Bernd Meier (11 February 1972 – 2 August 2012) was a German 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Playing career

Born in

Rain, Swabia Rain (; also: ''Rain (Lech)'') is a Town#Germany, town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Lech (river), Lech, close to its confluence with the Danube, 11 km east of Donauwörth. Geography Rain is on ...

, Meier arrived at the professional level at the age of 21, joining

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

and promoting to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in his first year. During his subsequent four-season spell with the ''Löwen'' (lions), he continued to battle for first-choice status with Rainer Berg, appearing in a career-best 33 games in 1995–96 to help his team to the eighth position. In summer 1999, Meier signed with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, playing in only two league matches during his stint, one in each major level of German football. After three years he returned to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, going on to start for

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a football in Germany, German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after th ...

. Meier moved to

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in 2005, at the age of 33, being only third-choice over the course of two seasons, and inclusively being demoted to the reserves. He retired with 94 top level games to his credit.

Coaching career

On 6 January 2010, Meier was named as the new goalkeeper coach of

SV Wacker Burghausen SV Wacker Burghausen is a German football club based in Burghausen, Bavaria and is part of one of the nation's largest sports clubs with some 6,000 members participating in two dozen different sports. History The club was founded on 13 Novemb ...

. The following year, in the same capacity, he joined the Germany under-17 team.

Death

Meier died on 2 August 2012 of an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, after being admitted to the hospital for food poisoning. He was only 40 years of age.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Bernd 1972 births 2012 deaths German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players TSV 1860 Munich players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Rot Weiss Ahlen players Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players TSV Rain am Lech players