Thomas Sobotzik ( pl, Tomasz Sobocki; born 16 October 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 ...

who 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 ...

. He is the managing director of

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs ...

Playing career

Sobotzik was born in

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capi ...

, Poland. He started his footballing career at local club Pogon Zabrze. When he was nine years old, he moved to

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

. In 1987 the Sobotzik family moved to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, Germany. He joined the youth department of

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

and played for their U-15. At a youth tournament in Aalen he received an offer from

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

. During his stint at

he became twice German junior champion and returned to Frankfurt in 1990. At the age of 17 he signed at professional contract. Due to a heavy knee injury he had to pause a long time in 1991. With 20 years he finally debuted in the Bundesliga. After two seasons at

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

a short stint at Kaiserslautern he returned both times to Eintracht. In 2001

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was awarded the ...

signed him for

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

. Via Union Berlin he came to

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

in 2004 where he captained the side in his last season at the Bavarian club. In 2007, he moved to Norwegian side

Sandefjord Fotball Sandefjord Fotball, commonly known simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club, founded on 10 September 1998. The club currently competes in Eliteserien, the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. Their home groun ...

. In January 2008, moved to German Regionalliga team

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

agreeing a -year contract until summer 2009. Upon expiration of his contract he was released by FSV Frankfurt and joined lower league side 1. FC Oberstedten, where he ended his active career there until the summer of 2011. Sobotzik appeared in 134

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 ...

(19 goals) and in 110 2nd Bundesliga (17 goals) matches.

Coaching and managerial career

Sobotzik began his coaching career in 2008 as assistant coach of the U-17 team of a lower league side, 1. FC Oberstedten. In May 2018, Sobotzik was appointed sporting director and responsible for the commercial area at

Chemnitzer FC Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 19 ...

. In early September 2019, he resigned. Sobotzik later explained his resignation with following word: ''The last personal hostilities, insults and threats I had to experience and suffer go far beyond what is manageable.'' In November 2019, he was appointed managing director of the sporting area of

. After the end of the regional league season and the victory of the Hessenpokal, the club separated from him in May 2022. On 1 April 2023, Sobotzik took over the post of sports director at third-division club Hallescher FC.

Post-playing career

Sobotzik built up a personnel services company and was also involved in transfers of footballers in Poland and

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. In 2015 he sold his shares in the company.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobotzik, Thomas Living people 1974 births People from Gliwice Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers German people of Polish descent Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players FC St. Pauli players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SK Rapid Wien players 1. FC Union Berlin players SpVgg Unterhaching players Sandefjord Fotball players FSV Frankfurt players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eliteserien players Austrian Football Bundesliga players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway