Uwe Gospodarek (born 6 August 1973) is a 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 ...

coach and former player 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 works as goalkeeper coach for

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 ...

side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

Football career

Gospodarek started playing professionally with

FC 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 association foo ...

, but would only manage seven first team appearances during four seasons, being barred by two internationals: first

Raimond Aumann Raimond Aumann (born 12 October 1963) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Career Aumann was born in Augsburg, West Germany. He played in the Bundesliga ...

, then

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 ...

. Afterwards, he moved to

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 ...

, helping it move straight from the second division into the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, as he only missed two league matches combined. After an unassuming stint with

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 ...

, Gospodarek resumed his career in the regional leagues, with

SSV Jahn Regensburg Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn Regensburg e. V., commonly known as SSV Jahn Regensburg, Jahn Regensburg, SSV Jahn or simply Jahn, is a German football club based in Regensburg, Bavaria. The club plays their home games at Jahnstadion Regen ...

, joining modest second-tier outfit

SV Wacker Burghausen SV Wacker Burghausen is a German football club based in Burghausen, Bavaria and is part of one of the nation's largest sports clubs with some 6,000 members participating in two dozen different sports. History The club was founded on 13 Novemb ...

in 2003–04. In 2007, he moved to

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

, being released midway through his second season and retired in July 2009, joining former side Wacker Burghausen as goalkeepers' coach. On 20 December 2009, Gospodarek announced his comeback to active football joining

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 ...

, where he filled the vacant place after the death of

Robert Enke Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Mönchengladbach, Benfica, and Barcelona, but made most of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 in his h ...

. He retired at the end of the 2009–10 campaign, without any appearances.

After retirement

On 8 August 2010, Gospodarek was appointed as the new goalkeeper coach of Germany U21 national team. He left this post in October 2013, and was replaced by Klaus Thomforde. In July 2012, Gospodarek got the job as youth goalkeeper coach at

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, ...

. Having worked for

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 ...

since 2019, he signed with

in the summer of 2021.

Honours

: 1993–94

References

External links

* 1973 births Living people German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers VfL Bochum players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SSV Jahn Regensburg players SV Wacker Burghausen players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Hannover 96 players Germany men's under-21 international footballers FC Bayern Munich non-playing staff VfB Stuttgart non-playing staff 1. FC Köln non-playing staff Sportspeople from Straubing Footballers from Lower Bavaria Association football goalkeeping coaches West German men's footballers {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub