Thomas Linke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Linke
Thomas Linke.JPG
Thomas Linke in the
FC Red Bull Salzburg jersey (2009)
Personnel
birthday December 26, 1969
place of birth Sömmerda ,  GDR
size 183 cm
position Central defense
Juniors
Years station
1977-1983 BSG Robotron Sömmerda
1983-1988 FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1988-1992 FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt 79 0(2)
1992-1998 FC Schalke 04 175 (13)
1998-2005 FC Bayern Munich 166 0(2)
2005-2007 FC Red Bull Salzburg 51 0(3)
2005 FC Red Bull Juniors 1 0(0)
2007-2008 FC Bayern Munich II 33 0(1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1997-2004 Germany 43 0(1)
1 Only league games are given.

Thomas Linke (born December 26, 1969 in Sömmerda ) is a German football official and former football player . At Rot-Weiß Erfurt he became a professional soccer player and then spent a total of 13 years at FC Schalke 04 and FC Bayern Munich , with whom he won numerous titles, including two European cups . He played 43 games for the German national team and took part in the 2000 European and 2002 World Cups.

Player career

societies

Linke started playing football at BSG Robotron Sömmerda in 1977 and switched to FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt and KJS in the then district town in 1983 . From there in 1989 he was promoted to the first team that played in the GDR league . The third place in the table in the last league season in 1991 entitled to participate in the 2nd Bundesliga , in the left advanced to the regular player, but relegated with the Thuringians.

In the 2: 1 Cup success of Rot-Weiss Erfurt against FC Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen became aware of Left and committed the defender 1992. Also at FC Schalke Linke quickly won a regular place and denied to 1998 175 Bundesliga games and also won in 1997 the UEFA Cup .

In 1998 , Linke moved to FC Bayern Munich , where he had his most successful period. He won with Bayern five times the Championship , three times the German Cup four times the League Cup , in 2001 , the Champions League finale against FC Valencia and then the World Cup . In the Champions League final , he converted the final and decisive penalty in a penalty shoot-out .

Linke had a regular place for a long time. In his last season with the record champions he lost his regular place under the then coach Felix Magath, however, to Robert Kovač . In addition to 166 Bundesliga games, the native of Thuringia also played 54 European Cup games for Bayern.

After Blackburn coach Mark Hughes expressed interest in the veteran during the winter break of the 2004/05 season and Linke was also interested in a transfer, the 36-year-old was on the market for free in the summer of 2005. 1860 Munich under head coach Reiner Maurer would have wanted to sign Linke as a leader.

At the beginning of the 2005/06 season , however, the defender moved to Austria for Bundesliga club Red Bull Salzburg , with whom he became champions as team captain in 2007 . But his contract was not extended.

In June 2007, FC Bayern brought back links. The aim was to use him as captain of the second team to help the team to qualify for the third division, which was newly introduced from the 2008/09 season . Linke fulfilled the expectations placed in him and rose with Bayern II.

At the end of the 2007/08 season he ended his active football career.

National team

Linke (left), in a duel with Thomas Doll during the game BFC Dynamo against Rot-Weiß Erfurt (1989)
Thomas Linke as sports director of Red Bull Salzburg

In 1989 Linke was appointed to the GDR's Olympic team, with which he played several test matches. Even before the start of the qualifying games for the 1992 Olympics, the team was withdrawn in the course of German reunification . Linke made his senior national team debut on November 15, 1997 in a 3-0 win over South Africa . With the national team, for which he played 43 times, he took part in the 2000 European Championship and the 2002 World Cup. In 2002 he was with the German team vice-champion and achieved on June 1, 2002 at 8: 0 in the group match of Group E against Saudi Arabia his only target. In July 2002 he resigned from the national team, but declared that he would be available in an emergency. Völler nominated left because of personnel problems for the European Championship qualifier in September 2002 in Kaunas against Lithuania ; on September 7, 2002 he was used in that game. After the game he said “It could have been my last game” and added “If the other defenders are fit again, it will be my last international game.” On August 16, 2004 he received from Jürgen Klinsmann , who followed Rudi Völler was an invitation for the national team when he was subsequently nominated for the friendly match against Austria in the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna . Linke was in the starting eleven in that game on August 18, 2004 and was not substituted.

Managerial career

On September 12, 2007, Thomas Linke became assistant to sports director Heinz Hochhauser at Red Bull Salzburg in addition to his role as a player . After the end of his active career in summer 2008, he concentrated on his work in management. On February 24, 2011 he took over the post of sports director at regional league club RB Leipzig . On May 4, 2011, RB Leipzig announced the separation. The contract was terminated by mutual agreement with immediate effect after Linke had offered to withdraw for personal reasons.

On November 10, 2011 he was introduced as the new sports director at the second division club FC Ingolstadt 04 . Under the Left FC Ingolstadt rose in the 2014/15 season in the Bundesliga and reached in the season 2015/16 in the league. After relegating to the 2nd Bundesliga in the 2016/17 season , Linke resigned from his post.

In November 2018 Linke became an external advisor to FC Ingolstadt 04. After the departure of the sports director Harald Gärtner , he took over the sporting responsibility of the relegation-threatened second division club on April 2, 2019 until the end of the 2018/19 season. After the FCI's relegation , he finally ended his involvement with the club.

successes

Web links

Commons : Thomas Linke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Thomas Linke - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. October 1, 2015. Accessed October 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ Marcel Haisma: Thomas Linke - Matches in European Cups . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. October 1, 2015. Accessed October 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ Left flirting with Blackburn. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Leo soon left? Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  5. ^ Matthias Arnhold: Thomas Linke - International Appearances . Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. October 1, 2015. Accessed October 9, 2015.
  6. ↑ Thomas Linke stops
  7. ↑ Left against Lithuania there
  8. ↑ Olympia Verlag GmbH (ed.): Linke: The last, maybe. In: kicker online. September 8, 2002, accessed July 21, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Olympia Verlag GmbH (ed.): Huth second newcomer to the DFB squad. In: kicker online. August 16, 2004, accessed July 21, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Press release on OTZ.de
  11. ↑ Thomas Linke will be responsible for the sport until summer , fcingolstadt.de, April 2, 2019, accessed on April 2, 2019.
  12. ↑ FC Ingolstadt: Thomas Linke also says goodbye , liga3-online.de, accessed on June 1, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Left, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Sömmerda , German Democratic Republic