Rafael Czichos (born 14 May 1990) is 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 ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

club Chicago Fire.

Career

Born in Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

while his father worked there, Czichos began his career at TSV Ottersberg and joined VfL Wolfsburg II in 2010. In 2012, he signed with then

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 ...

side Rot-Weiss Erfurt. After signing with

Holstein Kiel Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein von 1900 e.V., simply as KSV Holstein or Kieler SV Holstein, commonly known as Holstein Kiel (), is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s thro ...

, Czichos first played in the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

when the team won promotion in 2017. However, Kiel failed to win promotion after the 2017–18 season and he was sold to newly relegated side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

for a fee of €1.8 million. He made his debut, including his first goal, for the club in a 2–0 victory against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundesli ...

on 4 August 2018. Having been an undisputed starter in the first half of the 2021–22 season, he left 1. FC Köln in January 2022, with half a year left on his contract. '' kicker'' described the move as "surprising". On 2 January 2022, Czichos transferred to

club Chicago Fire on a three-year contract.

Personal life

In a July 2018 interview Czichos revealed he was a life-long fan of Werder Bremen.

References

External links

* * 1990 births Living people Men's association football central defenders German men's footballers Footballers from Jeddah VfL Wolfsburg II players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Holstein Kiel players 1. FC Köln players Chicago Fire FC players 3. Liga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players {{Germany-footy-defender-1990s-stub