his first goal of the season in Kaiserslautern's 2–1 away victory over
Hertha BSC
Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...
.
Kirch joined
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...
in the 2012–13 Bundesliga season. He signed a two-year contract with the German champions Borussia Dortmund until 30 June 2014. He scored his first Bundesliga goal for Borussia Dortmund on match day 32 in a 2–2 draw against
Bayer 04 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, t ...
. Afterwards, Kirch joined
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 the 2015–16 season, he signed a two-year contract. In July 2016, Kirch decided to end his career.
Personal life
Kirch and fiancée Jana Flötotto were married in 2011; the
civil marriage
A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religion, religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely secular.
History
Every country maintai ...
took place in December 2011 in
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
in New York City,
with the