Marek Heinz (born 4 August 1977) is a Czech former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

striker.

Career

Early career

Heinz started his football career in his native

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 ...

, where he played for

Lázně Bohdaneč Lázně Bohdaneč (, until 1980 Bohdaneč) is a spa town in Pardubice District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,500 inhabitants. Geography Lázně Bohdaneč is located about northwest of Pardubice. It lies in the ...

and

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Cz ...

before moving to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in 2000.

Germany and international call-up

Heinz headed to German side

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in 2000, the same year making his first appearance for the senior team of the

. A surplus to requirement under Kurt Jara midway through the 2002–03 season he joined

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

for the remainder of the campaign. Heinz could not make himself a regular at Bielefeld, watching his side slumping to relegation from 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 footb ...

. Having not been signed by Bielefeld and released by Hamburg, he returned to the Czech Republic in 2003.

Return to the Czech Republic and Euro 2004

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a Slovak word meaning "miner". Since the 1950s it has been part of the name of various sports clubs in Czechoslovakia associated mostly with coal mining regions. In Poland, the same practice was conducted with the name ''górnik''. ...

signed Heinz in 2003 and the player enjoyed a fantastic run during 2003–04, leading Baník to the Czech title and ending up as top scorer of the Czech league himself, scoring 19 goals. He went on to play in Euro 2004, where the Czech Republic reached the semi-finals.

Back to Germany

Heinz moved back to Germany when

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...

signed him in August 2004, but he only stayed at Mönchengladbach for just over a year, as he headed to Turkish side Galatasaray SK in 2005. In 2005, Heinz scored two crucial goals for his country and club. He first helped Galatasaray to a 4–1 win over rivals

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in October, before he scored the all-important third goal against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

which sent the Czechs into the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.

France

In September 2006, he signed a one-year contract with French side

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

after being released by Galatasaray, hoping to finally making an impact at club level outside the Czech Republic. In August 2007, he signed with

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as ...

. On 30 September 2008, he moved to 1. FC Brno. After only one season Heinz left Brno, and on 29 June 2009 it was announced that he signed a one-year contract with Kapfenberger SV.

Return to Olomouc

Heinz returned to Olomouc in 2011, signing a two-year contract with the club. Despite playing 20 matches in his first season, Heinz played just seventeen minutes in one substitute appearance in the first half of his second season. In November 2012 manager

Roman Pivarník Roman Pivarník (born 17 February 1967) is a Slovakian football manager and former player. Pivarník's playing career included a stint at SK Sigma Olomouc, which included matches in the inaugural season of the Czech First League. He played 17 mat ...

announced Heinz was surplus to requirements and free to find another club. He joined second league 1. SC Znojmo on loan in January 2013 for the rest of the season.

Career statistics

:Sources:

References

External links

* * *
Marek Heinz
at HLSZ * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heinz, Marek 1977 births Living people Czech people of German descent Sportspeople from Olomouc Association football forwards Czech footballers AFK Atlantic Lázně Bohdaneč players SK Sigma Olomouc players Hamburger SV players Arminia Bielefeld players Dukla Prague footballers FC Baník Ostrava players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Galatasaray S.K. footballers AS Saint-Étienne players FC Nantes players FC Zbrojovka Brno players Kapfenberger SV players Ferencvárosi TC footballers 1. SC Znojmo players Czech First League players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Czech Republic youth international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech Republic international footballers Olympic footballers of the Czech Republic Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in Hungary Czech expatriate footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in France Czech expatriate sportspeople in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Czech expatriate sportspeople in Hungary