Thomas Helmer (born 21 April 1965) 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 ...

. His preferred playing position was sweeper, but he was primarily deployed as a centre-back.Radnedge, Keir ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of European Football'' (1997, Carlton Books) 153–154 Helmer spent most of his club career with

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 fo ...

and Bayern Munich – appearing in nearly 400

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 in 15 seasons – and won the European Championship in 1996.

Club career

Born in

Herford Herford (; nds, Hiarwede) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford. Geography Geographic locat ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, Helmer began his professional career with Arminia Bielefeld, playing four games late in 1984–85, in a season that ended in relegation. In the following season, he netted five goals in 35

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

matches, prompting interest from

, which signed him in 1986. A key element from the start, Helmer also scored 16 goals during his six-season stint. In 1992, he joined FC Bayern Munich in controversial circumstances. Dortmund did not wish to sell Helmer, one of its best players, to a rival Bundesliga team, and sent him to France's Olympique Lyonnais instead. However, only three months later, Lyon sold Helmer to Bayern Munich for 7.5 million

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, at the time a record transfer fee paid by 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 ...

n club. The resultant furore became so heated that German national side coach Berti Vogts threatened to drop Helmer from the UEFA Euro 92 squad because of the distraction the affair was causing. Helmer was also an integral part (scoring seven goals in his debut season) and, eventually,

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of an ascendant Bayern Munich team of the late-1990s, winning three league titles, one

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, ...

and three League cups), adding the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, where he scored once (against FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the final's first leg) in 12 games. Defensively, the team would also include, during Helmer's stay, internationals

Olaf Thon Olaf Thon (born 1 May 1966) is a German former professional football player and coach. Mainly a central midfielder, Thon's 19-year professional career was solely associated to Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich, having amassed more than 500 officia ...

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup whe ...

and

Markus Babbel Markus Babbel (; born 8 September 1972) is a German professional football coach and former player who last managed the Western Sydney Wanderers FC. He played as a defender for clubs in Germany and England. Babbel won the UEFA Cup twice, in 1996 ...

. Upon leaving Bayern in 1999, Helmer opted to move to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He was offered a contract by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, but chose instead to join newly promoted Sunderland on a free transfer. Sunderland manager

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

hardly used him, however, making just two league appearances against Leeds United and Arsenal and he returned to Germany on loan with

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 ...

. Although he had appeared in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

for Hertha, upon his return to Sunderland, Reid judged that "his legs had gone", and the club bought-out his contract, with the player retiring immediately afterwards.

International career

Helmer made his full international debut for Germany on 10 October 1990, a 3–1 win in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. He enjoyed great success in the

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

s, starting in consecutive finals. In 1992, Germany lost surprisingly to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, which had been called at the last hour, but four years later went one better, defeating the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Helmer also appeared in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s, bowing out of international football in the second round clash of the 1998 edition against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, when he was replaced before

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

Christian Ziege Christian Ziege (; born 1 February 1972) is a German football manager and former player. He most recently coached FC Pinzgau. A defender, he started his playing career at FC Bayern Munich, where he won two Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Cup be ...

. He was known for tripping

Josip Weber Josip Weber, nicknamed Joske, (born Josip Veber; 16 November 1964 – 8 November 2017) was a Croatian-Belgian professional football forward. He represented Croatia and Belgium at international level. Club career Weber began his senior career ...

during the 1994 world cup in the penalty area but

Kurt Röthlisberger Kurt Röthlisberger (born 21 May 1951 in Suhr) is a retired football referee from Switzerland. He is known for supervising five matches in the FIFA World Cup: three matches in 1990, and two in 1994. Career In the 1994 World Cup, he refereed the ...

, the referee, did not make a call.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Helmer worked as a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and television presenter with DSF. Additionally, he served as Germany's ambassador to children's charity "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages", first undertaking it in 1997.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first.''

Honours

Borussia Dortmund *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1988–89 * DFL-Supercup: 1989 Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94, 1996–97, 1998–99 *

: 1997–98; runner-up 1998–99 *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

: 1997, 1998 *

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

: 1995–96 *

: runner-up 1998–99 Germany *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 1996; runner-up 1992 * US Cup: 1993

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Helmer, Thomas 1965 births Living people People from Herford Sportspeople from Detmold (region) German footballers Association football defenders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Premier League players Arminia Bielefeld players Borussia Dortmund players FC Bayern Munich footballers Hertha BSC players Sunderland A.F.C. players Germany international footballers UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia