Denny Herzig (born 13 November 1984) is a German former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Having played as a youth for SV Sparneck,

FC Bayern Hof SpVgg Bayern Hof is a German association football club based in Hof, Bavaria. The club was founded on 1 June 1910 as ''Ballspielclub Hof'', but within a year was renamed ''Britannia Hof''. In 1913, they merged with ''FC Roland Hof'' and ''FC ...

and Carl Zeiss Jena, Herzig moved to England aged 16, joining

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

along with his older brother

Nico Christa Päffgen (; 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988), known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model. Nico had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's '' La Dolce Vita'' (1960) and Andy Warhol's ...

. After a year in the Dons' youth system, he moved north, signing for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, but he was unable to break into the first team, and in 2004 he returned to Germany, reuniting with his brother at

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 ...

. Burghausen were in the 2. Bundesliga, and Herzig made his professional debut in October 2004, replacing Macchambes Younga-Mouhani in a 2–0 victory over

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

. This was his only appearance of the season, and after two more appearances the following year, he was released in June 2006. He spent three years playing for

SV Elversberg SpVgg 07 Elversberg is a Football in Germany, German association football club, located in Spiesen-Elversberg, Saarland. The club plays in the 2. Bundesliga from the 2023–24 2. Bundesliga, 2023–24 season following promotion from the 3. Liga ...

in the Regionalliga Süd, before joining

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

in 2009. He served as club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, but left the club after one season, as the club declared

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

and were forced to withdraw from the

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

. In 2010, Herzig joined

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

of the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

. He made seventeen appearances in the 2010–11 season as the club earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, but he was released at the end of the season and signed for

Eintracht Trier SV Eintracht-Trier 05 e. V., commonly known as Eintracht Trier (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. The club was established on 11 March 1948 through the merger of Westmark 05 Trier ...

in July 2011. Again he was released after one season, and spent three months without a club before signing for Bayer Leverkusen II in October 2012. He was released by Leverkusen at the end of the 2012–13 season. He then had a short stint in Iceland with

Víkingur Ólafsvík Víkingur can refer to: * The Icelandic and Faroese word for Viking * Víkingur Ólafsson (born 1984), Icelandic pianist * Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur, Icelandic association football club * Víkingur Gøta, Faroese association football club * Ung ...

in 2014, before returning to Germany to play for

SV Seligenporten SV Seligenporten is a German association football club from Pyrbaum, Bavaria. It is part of a sportsclub established 23 July 1949 which also has departments for handball, Ju-Jitsu, horseback riding, dancing, singing, and women's recreational spo ...

in 2015. He ended his career with

FC Pipinsried FC Pipinsried is a German association football club from the town of Pipinsried, Bavaria. History FC Pipinsried was formed in 1967 and, for most of its early history the club has been a non-descript amateur side in local Bavarian football. Whi ...

where he played between 2015 and 2018.

Personal life

Herzig's older brother,

, was also a professional footballer. In 2015, while playing football on amateur level, Herzig became a

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

with the Munich Police Department.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herzig, Denny 1984 births Living people People from Pößneck Sportspeople from Bezirk Gera German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Thuringia Wimbledon F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players SV Wacker Burghausen players SV Elversberg players Rot-Weiss Essen players Dynamo Dresden players SV Eintracht Trier 05 players Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Ungmennafélagið Víkingur players FC Pipinsried players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players 1. deild karla players NOFV-Oberliga players Oberliga (football) players Regionalliga players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland German police officers 21st-century German sportsmen