Emanuel Pogatetz (born 16 January 1983) is an Austrian 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 ...

coach and a former player. He is currently first-team coach at

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Crystal Palace. As a player, he appeared for Kärnten, Bayer Leverkusen II,

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

Vfl Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, 1. FC Nürnberg,

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

and

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

. At international level, he represented Austria at under-16, under-18, under-19, under-21 and full international level. He was nicknamed "Mad Dog" for his aggressive style of play on the field.

Club career

Born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Pogatetz's career started at

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

, before going to Kärnten, and later to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. After a loan spells at

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

and

, he joined

He had also been tracked by

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, but during his final match on loan at

, he tackled Yaroslav Kharitonskiy, leaving the Russian with a double leg fracture. Although initially banned for 24 weeks by the

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it organizes Russian amateur and professional football, includi ...

, the suspension was later reduced to eight weeks after Pogatetz attended a personal hearing in Moscow. As the ban commenced in June and was specified as a length of time rather than a number of matches, he ended up missing only three games for his new club Middlesbrough.

Middlesbrough

Signed by manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English football coach and former player who is currently the manager of the Jamaica national team. McClaren began his coaching career with Oxford United, before joining Derby County in 1995. In 1999 ...

for £1.8 million, his Middlesbrough debut came on 25 August 2005 against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. With Pogatetz coming on in the second half for

Franck Queudrue Franck Roger Queudrue (born 27 August 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left back. He began his career with Lens, for whom he played in Ligue 1, and went on to play in the Premier League for Middlesbrough, Fulham a ...

, Middlesbrough lost 3–0. On 30 March 2006, during the first leg of Middlesbrough's 2–0

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

quarter-final defeat against

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, Pogatetz broke his

nose A nose is a sensory organ and respiratory structure in vertebrates. It consists of a nasal cavity inside the head, and an external nose on the face. The external nose houses the nostrils, or nares, a pair of tubes providing airflow through the ...

jaw The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth ...

and

cheekbone In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (from ), also called cheekbone or malar bone, is a paired irregular bone, situated at the upper and lateral part of the face and forming part of the lateral wall and floor of the orbit (anatomy), orbit, of t ...

in an accidental clash of heads with

Mladen Petrić Mladen Petrić (; born 1 January 1981) is a retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. During his career, he played for Grasshopper Club Zürich, Grasshopper, FC Basel, Basel, B ...

and was later warned against returning to full training for three months, for fear of losing his eyesight. He underwent successful surgery to have the fractures reset and Dr. Douglas Bryan declared himself "delighted" with Pogatetz's progress. "It is anticipated he will make a full recovery and be back with his team-mates for pre-season training," said Middlesbrough head physio Grant Downie. "The only disappointing thing for Manny ogatetzis he won't be able to play football, and he was desperate to get back involved. But another blow to his face would risk severe trauma and a potentially eyesight-threatening injury." Pogatetz suffered from a

hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal Devel ...

, for which he received corrective surgery in Munich on 24 April 2006. On 4 July, he returned to training following successful surgery on his hernia and cheek. In the 2006–07 season, Pogatetz was forced into the centre of defence due to an injury to

Chris Riggott Christopher Mark Riggott (born 1 September 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began his career at Derby County, before moving to Middlesbrough, with whom he won the League Cup in 2004. He also had ...

. He formed impressive partnerships at the back with both Robert Huth and

Jonathan Woodgate Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English Association football, football manager and former player. Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United F.C., Leeds United at the age of sixteen. He was sold t ...

, but was able to keep his place, even upon the returns of Woodgate and Riggott. Middlesbrough coach McClaren said: "He never, ever, gives less than 300% in performance." After the 2007–08 season, Pogatetz was given the captain's armband on a full-time basis, following his taking up of the role towards the end of the season. Already known for his disciplinary problems having been booked 20 times in his first two seasons with Middlesbrough, in September 2008 he was involved in a challenge on

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Rodrigo Possebon Rodrigo Pereira Possebon (born 13 February 1989) is a professional football executive and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current director of football of Athletico Paranaense. A box-to-box midfielder, as a youth, he played ...

in a League Cup game which resulted in Possebon being stretchered from the pitch and having to spend the night in hospital. United manager

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

said of the incident "It was an absolutely terrible tackle. Pogatetz should have just walked off the field." Pogatetz was sent-off and served a three match ban. Pogatetz returned in the 2009–10 season after a long injury layoff, on 31 October in a 1–0 loss to

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

, only to suffer a recurrence of his cheekbone fracture with the scores tied at 0–0. He made his return to the first team against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

on 21 November in a 1–1 draw. He had to wear a protective mask because of his cheekbone fracture which he picked up in the Plymouth game. He received a bang to the head in the Forest game and had to receive stitches at half time, he still completed the full 90 minutes.

Hannover 96

On 2 June 2010, he signed for

on a three-year contract making his debut on 21 August in a 2–1 home win against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

Wolfsburg

On 20 June 2012, Pogatetz signed for

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. He made his debut on 18 August 2012 in a 5–0 away win at Schönberg 95, assisting the fourth goal by

Bas Dost Bas Leon Dost (; born 31 May 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker. Having begun his career at FC Emmen in the Eerste Divisie, Dost later played in the Eredivisie for Heracles Almelo and SC Heerenveen. In 2012, after ...

West Ham United (loan)

On 28 January 2013, Pogatetz signed, on loan until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, with

. His West Ham debut came on 2 February in a 1–0 home win against

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

when he came on as a 90th-minute substitute for

Kevin Nolan Kevin Anthony Jance Nolan (born 24 June 1982) is an English former professional footballer and coach, who manages Northampton Town. He has represented England at under-21 level. After growing up in Toxteth, Liverpool, Nolan signed for Bolton ...

. He played five more times, before returning to Wolfsburg.

1. FC Nürnberg

On 2 July 2013, Pogatetz signed with 1. FC Nürnberg in a swap deal that saw

Timm Klose Timm Klose (born 9 May 1988) is a Swiss former professional Association football, footballer who last played as Centre back for FC Basel, Basel U21 in the Swiss Promotion League. He used to play for the Switzerland national football team, Switzer ...

go to Wolfsburg. He made 23 league appearances for the side, scoring once.

Columbus Crew

On 9 September 2014, Pogatetz signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. Over two seasons with the Ohio-based club, he made 24 appearances.

Union Berlin

On 5 January 2016, Pogatetz signed with

until the end of the season. Having made only six appearances during the 2016–17 season, his contract was not extended.

LASK

In May 2017, Pogatetz announced his decision to return to his native Austria and to join

Juniors OÖ

On 3 December 2019 it was confirmed, that Pogatetz would play for FC Juniors OÖ from 2020, where he also would work as an individual coach.

International career

Pogatetz made his international debut for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 18 May 2002 in a 6–2 defeat by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He came on in the 83rd minute as a substitute for

Ernst Dospel Ernst Dospel (born 8 October 1976 in Absdorf) is an Austrian football player who currently plays for Austrian non-league team SV Haitzendorf. Club career Dospel started his professional career at Austria Wien where he claimed a regular starti ...

. His first international goal came on 6 September 2003 in a Euro 2004 qualifying game in the Feyenoord Stadium,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. With score at 1–0 to

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Pogatetz equalised only for the game to finish 3–1 to the Netherlands. On 12 October 2005, he was dismissed in an international game against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. In the 73rd minute in a 2–0 win in the

Ernst Happel Stadion Ernst-Happel-Stadion (), known as Praterstadion until 1992, is a football stadium in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria's capital Vienna. With 50,865 seats, it is the largest stadium in Austria. It was built between 1929 and 1931 for the ...

in Vienna. Pogatetz retaliated to a "reckless challenge" by Northern Ireland's

Damien Johnson Damien Michael Johnson (born 18 November 1978) is a Northern Irish football coach and former international player. Since 2019 he has been first team technical coach & head of player development at Blackburn Rovers. He began his career with Po ...

. Both were dismissed. In September 2006, Pogatetz was banned from playing for his country after he criticised the coach Josef Hickersberger and captain Andreas Ivanschitz after Austria drew with

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and lost to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in an international tournament played earlier in the month. In 2008, he was a member of the Austria team at

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

which Austria co-hosted with Switzerland. He played all three games, against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, Germany and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, as Austria failed to make the knock-out stages of the competition. In March 2009, Pogatetz was named captain of

by coach

Dietmar Constantini Dietmar "Didi" Constantini (30 May 1955 – 18 December 2024) was an Austrian football player and manager. Constantini was appointed head coach of the Austria national team in March 2009 and was replaced by Marcel Koller in October 2011. In h ...

. However, a series of injuries kept Pogatetz out of Austria's team for much of 2009 and 2010, with

Christian Fuchs Christian Fuchs (; born 7 April 1986) is an Austrian former professional association football, footballer who played as a left back. He was a part of Leicester City F.C., Leicester City's 2015–16 Premier League campaign, where they won. He be ...

replacing him as captain. His last cap came in 2014.

Coaching career

St. Pölten

On 10 June 2021, it was announced that Pogatetz would be an assistant coach at St. Pölten, having spent the previous year as the assistant coach of

. He left this role in 2023.

Crystal Palace

Pogatetz joined Premier League club Crystal Palace in February 2024 as part of the coaching team for manager

Oliver Glasner Oliver Glasner (born 28 August 1974) is an Austrians, Austrian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of Premier League club Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Palace. A Defe ...

International goals

:Source:

Honours

Kärnten *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2000–01 Grazer AK *

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2003–04 *

: 2003–04

References

External links

*
Leverkusen who's who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pogatetz, Emanuel 1983 births Living people Footballers from Graz Austrian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Austrian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Austrian Football Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Russian Premier League players Premier League players English Football League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players FC Kärnten players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC Aarau players Grazer AK players FC Spartak Moscow players Middlesbrough F.C. players Hannover 96 players VfL Wolfsburg players West Ham United F.C. players 1. FC Nürnberg players Columbus Crew players 1. FC Union Berlin players LASK players FC Juniors OÖ players Austria men's youth international footballers 21st-century Austrian sportsmen Austria men's under-21 international footballers Austria men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2008 players Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Austrian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Austrian expatriate sportspeople in England Association football coaches Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff