As a youth Ulrich Kretz played for the clubs VfB Wiesloch, VfB Eppingen and 1. FC Kaiserslautern . In the first half of the 1980/81 season, he made his first appearance in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in the SV Sandhausen jersey . At the turn of the year 1980/81 he joined the league competitor VfR Heilbronn . In 1981 he moved to the Heidelberg district club SG Kirchheim in the Baden Association League. In 1984 he rose with his team to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg, where he was successful in 1984/85 with 15 goals in 32 games. He then moved to the 2nd Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld for the new season . For Bielefeld he came to 24 second division games (two goals), but was mostly only used as a substitute in the second half of the season. During the 1986/87 season he returned to the Kirchheimer Klub, which has since been renamed SGK Heidelberg. At the SGK he was set again, but in 1989 you had to accept relegation to the association league. Ulrich went to FV Weinheim (Oberliga), where he stayed for one season.
