Marco Köller (born 25 June 1969) is a German former

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 lea ...

. Köller joned the youth academy of

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

BFC Dynamo Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly abbreviated to BFC Dynamo () or BFC (), alternatively sometimes called Dynamo Berlin, is a German football club based in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg of Ber ...

in 1981. Köller won the 1986 UEFA European Under-18 Championship with East Germany after defeating

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

3-1 in the final on 15 October 1986. 17-year-old Köller then made his first appearance with the first team of BFC Dynamo as substitute for

Frank Pastor Frank Pastor (born 7 December 1957) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward for Hallescher FC Chemie and BFC Dynamo. He won several titles with BFC Dynamo and became the league top goal scorer in 1986–87 sea ...

in the match against

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena () is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Founded in 1903, it was initially associated with the optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was one of the top-ranked clubs in East Germany, won ...

at the Dynamo-Stadion im Sportforum in the eighth matchday of the

1986–87 DDR-Oberliga The 1986–87 DDR-Oberliga was the 38th season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany. The league was contested by fourteen teams. BFC Dynamo won the championship, the club's ninth of ten consecutive East German ch ...

on 18 October 1986. Köller was a regular player of BFC Dynamo in the 1987–88 and 1988–89 season. He played for BFC Dynamo against

Girondins Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It competes in the Championnat National 2 ...

and

SV 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. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in the 1987–88 and

1988–89 European Cup The 1988–89 European Cup was the 34th season of the European Cup football club tournament. The competition was won by Milan, the first time since 1969 and third time overall, comfortably defeated former winners Steaua București in the final. ...

. Köller played in the first matches for BFC Dynamo in the

1989–90 DDR-Oberliga The 1989–90 DDR-Oberliga was the 41st season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany. It was the last season of the league under the name of DDR-Oberliga as it played as the NOFV-Oberliga in the following season. E ...

. He also played in the first leg against

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

away in the Second round of the

1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1989–90 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won for the only time by Sampdoria in the final against Anderlecht, 2–0 at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, on 9 May 1990. They went on to win 1990–91 Serie A, also being runners-up in the ...

. However, Köller then suffered a

metatarsal The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

injury. The match against

FC Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

in the eighth matchday of the 1989–90 DDR-Oberliga on 21 October 1989 became his last appearance for BFC Dynamo. Köller then decided to

defect Defect or defects may refer to: Related to failure * Angular defect, in geometry * Birth defect, an abnormal condition present at birth * Crystallographic defect, in the crystal lattice of solid materials * Latent defect, in the law of the sale o ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

with his girlfriend. When the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

fell on 9 November 1989, he was already on a train towards

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

References

External links

Marco Köller
at RSSSF 1969 births Living people German men's footballers East German men's footballers Defecting sportspeople from East Germany Berliner FC Dynamo players MSV Duisburg players 2. Bundesliga players DDR-Oberliga players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Berlin Sportspeople from East Berlin {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub

See also

References

External links