Thomas Hengen (born 22 September 1974) 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 as a defender.

Playing career

Born in

Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

in the Palatinate, Hengen was in the amateur side of the SV Rülzheim and Phönix Bellheim before he moved 1989 to 1. FC Kaiserslautern. With the A youth team, he won the German youth championship in 1993. As an international youth player, he amassed a total of 13 international matches in the U16 and U18, then another 13 games for the U21 national team. In the 1992–93 season, he debuted for 1. FC Kaiserslautern his first

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 ...

match. In his last game for 1. FC Kaiserslautern, he won the

German Cup 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 ...

in Berlin in May 1996. He then accepted the offer of

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the D ...

who, after the departure of

Jens Nowotny Jens Daniel Nowotny (born 11 January 1974) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played in nearly 300 official games with Bayer Leverkusen in one full decade, helping them reach the 2002 Champions League final ...

, were on the lookout for a new defense boss. He fit seamlessly into the team in his first season 1996–97 at KSC and completed 30 of 34 games. In the following season, the KSC relegated from the Bundesliga but Hengen stayed in the Bundesliga playing for

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 ...

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

and Kaiserslautern, only interrupted by a brief interlude with

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (), also known simply as Beşiktaş (), is a Turkish sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

Overall, he amassed 224 Bundesliga matches and seven goals. In 2004, he moved to 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 ...

side

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a football in Germany, German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's 2. Bundesliga, second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three- ...

, but did not play any more because of a chronic hip osteoarthritis. After unsuccessful rehabilitation, he retired in early 2006.

Post-playing career

From 2006 to 2007, he was head of the junior excellence centre of

TSV Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three-year turn in the Bundesliga in the ...

. In the 2007–08 season, he took over the training of the second team until the end of the season.

Honours

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 considere ...

: 1995–96

References

1974 births Living people German footballers Bundesliga players VfL Wolfsburg players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers 1. FC Kaiserslautern II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Karlsruher SC players Alemannia Aachen players Borussia Dortmund players Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's B international footballers Men's association football defenders People from Landau Footballers from Rhineland-Palatinate West German footballers {{germany-footy-defender-1970s-stub