Thomas Ernst (born 23 December 1967) is a German former 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 ...

Career

Ernst was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. He started playing professionally 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 ...

. At the Hessian club, he could only amass five

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 ...

appearances in seven years combined, being barred by legendary

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 ...

. In 1994, he moved clubs but stayed in the city, joining

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt and known as simply Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hessen and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt ...

in the second division. After one season, Ernst joined

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

also in level two, only appearing twice in his first two seasons combined. His best individual year happened in 1998–99, when he appeared in 32 league games, but the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

side suffered top flight relegation, as second from bottom. From 2000 to 2006, Ernst remained in the top division, 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 ...

and

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 ...

, but again appeared almost exclusively as a backup, until his retirement at the age of 38. In 19 professional seasons, he appeared in 152 league games, 106 of those in the first division. Ernst moved into managing immediately after retiring, working as a goalkeeper coach with Germany women's national team. The following year, he had his first head coach experience, with former club FSV Frankfurt, and returned to Bochum in 2008, as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Personal life

Ernst's wife, Kerstin Pohlmann, was also a professional footballer. His son Tjark is currently a football

with the German club

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

Career statistics

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Thomas Living people 1967 births Footballers from Wiesbaden German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Oberliga (football) players FV Biebrich players Eintracht Frankfurt players Eintracht Frankfurt II players FSV Frankfurt players VfL Bochum players VfB Stuttgart players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players 1. FC Kaiserslautern II players German football managers West German men's footballers Association football goalkeeping coaches