Thomas Brdarić (; born 23 January 1975) is a German 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 former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is the manager free.

Club career

Brdarić was born in

Nürtingen Nürtingen (; ) is a town on the river Neckar in the district of Esslingen (district), Esslingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History The following events occurred, by year: *1046: First mention of ''Niuritingin'' in ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. He began his professional career with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, making his Bundesliga debut as a substitute for

Fritz Walter Friedrich "Fritz" Walter (; 31 October 1920 – 17 June 2002) was a German footballer who spent his entire senior career at 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He usually played as an attacking midfielder or inside forward. In his time with the Germany an ...

on 29 August 1993 against

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, ...

. In only his second game, against

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

, he scored his first goal in a 4–2 victory. He managed ten games in total in his debut season, but did not manage to keep his place in the squad as he was sold onto

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

in the 2. Bundesliga. He spent two seasons at the Rheinland club, helping them gain promotion to the top flight and maintaining their position. However, he managed just a solitary goal in his time and was again let go, back to the 2. Bundesliga with rivals

Fortuna Köln Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at least the Re ...

. His spell here was much more successful as he became a first-team regular and found his finishing touch, particularly in 1998–99 when he managed 13 goals in 29 appearances. This form caught the eye of

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 ...

club

Bayer 04 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 association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

and they snapped him up in summer 1999. Although he never scored regularly in his time there, he mostly managed to hold down a first team place and enjoyed playing on the biggest stage of his career. During his time with the club, he twice finished second in the league and appeared in the 2002 DFB Cup final, and most prestigiously, the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

final that year, where they were defeated by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

after their shock run in the tournament. Brdarić played 18 games in the

in total, scoring once (in a 3–1 win over

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in the 2002 campaign). Brdarić's time with Leverkusen though began to wilt soon into the 2002–03 season, which even saw him playing for their amateurs in the

Regionalliga North The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

. The following season he was loaned out to fellow Bundesliga team

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 ...

and managed 12 goals, his best tally yet at the top level. This attracted

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 ...

in July 2004, signing for him €1 million in a three-year deal. Although he matched the previous season's tally of 12, this was a much more frustrating season as he found himself often substituted or starting on the bench. These annoyances caused him to fall out with teammates and club officials. Team manager

Thomas Strunz Thomas Strunz (born 25 April 1968) is a German former professional footballer who played mostly as a defensive midfielder. Over the course of 12 seasons, he amassed Bundesliga totals of 235 games and 32 goals, representing in the competition Ba ...

labelled Brdarić an "egotist" for putting his own issues before the team. After this turbulent year, he was quickly sold onto

, rejoining the team he had been loaned to on a permanent three-year deal. However, controversy had not fully escaped him as he irked coach

Peter Neururer Peter Neururer (born 26 April 1955) is a German professional football manager, notable for coaching a number of Bundesliga clubs. Managerial career Neururer had a minor playing career in the lower leagues before moving into coaching at TuS Hal ...

with an interview in which he stated: "As a striker, you have some sort of lust for scoring. That's why a 4–4 with four goals scored by yourself is more important than a win for the team". This led to Brdarić being dropped and subsequently given limited playing opportunities. This awkward situation was solved though by Neururer's sacking in August 2006, which he welcomed by unleashing criticism at his former coach, branding him "mean and dishonest" in their relationship and claiming he lacked the substance behind his front to aid the club. His time at the club then was much less fractious under

Dieter Hecking Dieter-Klaus Hecking (; born 12 September 1964) is a German football manager and former professional player who is the manager of Bundesliga club VfL Bochum. He played for Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig as a midfielder. He returned to man ...

and he managed five goals in just 11 appearances in the 2006–07 season, where he was blighted by knee problems. His injured knee forced him eventually to end his career as player.

International career

Brdarić has also represented his country, making his international debut for

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 ...

on 27 March 2002 against the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

in Rostock. He featured in the

2004 UEFA European Championship The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, making a substitute appearance against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in the group stage. He was also an unused squad member in the

2005 Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FIFA World Cup and 2004 ...

. His only international goal came in a friendly win in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on 9 October 2004.

Coaching career

On 24 March 2009, Brdarić was named as the new director of sport and later also as manager for

1. FC Union Solingen 1. FC Union Solingen was a Football in Germany, German association football club from Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The club was founded in 1990 in the aftermath of the bankruptcy of ''SG Union Solingen'' by former members of that c ...

. He was fired on 17 August 2009. He was appointed manager of

TSG Neustrelitz TSG Neustrelitz is a German association football club from Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The football side is part of a sports club that also has departments for gymnastics and chess. __TOC__ History The earliest roots of the associatio ...

in 2013, and led the team to the 2013–14

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

title before losing in a promotion playoff against

FSV Mainz 05 II 1. FSV Mainz 05 II is a Football in Germany, German Association football, association football club from the town of Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the German reserve football teams, reserve team of 1. FSV Mainz 05. The team's greatest achiev ...

. He then took over as manager of

VfL Wolfsburg II VfL Wolfsburg II was a German association football team from the city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was the reserve team of VfL Wolfsburg. The team's greatest success was two league championships in the tier four Regionalliga Nord, in 2013–14 ...

. In May 2017 he left

KF Shkëndija Klubi i Futbollit Shkëndija (), commonly known as Shkëndija, is a professional football club based in Tetovo, North Macedonia. Founded in 1979 by Macedonian Albanians, the club is widely recognized for its strong community identity and passio ...

Personal life

Brdarić's father hails from

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and his mother hails from

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

. In 2003, he recorded a CD entitled "The Wild 13". The song (co-written by Coastland Records' Marco Heggen) mocks goalkeepers

Oliver Kahn Oliver Rolf Kahn (; born 15 June 1969) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in t ...

Jens Lehmann Jens Gerhard Lehmann (; born 10 November 1969) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was a member of Arsenal's " Invincibles", playing every match of their unbeaten title-winning season. He holds the UEFA ...

and

Frank Rost Frank Rost (born 30 June 1973) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He comes from a sporting family background; his father Peter won a gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Games in handball, and his mother Christina ...

. The title stems from Brdarić's shirt number. During his time at Fortuna Köln, he was nicknamed 'Bambi' because of his very skinny legs. He is married to wife Antje and has two sons, Tim and Lance.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brdaric, Thomas 1975 births Living people Footballers from Nürtingen Men's association football forwards German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's B international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players German people of Croatian descent German people of Serbian descent VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players SC Fortuna Köln players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Hannover 96 players VfL Wolfsburg players German football managers 1. FC Union Solingen managers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players VfL Kirchheim/Teck players KF Shkëndija managers tennis Borussia Berlin managers FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt managers KF Vllaznia Shkodër managers chennaiyin FC managers Indian Super League managers German expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in North Macedonia German expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia German expatriate sportspeople in Albania Expatriate football managers in Albania West German men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in India Expatriate football managers in India Expatriate football managers in Kuwait German expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League managers Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) managers