Orhej "Oka" Nikolov (; ; born 25 May 1974) is a retired 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 ...

. He serves as assistant coach for

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

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 ...

. He spent nineteen seasons with

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 ...

, appearing in 413 official games over the course of 13

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 ...

seasons. Born in Germany, he represented

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

at international level.

Club career

Born

Erbach im Odenwald Erbach () is a town and the district seat of the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of around 14,000. Geography Location The town lies in the ''Mittelgebirge'' Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 560 m in t ...

, Hessen, West Germany, Nikolov grew up in Sandbach in Hessen, starting playing football with local SG Sandbach. Nikolov started his senior career at

as backup, first to

Uli Stein Ulrich "Uli" Stein (born 23 October 1954) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Between 1978 and 1997, he made 512 appearances in the German Bundesliga. Club career Stein began his career in 1978 with Armi ...

and then

Andreas Köpke Andreas "Andy" Köpke (; born 12 March 1962) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After being selected for the Germany national team squads that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and reached the quarter-finals of t ...

. After the latter left the team in June 1996 following the team's relegation from the

he became first-choice, losing that status in early 2002 to newly-signed

Dirk Heinen Dirk Heinen (born 3 December 1970) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He works as goalkeeping coach of League of Ireland side Waterford F.C., Waterford. ...

; he made his debut in the top division on 9 September 1995, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–1 home win against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

. In the following years Nikolov played in every season. In February 2007, after Pröll received a

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

injury, he was reinstated by manager

Friedhelm Funkel Friedhelm Funkel (born 10 December 1953) is a German football manager and former player. He was most recently the head coach Bundesliga club of 1. FC Köln. Coaching career MSV Duisburg Funkel was manager of MSV Duisburg between 13 May 1996 and ...

, contributing with 20 games during the team's 2006–07 season. In January 2010, it was announced that the 35-year-old Nikolov would not renew his contract with Eintracht that was due to expire in the summer, but he eventually signed a new deal until 2012, and later until 2013. In June 2013, Eintracht revealed that the goalkeeper's contract would be cancelled, effective immediately to allow Nikolov to fulfill his lifelong dream to play in the United States. On 19 June 2013, Nikolov signed with the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

. He made his first start as a Union player on 30 July 2013 in a friendly against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

playing 45 minutes. Nikolov signed with

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

on 19 February 2014 on a contract for the nine-game Spring season. Nikolov started and played eight matches in goal for the Strikers, posting two clean sheets. The team ended up as runners-ups.

Coaching career

* Director of Coaching at JFC Frankfurt * Project Director and Coach at the

Football Academy * Assistant coach for the Germany national under-19 team. * Nikolov also served as Assistant Coach for the Macedonian National Team as well as a goalkeeper coach for

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. Nikolov joined the coaching staff of

in February 2022.

International career

Nikolov chose to represent the country of his ancestors, going on to win five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

in four years. He made his debut in a September 1998

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

but since he also possessed German citizenship he couldn't acquire a Macedonian passport and therefore was unable to play in official games under FIFA. His five appearances were in friendlies. His final international was a match in November 2001 against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Eintracht Frankfurt *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 2005–06

References

External links

*
Eintracht Frankfurt archives

Profile
at MacedonianFootball * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolov, Oka 1974 births Living people People from Erbach im Odenwald Footballers from Darmstadt (region) German people of Macedonian descent Naturalized citizens of North Macedonia Men's association football goalkeepers German men's footballers Macedonian men's footballers North Macedonia men's international footballers SV Darmstadt 98 players Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players Philadelphia Union players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Philadelphia Union non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches LA Galaxy non-playing staff D.C. United non-playing staff Los Angeles FC non-playing staff German expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States