| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Georg Koch | ||
| Date of birth | 3 February 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| VfR Marienfeld 1946 | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990–1991 | SpVgg Erkenschwick | ||
| 1992–1997 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 102 | (0) |
| 1997 | PSV | 3 | (0) |
| 1997–2000 | Arminia Bielefeld | 72 | (0) |
| 2000–2003 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 85 | (0) |
| 2003 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern II | 3 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Energie Cottbus | 26 | (0) |
| 2004–2007 | MSV Duisburg | 93 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Dinamo Zagreb | 25 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | Rapid Vienna | 7 | (0) |
| 2009 | SC Herford | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 417 | (0) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Georg Koch (born 3 February 1972) is a former German footballer, who played as a goalkeeper.
Born in Bergisch Gladbach, Koch started his career playing at amateur club SpVgg Erkenschwick before becoming a professional in January 1992, when he moved to the Bundesliga with Fortuna Düsseldorf. He was only understudy to firmly established Jörg Schmadtke in his first months, making no appearances.
After Fortuna was relegated with a 20th-place finish, Koch eventually became the club's first choice, helping it return to the top division in 1994–95, and continued in that position in the following years; he made his debut in the competition on 11 August 1995, at SV Werder Bremen.
In June 1997, shortly after another top flight relegation, Koch agreed terms with Holland's PSV Eindhoven, but spent only three months with the club and returned to Germany in October 1997, signing with Arminia Bielefeld, where he played a further two 1/2 campaigns, with one relegation and one promotion.
During the 2000 winter break, Koch left for 1. FC Kaiserslautern and became the club's first-choice goalkeeper in March 2000, after spending six matches as understudy to Uwe Gospodarek. He went on to make nine league appearances throughout the final eleven matchdays of the season and became the club's first-choice in the following two seasons, but lost his position to the young Tim Wiese in early 2003, and left the club upon the end of that season. In August 2003, Koch signed with FC Energie Cottbus, which competed in the second division at the time, and subsequently made 26 appearances for the club in the league before moving to another side in the category, MSV Duisburg, in June 2004, on a five-year contract.
He made 67 out of possible 68 league appearances in his first two seasons with the Zebras, only missing one in 2004–05 as he was suspended after collecting five yellow cards, in a promotion-ending season - Duisburg would be however immediately relegated back.
Koch untimely cancelled his contract with Duisburg in late June 2007 and went to join Croatian first-division side NK Dinamo Zagreb on a free transfer in early July, signing a two-year contract. He made his competitive debut for Dinamo on 17 July, in the club's first UEFA Champions League qualifier against Azerbaijan's FK Khazar Lenkoran on the road, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Despite the fact that he only spent one season with Dinamo, Koch received large amounts of praise from the fans due to his incredible charisma after only a few months of playing for the club, with many of them seeing him as the future captain. However, Dinamo decided to re-sign their former player Tomislav Butina for the 2008–09 season, and Koch was eventually sold to SK Rapid Wien, in July 2008.
At Rapid, Koch started the season as first-choice, deputising for injured Helge Payer. However, in the derby against FK Austria Wien on 24 August 2008, he was severely injured after a firecracker, thrown from the stand with the travelling Austria supporters behind his goal, exploded in his proximity. Koch had to be substituted and it was later reported that he had suffered hearing trauma and circulatory shock.[1] In late September 2008, he was quoted saying in an Austrian newspaper that he still was experiencing problems with his equilibrioception as a result of the incident.[2]
Koch announced his retirement on 18 March 2009, stating that he recognized there was no point carry on playing as he was still suffering from the effects of the accident.[3] On 7 September 2009, he came out of retirement, joining seventh-tier club SC Herford,[4] and playing his first match against SC Verl II;[5] in November, however, only two months after, he retired for the second and final time.
| Preceded by Dirk Lottner |
Duisburg captain 2005–2007 |
Succeeded by Björn Schlicke |