Andreas Görlitz (born 31 January 1982) 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Born in

Weilheim in Oberbayern Weilheim in Oberbayern (English: 'Weilheim in Upper Bavaria') is a town in Germany, the capital of the district Weilheim-Schongau in the south of Bavaria. Weilheim has an old city-wall, historic houses and a museum. Local history Up to the 1 ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, West Germany, Görlitz began his professional career 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 ...

with

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football. 1860 Munich was one of the founding members o ...

, by then in 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 footbal ...

; his first match came on 10 February 2002, in a 2–1 loss at

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bunde ...

, but he could only amass a further four league games in his first two seasons combined. In the 2003–04 season, Görlitz made the transition to defender, and appeared in 32 matches for TSV, scoring his first professional goal on 27 March 2004, at

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 ...

, through a header (3–0 triumph), as his side was finally relegated, after ranking 17th. Görlitz signed with TSV neighbours

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the 2004 summer. He even started some matches in

the new season ''The New Season'' is a collaboration album by American rappers Brotha Lynch Hung and MC Eiht. It was released January 24, 2006 on Real Talk Entertainment. The album was produced by Big Hollis, Brotha Lynch Hung, MC Eiht and Vince V. It peaked ...

but, following an injury in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

contest against

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1 ...

, on 3 November, spent almost two years in the sidelines. In the summer of 2007, it was announced that Görlitz would join newly promoted

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 DF ...

, on loan for the 2007–08 season. The player only missed three league matches and his club finished 11th, well clear from relegation. On 9 May 2008, the loan deal was extended for another season. Following his second year, in which he featured significantly less, also suffering another relegation, Görlitz returned to Bayern, to play through the final year in his contract. For the third consecutive season at the club, he was often demoted to the reserve squad. On 4 March 2014, Görlitz signed a contract with the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchis ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

. After an injury limited his season to three league matches, Görlitz was released by San Jose at the end of their 2014 season.

International career

Shortly after signing for Bayern, Görlitz made his debut for the Germany national team, appearing in the last five minutes of the 1–1 friendly with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, on 8 September 2004; the following month, he assisted veteran Thomas Brdarić as the striker closed the score at 2–0, in another exhibition game, this time against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

. These two caps within a month were his only appearances in the German elite squad until the end of his career.

Music career

While recovering from a football injury, Görlitz learned to play guitar. After he retired from football, he formed a band, Room77.

Career statistics

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10 *

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 ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10 *

runner-up: 2009–10

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorlitz, Andreas 1982 births Living people Footballers from Bavaria German footballers Men's association football defenders TSV 1860 Munich II players TSV 1860 Munich players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players Karlsruher SC players FC Ingolstadt 04 players FC Ingolstadt 04 II players San Jose Earthquakes players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Major League Soccer players Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's international footballers German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States