Daniel Twardzik (born 13 April 1991) is a former 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 ...

Club career

Twardzik trained with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

as a youngster, and after leaving the German giants in 2009, trained with Scottish club

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. Compensation issues were to kill off any possibility of a move to

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

, so he signed on at

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. In 2011, he moved to

Italian football Football ( ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Brazil (with five), runners-up in two finals both against Brazil, (1970, 1994) and ...

with

Calcio Como Como 1907 () is an Italian professional football club based in Como, Lombardy. The club competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian football, after achieving promotion in the 2023–24 Serie B, 2023–24 Se ...

.Učil se i od Kahna, teď Twardzik číslo 3 zaujal ve Skotsku
iSport.cz, Retrieved 3 February 2015 (Czech) Having struggled to make an impact in Italy, Twardzik was recruited by Scottish club

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He did not make a single appearance for the

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, from which the surrounding residential area has taken its name, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Profess ...

club, as he was used mostly as a back-up to

Jamie Langfield James Robert Langfield (born 22 December 1979) is a Scottish football player and coach, who is currently the goalkeeping coach at St Mirren. Langfield, who played as a goalkeeper, started his career with Dundee. He then played for Partick Thist ...

and he was released at the end of the 2012–13 season. The following season, Twardzik moved down a division and signed for relegated club

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. Again, he found first-team opportunities very hard to come by. With both

Lee Hollis Lee James Hollis (born 27 March 1986) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, and is known to have most recently play for Scottish Amateur side Benburb now goalie coach of lowland league side Cumbernauld Colts. He started his caree ...

and Gunnar Nielsen out injured, Twardzik went on an emergency one-month loan to Motherwell. He made his debut, and indeed his first ever appearance in Scottish football, in a 2–1 win away to Ross County. He made five appearances for the club. Twardzik returned to Dundee when his loan spell had expired, with Motherwell attempting to extend the loan, however this did not happen. After making his return, Twardzik made his debut for Dundee on 25 January 2014, coming on as a substitute against

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, after first choice goalkeeper

Kyle Letheren Kyle Charles Letheren (born 26 December 1987) is a Welsh former professional footballer and goalkeeper coach. He is currently a goalkeeper coach at Doncaster Rovers. He has played in the Scottish Premier League for Kilmarnock, in the Scottish P ...

had been sent off. He immediately saved a penalty but could not stop Dundee losing 2–0. After spending the remainder of the season as back-up for Letheren, Twardzik's futures appeared to be uncertain following the club's promotion to the Scottish Premiership. At the end of the season it was confirmed Twardzik would be leaving the club. On 23 May 2014, Twardzik returned to

, signing a two-year contract. Following the move, he said he aimed to become the first choice goalkeeper at the club. Twardzik made his second debut for Motherwell, in the Europa League second qualifying round first leg, in a 2–2 draw against Icelandic side

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

. However, in the return leg, he came under criticism when he allowed the opposition team to take the lead in extra time, with the match finishing in a 3–2 victory for Stjarnan, eliminating Motherwell. Twardzik started in goal, in the opening game of the league season, in a 1–0 win over St Mirren. Since making his debut, Twardzik became the first choice goalkeeper, with manager

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is currently assistant manager of Preston North End. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matche ...

showing faith in him. On 26 January 2016, Twardzik left Motherwell by mutual consent.

International career

Despite being of Czech origin, Twardzik also claims German nationality. He made two appearances for the Germany Under 18 team.

Personal life

Twardzik is an older brother to former

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

twins

Filip Filip () is a masculine given name and a surname, cognate to Philip. The male name Filip comes from the Greek "philos" (love) and "hippos" (horse), which means "horse lover". In Croatia, the name Filip was among the most common masculine given nam ...

and Patrik. His father

René René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...

also played as a goalkeeper. Twardzik speaks five languages and is a fan of travelling.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twardzik, Dan Living people 1991 births Footballers from Třinec Czech men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Scottish Professional Football League players Regionalliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers Karlsruher SC players Como 1907 players Aberdeen F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players VSG Altglienicke players Germany men's youth international footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Czech sportsmen