Oka Nikolov

Oka Nikolov
Personnel
birthday	May 25, 1974
place of birth	Erbach ,  Germany
size	187 cm
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
1981-1989	SG Sandbach
1989-1991	SV Darmstadt 98
1991-1992	Eintracht Frankfurt
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1992-1996	Eintracht Frankfurt amateurs	73 (0)
1994-2013	Eintracht Frankfurt	379 (0)
2013	Philadelphia Union	0 (0)
2014	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	6 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1998-2001	Macedonia	5 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2014-2015	Germany U19 (goalkeeping coach)
2015	Macedonia (goalkeeping coach)
2015-2017	Philadelphia Union (Assistant Coach)
2017-2018	LA Galaxy (goalkeeping coach)
2018–	Philadelphia Union (Assistant Coach)
1 Only league games are given.

Oka Nikolov [ 'ɔka' nikɔlɔf ] ( Macedonian Ока Николов ; * May 25, 1974 in Erbach as Orhej Nikolov ) is a former North Macedonian - German soccer goalkeeper and current coach who was under contract with Eintracht Frankfurt for over 20 years and also for the Macedonian national team played. Nikolov has been working as an assistant and goalkeeper coach at Philadelphia Union since November 2018 .

Career

Club career

Beginnings

Growing up in Sandbach in the Odenwald , Oka Nikolov made his first experiences as a footballer at his home club SG Sandbach . His talent as a goalkeeper was recognized early on, and his reactions in particular were considered excellent. From 1989 to 1991 he played in the youth of SV Darmstadt 98 , then he moved to Eintracht Frankfurt .

Eintracht Frankfurt

Nikolov began his professional career in 1994 at Eintracht. At first he was reserve goalkeeper behind Uli Stein and Andreas Köpke , before he rose to the club's regular goalkeeper in 1996 after the relegation of Eintracht and the departure of the then national goalkeeper Köpke. He remained a regular goalkeeper until the 2000/01 season when he had to give way to the newly signed Dirk Heinen under coach Felix Magath . After Eintracht Frankfurt's relegation again in 2001 and Dirk Heinen's departure, he fought his way back to his regular place in goal.

After relegation in the summer of 2004, he again had to make way for a new signing, Markus Pröll . After his injury at the beginning of the 2005/06 season, Nikolov returned to Eintracht Frankfurt's goal after a year and defended his place with strong performances even after Pröll's recovery until the end of the season. Nikolov lost this again at the beginning of the 2006/07 season, as coach Friedhelm Funkel gave Markus Pröll the preference. Due to a persistent rib injury by Pröll, which kept breaking, Nikolov still played regularly and made 20 season appearances in 2006/07. In the 2012/13 season, after Kevin Trapp broke his hand , Nikolov made seven appearances in the season finale and with his performances he played a key role in reaching the European Cup. In May 2013, the contract with Nikolov was extended for another year to June 30, 2014, but terminated in June 2013 at Nikolov's request. He wanted to fulfill a lifelong dream and end his career in the United States .

Philadelphia Union

In the summer of 2013, Nikolov moved to Major League Soccer at Philadelphia Union . Nikolov was signed as a substitute goalkeeper, but his main task was to train the young goalkeeper Zac MacMath and to pass on his experience to him.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

In early 2014 he moved to the North American Soccer League for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers . He played six games for the club.

National team

Between 1998 and 2001 Nikolov played five full international matches in the Macedonian national team , making his debut in a friendly against Egypt on September 29, 1998. Since he did not lose his German citizenship, he could only be used in friendly games.

Coaching career

After the end of his active career, Nikolov became sporting director at JFC Frankfurt . On December 24, 2015, it was announced that he would be returning to the Philadelphia Union starting January 2016 . There he worked as an assistant trainer. From November 2017 Nikolov was goalkeeping coach for the MLS team LA Galaxy , in Sigi Schmid's coaching team . Before that, he was a goalkeeper coach for the German U19 national team and the Macedonian senior team. Nikolov holds the UEFA A license. Since December 2018 he has been training with the Philadelphia Union again.

successes

Eintracht Frankfurt

• Promotion to the Bundesliga : 1998 (as champion), 2003 , 2005 and 2012
• DFB Cup finalist: 2006 (0: 1 against FC Bayern Munich )
• Qualification for the Europa League : 2013

Others

Nikolov has had German citizenship since 1999 .

Nikolov is particularly popular with fans because of his loyalty to the club; He remained loyal to Eintracht Frankfurt for over 20 years despite four relegations to the Second Bundesliga and is therefore reverently called "the eternal Oka" by fans and the press. As an experienced player, he was used as captain when necessary . Nikolov was the only active player to be voted one of the pillars of unity by the fans . For this purpose, the elected were immortalized in the Willy Brandt-Platz subway station in Frankfurt with their likeness on pillars as the “Hall of Fame”.

As an ambassador, Nikolov supports the Respekt! No place for racism .

Web links

• Oka Nikolov in the database of fussballdaten.de
• Oka Nikolov in the database of weltfussball.de
• Oka Nikolov in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Oka Nikolov in the Eintracht archive
• Oka Nikolov ( Memento from July 1, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) from the former database of Playerhistory.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oka Nikolov ( Memento from July 1, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) from the former database of Playerhistory.com, accessed on February 14, 2019 (English)
2. ↑ Nikolov remains Eintracht. (No longer available online.) May 18, 2013, archived from the original on August 28, 2013 ; Retrieved May 18, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Thank you Oka: Nikolov wants to fulfill his lifelong dream ( memento of the original from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , eintracht.de, accessed on June 18, 2013 
4. ↑ Union sign veteran goalkeeper Oka Nikolov philadelphiaunion.com, accessed June 20, 2013 (English)
5. ↑ "I would have liked to have been there against Bordeaux" , fr.de, accessed on February 14, 2019
6. ↑ Contact person - JFC Frankfurt . ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 12, 2015. 
7. ↑ Assistant Coach. Retrieved June 9, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Ex-Frankfurt goalkeeper Nikolov becomes goalkeeping trainer at LA Galaxy . ( transfermarkt.de [accessed on May 22, 2018]).
9. ↑ Philadelphia Union Add Oka Nikolov To The Technical Staff , Philadelphia Union website, accessed December 26, 2015
10. ↑ The pillars. (No longer available online.) Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG, archived from the original on February 25, 2014 ; accessed on February 14, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Ambassador - Sport: Oka Nikolov. (No longer available online.) In: Website of the Respekt! No place for racism . Archived from the original on July 26, 2012 ; Retrieved October 11, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.