Sven Ratke (born 3 January 1972 in

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

) is a German former

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 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 ...

Career

Ratke began his career with Dynamo Dresden, making his debut in the 1989–90 season, in which the club won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, with Ratke coming on as a substitute for

Matthias Döschner Matthias Döschner (born 12 January 1958) is a former German footballer. He spent much of his career with SG Dynamo Dresden, playing 253 matches in the DDR-Oberliga. After the Wende Döschner was under contract at SC Fortuna Köln. He also w ...

in the cup final. After reunification, Dynamo qualified for 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 ...

, where they played for four seasons, and Ratke played in each one, a total of 48 appearances (one goal). After Dynamo's relegation in 1995, Ratke left the club, joining ambitious

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

club SV Lurup, where he spent half a season before signing for VfL Wolfsburg of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. Wolfsburg were promoted to the Bundesliga in Ratke's second season with the club, and he made 13 appearances at this level, before leaving in 1998. Ratke then returned to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, spending a season in amateur football, with VfB Hellerau-Klotzsche, before signing for Dresdner SC, who were at this point the top club in the city, finishing second in the Regionalliga Nordost, while Dynamo were relegated to the

NOFV-Oberliga The NOFV- Oberliga is a division at step 5 of the German football league system. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became the successor of the DDR-Oberliga, and functions today as a 5th division in the former territory of East Germany and the ...

. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Dynamo returned to the third tier (now the Regionalliga Nord), and Ratke returned to the club, where he spent two seasons before retiring in 2004, having helped the club earn promotion to the 2. Bundesliga.

References

External links

Career stats
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

* 1972 births Living people German men's footballers East German men's footballers Dynamo Dresden players Dynamo Dresden II players VfL Wolfsburg players Dresdner SC players Dynamo Dresden non-playing staff Sportspeople from Görlitz Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players DDR-Oberliga players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Saxony {{germany-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub