Tomasz Zdebel (born 25 May 1973) is a Polish-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

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 ...

. He was active in his active career in Germany, Belgium and Turkey. From 2000 to 2003, he played for the Poland national team.

Early life

Zdebel was born and raised in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, Poland. His father was a football player who worked as a miner during the week. In 1988 the family emigrated to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

Club career

Zdebel started playing football with the local club

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , "Miners Sporting Club") is a Polish football club based in Katowice, Poland. The club currently plays in the I liga, after having won promotion in 2021. History In 1963 in Katowice a special organizational ...

. Having emigrated to Germany, he joined the youth team of

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. He started his senior career in 1990 at

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 195 ...

. One year later the team was relegated from the Bundesliga. In 1992 Zdebel joined 1. FC Köln and played for their reserve team. In 1993, he debuted for the first team. He left Cologne in 1997 and moved to

Lierse Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

. In his first season the club finished seventh and qualified for the

1997–98 UEFA Champions League The 1997–98 UEFA Champions League was the 43rd season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club association football, football tournament, and the sixth since its re-branding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The ...

. The next season Lierse won the Belgian Cup. Zdebel played as central midfielder and as a defender for Lierse. In 2000, Zdebel moved to Turkey and signed with

Gençlerbirliği S.K. Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced ), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish sports club based in Ankara. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed ''Ankara Rüzgârı'' (The Wind of Ankara) or simply ''Gençler'' (The You ...

In 2003, he returned to Germany and joined

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

Coaching career

Zdebel runs a football school called Spofa-Fußballschule, alongside former footballer

Andrzej Rudy Andrzej Rudy (born 15 October 1965) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Born in Ścinawa, Rudy started his career in football with Odra Ścinawa (1981–83). He debuted professionally with Ślą ...

. In 2012, Zdebel began working as a youth coordinator for

SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 is a German association football club from the city of Bergisch Gladbach in North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was established in 1909 as ''Fußball Club Bergisch Gladbach'' and was joined that same year by the ...

. After first team manager

Dietmar Schacht Dietmar "Didi" Schacht (born 28 September 1962) is a German association football, football coach and former player who most recently was in charge of SV Straelen.Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 1998–99 Belgian Cup, 1998–99 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

: 1997, 1999 Gençlerbirliği *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2000–01

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zdebel, Tomasz 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Katowice Footballers from Düsseldorf German people of Polish descent Men's association football midfielders Polish footballers Rot-Weiss Essen players 1. FC Köln players 1. FC Köln II players VfL Bochum players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Alemannia Aachen players Lierse S.K. players Poland men's international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Polish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Naturalized citizens of Germany