Ulrich 'Uli' Ernst Borowka (born 19 May 1962) 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 defender. A versatile blue-collar worker with a powerful shot, he spent the better part of his career at

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

(nearly one full decade), amassing

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 ...

totals of 388 games and 19 goals over the course of 15 seasons. Borowka represented

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 ...

Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

Club career

Born in

Menden (Sauerland) Menden (, official name: ''Menden (Sauerland)''; Westphalian: ''Mennen'') is a city in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the north end of the Sauerland near the Ruhr river. History Menden's ...

, Borowka made his

debut at the age of 19 for Borussia Mönchengladbach, becoming a regular from his second season onwards – in 1984–85, as the team finished fourth, he scored a career-best five goals in 32 matches. In 1987, Borowka signed for SV Werder Bremen, being a defensive mainstay for the club in six of his nine seasons and managing to net at least once in seven of them. In his debut campaign he helped to the league conquest, the first in 23 years, scoring in a 1–0 win at SV Waldhof Mannheim on 9 April 1988. Borowka played in a total of 46 official matches in the 1991–92 season, including eight in Werder's victorious run in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

. The following season he added another league, eventually leaving the club in December 1995 at nearly 34, for amateurs

Tasmania 1900 Berlin SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin was a German football club based in the Berlin district of Neukölln. History The club was founded as ''Rixdorfer TuFC Tasmania 1900'' on 2 June 1900. It is believed the founders of the club were about to migrate t ...

. Subsequently he played for Hannover 96 (

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

, only one month) and

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-white-reds). Histor ...

, becoming the first German to play in the Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

before finally retiring in the amateur leagues, at the age of 38. After retiring, Borowka had various spells in coaching, with little impact.

International career

Borowka earned six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

in 1988, and featured for the nation at

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

, playing all four matches for the semifinalists (two complete). His debut came on 2 April in a friendly with

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, a 1–0 win in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in preparation for the continental competition.

Honours

Borussia Mönchengladbach *

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 ...

runners-up: 1983–84 Werder Bremen *

: 1987–88,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1993–94; runners-up 1988–89, 1989–90 *

: 1991–92 * DFL-Supercup:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Widzew Łódź *

: 1996–97

References

External links

* *
National team data
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borowka, Ulrich 1962 births Living people People from Menden (Sauerland) Sportspeople from Arnsberg (region) German footballers Association football defenders Bundesliga players Borussia Mönchengladbach players SV Werder Bremen players Hannover 96 players Ekstraklasa players Widzew Łódź players Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 1988 players German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland German expatriate sportspeople in Poland German football managers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia West German footballers