Andreas Thom

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Andreas Thom
Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1988-0813-012, Andreas Thom "DDR-Fußballer des Jahres".jpg
Thom receiving the East German Footballer of the Year award in 1988
Personal information
Date of birth (1965-09-07) 7 September 1965 (age 56)
Place of birth Rüdersdorf bei Berlin, East Germany
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1971–1974 TSG Herzfelde
1974–1983 BFC Dynamo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1990 BFC Dynamo 158 (77)
1990–1995 Bayer Leverkusen 161 (37)
1995–1998 Celtic 70 (14)
1998–2001 Hertha BSC 51 (5)
Total 440 (133)
National team
East Germany U21 3 (0)
1984–1990 East Germany 51 (16)
1990–1994 Germany 10 (2)
Teams managed
2003–2007 Hertha BSC (assistant)
2008–2010 Holstein Kiel (assistant)
2010–2017 Hertha BSC (U17 coach)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Germany
UEFA European Championship
Runner-up 1992 Sweden
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Andreas Thom (born 7 September 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward for BFC Dynamo, Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic and Hertha BSC. He played 51 times for East Germany throughout the 1980s and played ten times for the unified Germany national team in the early 1990s. He is now retired from playing and works as a youth coach at Hertha BSC.

Club career[]

Thom with the ball during a match between 1. FC Union Berlin and BFC Dynamo in 1989.

Andreas Thom was born in Rüdersdorf in East Germany and began playing football at an early age for TSG Herzfelde. Andreas Thom joined the youth department of BFC Dynamo in 1974 and attended the elite Sports school (KJS) "Werner Seelenbinder" in Alt-Hohenschönhausen in Berlin. He began a sports teacher degree at the German University of Physical Culture (DHFK) in Leipzig in 1987.[2]

Andreas Thom made his professional debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga against FC Carl Zeiss Jena on 22 October 1983. He then made his international debut for BFC Dynamo against FK Partizan Belgrade in the 1983-84 European Cup on 2 November 1983.[3] During his time at BFC Dynamo, he won the DDR-Oberliga in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988,[4] and the FDGB-Pokal in 1988 and 1989.[4][5] He scored the only goal of the game in the 1989 FDGB-Pokal final.[6] Thom was the top scorer in the 1987-88 DDR-Oberliga.[7] He was also voted the East German Footballer of the Year in 1988.[8]

On 16 December 1989, Thom became the first East German to sign for a Bundesliga club when he joined West German side Bayer Leverkusen for a transfer fee of 2.5 million Deutsche Mark (approx £900,000).[9][10][11][12] The transfer also placed Thom amongst the highest earners in the Bundesliga and made him the highest paid player at Bayer Leverkusen. Thom made his historic debut for his new club on 17 February 1990, and scored the opening goal in a 3–1 win over FC Homburg.[9][10] Thom spent over five years at Bayer Leverkusen, and picked up a winner's medal on 12 June 1993 win they defeated Hertha BSC II 1–0 in the final of the DFB-Pokal.[13] Franz Beckenbauer has said that he thought Andreas Thom was the most complete player he had ever seen.[14]

Thom signed for Glasgow club Celtic in July 1995 for a then club record fee of £2.2million.[15][16] On 30 November 1997, Thom picked up another winner's medal when he played in the Celtic side that defeated Dundee United 3–0 in the Scottish League Cup Final.[17] Thom moved back to Germany in January 1998 to sign for Hertha BSC,[18] although his 15 league appearances for Celtic earlier that season[19] saw him pick up a Scottish League championship medal when Celtic clinched the league title in May 1998.[20][21]

Thom spent four years at Hertha BSC before retiring from playing. Thom made his last appearance on 7 March 2001, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 win over SpVgg Unterhaching.[22][23] In the 2000–01 season he foremost played in Hertha's reserve team.[24]

International career[]

Thom played for the East Germany national team between 1984 and 1990, making 51 appearances and scoring 16 goals.[25] He made his debut in a friendly against Algeria on 10 October 1984.[25] He scored the first of his 16 international goals on 6 February 1985 in another friendly, a 3–2 win over Ecuador.[25] Thom played in six of East Germany's qualifiers for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and scored his first two competitive goals for his country on 28 September 1985 in a 2–1 win over Yugoslavia in Belgrade.[25] East Germany, however, failed to qualify for the World Cup, finishing third in Group 4 behind France and Bulgaria.[26] He was now a regular in the East German international side, and played in all eight of his nations qualifying ties for Euro 1988.[25] He scored five goals over the campaign, including a hat-trick in a 6–0 away win over Iceland in June 1987.[25] East Germany, however, again failed to qualify; finishing second in the group behind the Soviet Union.[27]

In 1988, Thom took over from goalkeeper René Müller as captain of the national side for six matches, including their first two qualifying games for World Cup against Iceland and Turkey.[25] He scored in both of these World Cup qualifiers, both goals in East Germany's 2–0 win over Iceland and their solitary goal in a 3–1 defeat against Turkey in Istanbul.[25] Thom scored his last goal for East Germany on 8 October 1989 as his side came from a goal down to defeat the Soviet Union 2–1.[25][28] That left the East Germans needing only a draw away against Austria to qualify for the World Cup. However, they were beaten 3–0 in that game and finished fourth in the qualifying group.[29]

After the reunification of Germany, Thom made his debut for the unified team on 19 December 1990, the first match featuring players from the former East Germany: In a 4–0 win over Switzerland, he came on as a substitute for Matthias Sammer and scored within 30 seconds (Germany's third goal).[30] He played in a further 9 matches and scored one more goal.[31] He made his only appearance in the finals of a major international tournament in 1992 when he came on as a substitute for Stefan Effenberg in the final of Euro 1992 against Denmark (Germany lost 2–0).[32]

Coaching career[]

After the sacking of Huub Stevens as head coach at Hertha BSC in December 2003, Thom briefly took over for 3 games[33] until Hans Meyer was appointed later that month.[34] Thom became assistant coach at the club and held that position under Meyer's successor, Falko Götz.[35] On 10 April 2007, Thom was sacked along with Götz due to the poor performance of Hertha BSC.[36]

On 15 December 2008, it was announced that Thom would become assistant coach at lower league Holstein Kiel in January 2009.[37] Under head coach Falko Götz, Thom helped Holstein Kiel win promotion from the Regionalliga Nord to the national third division in 2009.[38] On 15 February 2010, Holstein Kiel sacked Andreas Thom.[39]

In the 2010–11 season, Thom was appointed to manage the Under-17 team of Hertha BSC.[40] In the summer of 2017, new head coach at Hertha BSC, Pál Dárdai, brought Thom into a coaching role with the first team, specialising in coaching the strikers at the club.[41][42]

Honours[]

Berliner FC Dynamo

Bayer Leverkusen

Celtic

Germany

Individual

  • East German Footballer of the Year: 1988[8]

References[]

  1. ^ "Andreas Thom". kicker.de (in German). Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Fußballer des Jahres. Andreas Thom – wer sonst?". Neue Zeit. 12 August 1988. p. 6.
  3. ^ Thom, Andreas (7 May 2001). "Mein Schicksalsspiel (IX): Nicht ohne Verluste". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin: Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Andreas Thom". Offizielle Website des BFC Dynamo e.V. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  5. ^ a b "I was branded a spy for the secret police". Daily Record. 10 September 1996. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "East Germany – Cup Finals – Full Data". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  7. ^ Sorin Arotaritei and Matthias Arnhold (4 September 2014). "East Germany – Topscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  8. ^ a b Pierrend, José Luis (7 February 2013). "East Germany – Footballer of the Year". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  9. ^ a b "Andreas Thom Agrees Historic Terms". Salon Des Refusee. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Wie Calmund DDR-Star Thom zu Bayer lockte (How DDR-Star Calmund attracted Thom to Bayer)" (in German). Die Welt. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  11. ^ "Conversion of currency – DM to £ as on 16 December 1989". Fxtop.com (currency conversion site). Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  12. ^ "Celtic: 'I had so many chances to escape East Germany' - Andreas Thom on the Berlin Wall, the Stasi & scoring at Ibrox". 9 November 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  13. ^ a b "Labbadia und der "Cup der guten Hoffnung"". kicker.de. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  14. ^ "Andreas Thom über Dynamo und Stasi, Partys mit DDR-Prominenz und seinen Wechsel von Ost nach West". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin: Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH. 8 November 1999. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Celtic break club record to sign Thom". The Independent. 29 July 1995. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Old Firm double: Burns finally gets his man as Salenko goes to Ibrox Thom takes up Celtic challenge". Herald Scotland. 29 July 1995. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  17. ^ a b "Celtic cruise to cup final win". BBC Sport. 30 November 1997. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  18. ^ "Thom quits for place at home". Herald Scotland. 15 January 1998. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  19. ^ a b "Thom, Andreas". FitbaStats. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  20. ^ a b "Celtic get by with a little help from their Scandinavians". BBC Sport. 9 May 1998. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  21. ^ "Andreas Thom on memories of his past life at Celtic and why Borussia Moenchengladbach should not be underestimated". The UK Bulletin. 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  22. ^ "Andreas Thom 2000/2001". Fussballdaten. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  23. ^ "Hertha BSC – SpVgg Unterhaching 07.03.2001". Fussballdaten. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  24. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (8 October 2010). "Andreas Thom – Matches in Oberliga". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i "National Teams – appearances of Andreas Thom". eu-football.info. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  26. ^ "World Cup 1986 – Europe Group 4". All World Cup. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  27. ^ "Euro '88 qualifying tables – Group 3". rsssf.com. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  28. ^ "08.10.1989 East Germany v Soviet Union". eu-football.info. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  29. ^ "World Cup 1990 – Europe Group 3". All World Cup. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  30. ^ Gunkel, Christoph (18 December 2020). "Das Tor zur Einheit". Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  31. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (21 April 2003). "Andreas Thom – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  32. ^ a b "Gatecrashing Denmark down Germany". UEFA.com. 5 October 2003. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  33. ^ Lars Schiefler. "Coaches – Andreas Thom". ClubElo. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  34. ^ "Leading News Resource of Pakistan". Daily Times. 23 December 2003. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  35. ^ "Rückkehr nach Berlin: Falko Götz wird neuer Hertha-Coach – SPIEGEL ONLINE" (in German). Spiegel.de. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  36. ^ Dienstag, 10. April 2007. "Schwache Hertha schießt den Falken ab: Falko Götz muss den" (in German). News.at. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  37. ^ "Götz und Thom nach Kiel!". kicker.de (in German). 15 December 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  38. ^ "Götz: Wir müssen viel lernen". kicker.de (in German). 27 July 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  39. ^ "Heemsoth ersetzt Thom". kicker.de (in German). 15 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  40. ^ "Eine Rückkehr ins Finale – Nachwuchs" (in German). HerthaBSC.de. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  41. ^ "Neuer Assistenztrainer Andreas Thom wird Stürmercoach bei Hertha". Berliner Zeitung. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  42. ^ Jahn, Michael (23 August 2017). "Hahohe Sturm und Drang – mit Andreas Thom". Berliner Zeitung. Retrieved 5 December 2017.

External links[]

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