Thomas von Heesen (born 1 October 1961) is a former German

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 ...

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, and a current coach. Most of his professional career was spent, as a player, with

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

, with which he won several accolades, both domestic and continental, appearing in nearly 400 official games for the club.

Playing career

Born in Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, von Heesen made his professional – and

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 ...

– debuts in 1980–81 with

, then went on to feature prominently for the club in the following two seasons, as the club won in that timeframe two leagues and the 1982–83 European Cup (during that campaign, he netted twice in just five matches, and appeared 34 minutes in the 1–0

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

win against

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 ...

). Von Heesen remained with Hamburg until 1994, with exactly 99 first division goals scored. He then switched, at nearly 33, to

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

, being very important in the club's return to the topflight. In the following campaign, although appearing very rarely, he found the net on 28 August 1996, in a 1–1 home draw against

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

, for his 100th, retiring at season's end.

Coaching career

Subsequently, von Heesen took up coaching. Von Heesen became interim head coach of

after Ernst Middendorp was sacked on 17 August 1998. He was head coach for the remainder of the season when

Hermann Gerland Hermann "Tiger" Gerland (born 4 June 1954) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who has most recently worked as an assistant coach of Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern ...

took over. His final match as head coach was a 5–3 win against 1. FC Köln where they won the 2. Bundesliga championship. He finished his tenure with a record of 20 wins, seven draws, and six losses in 33 matches. He became head coach of

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...

on 29 November 2000. His first match was a 1–0 win against

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. The club currently plays in the Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German footb ...

. He was head coach of Saarbrücken until 17 September 2001 when he became the Sporting Director for Aminia Bielefeld. His final match as Saarbrücken's head coach was a 1–0 against

. He was also interim head coach of the club from 17 February 2004 when Benno Möhlmann left for Greuther Fürth to 1 March 2004 when

Uwe Rapolder Uwe Rapolder (born 29 May 1958) is a German retired 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 (wor ...

was appointed the new head coach and from 11 May 2005 when Rapolder was sacked to 11 February 2007 when he resigned. He finished his second tenure with one win and one draw in two matches and his third tenure with a record of 18 wins, 16 draws, and 26 losses in 60 matches. Von Heesen was appointed as the head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg on 12 February 2008. He resigned on 28 August 2008. He finished his Nürnberg tenure with a record of four wins, eight draws, and eight losses. Two and a half weeks later, von Heesen joined

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

. His first match was a 2–1 win AEP Paphos on 15 September 2008. He helped the club to a fifth place in his debut season. After almost two years with the club, on 29 January 2010, he was fired. His final match was a 2–1 win against

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

. On 29 November 2011, he was appointed as manager of the

Austrian 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 ...

side

Kapfenberger SV Kapfenberger SV is an Austrian association football club from Kapfenberg, Styria. They won the 2007–08 Austrian Football First League and were promoted to the Austrian Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1919 as ''Kapfenberger SC''. The nam ...

until the end of the 2011–12 season. His first match was a 0–0 draw against

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

. Von Heesen got a three-year contract extension despite Kapfenberg being relegated. On 10 November 2012, von Heesen was promoted to Sporting Director and Klaus Schmidt became the new head coach. His final match was a 4–2 loss to

Lustenau Lustenau (; ) is a town in the westernmost Austrian States of Austria, state of Vorarlberg in the district of Dornbirn (district), Dornbirn. It lies on the river Rhine, which forms the border with Switzerland. Lustenau is Vorarlberg's fourth larg ...

Coaching record

Honours

Player

HSV *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

: 1982–83 *

: 1983–84 *

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 ...

: 1986–87

Manager

Arminia Bielefeld * 2. Bundesliga: 1998–99

References

External links

* *
Thomas von Heesen
at kicker.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Heesen, Thomas 1961 births Living people People from Höxter Footballers from Detmold (region) German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Hamburger SV players UEFA Champions League–winning players Arminia Bielefeld players Germany men's under-21 international footballers German football managers German expatriate football managers Bundesliga managers Arminia Bielefeld managers 1. FC Nürnberg managers Apollon Limassol FC managers Kapfenberger SV managers Lechia Gdańsk managers Expatriate football managers in Austria Expatriate football managers in Cyprus 2. Bundesliga managers Expatriate football managers in Poland West German men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Iran German expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus German expatriate sportspeople in Poland