Thomas Helmer Fortune

Short introduction

Thomas Helmer (born April 21, 1965, Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) – German football player, played as a defender.

Early life

Helmer started his career at SC Bad Salzuflen and switched to Arminia Bielefeld in 1984 as a professional. There he made his debut on March 23, 1985 (24th matchday) in the Bundesliga against Schalke 04. With a 0-3 defeat, he missed a good debut in the German top league. After spending 90 minutes on the field in his first game, he only completed three more short missions in other games. The team was placed 16th in the second division at the end of the season. After regular players like Dirk Hoopé and Detlef Schnier left the team, Helmer marched into the starting eleven of East Westphalia in 1985/86 and finally won. The defender scored his first goal on November 2, 1985. He led his team 1-0 against Borussia Berlin, laying the cornerstone for a 2-0 win. Overall, he scored five goals this season with the second-best scorer Uwe Haas in Bielefeld. With fourth place, the team missed an immediate return to the Bundesliga.

Career

On March 23, 1985, in a game against Schalke, Thomas was substituted on the field as one of the last hopes. But he couldn’t help it either, the Bielefeld players lost the game completely with a result of 0: 3. The season was not saved either; After the results, “Arminia” flew into the second Bundesliga, where Thomas Helmer showed himself in all its splendor and the 1986/87 season began in Borussia, Dortmund. There he immediately became a base player and spent six good seasons after playing a total of 190 games and scoring 16 goals.

In the summer of 1992 Thomas moved to Munich for 7.5 million marks because the Dortmund team did not want to strengthen their competitors and tried to sell the player to the French Lions. At that time the Munich team had an acute problem with defenders – Hansi Pflugler ended his career and Marcus Babbel moved to Hamburg. Helmer was practically unrivaled and immediately became the base player for a long time. The debut in Bavaria took place on August 15, 1992 in the first round match against Bayer Jürdingen, which ended with the 3-0 victory of Munich. Thomas spent the whole game on the field and even managed to score in the 85th minute. In 1997 Thomas became captain of the team, replaced the legendary Lothar Mathäus and remained captain until 1999, when he left the club.

Thomas decided to change his stay: he signed a contract with Sunderland, England, despite being offered a Liverpool contract. However, Sunderland’s trainer Peter Reid didn’t see him at the base. At the beginning of the season, Thomas switched to Hertha under a lease and spent five games there. In January 2000 he returned to England but was unable to play there and ended his football career.

Helmer made his full international debut for Germany on October 10, 1990 in a 3-1 win in a friendly with Sweden in Stockholm. He had great success at the UEFA European Football Championship. Germany surprisingly lost to Denmark in 1992, but four years later it got better when he defeated the Czech Republic in extra time at Wembley.

Helmer also competed in two FIFA World Cups when he retired from international football in the second round against Mexico in 1998 and was replaced by Christian Ziege during the break. It was known to replace Josip Weber in the penalty area during the 1994 World Cup, but the referee Kurt Röthlisberger had made no change this time.

Career highlights

Thomas played a total of 8 years for the German national team, completed 68 games during this time and scored 5 goals. The debut took place on October 10, 1990 in a friendly game with the Swedish national team, which ended in a 3-1 win for the national team. Helmer came out on the grid and spent the whole match on the field. In 1996 he became European champion. After completing his football career, Helmer began working as a sports journalist on television. He was a sports analyst for Sat.1 at the 2004 European Championships in Portugal. At the 2006 World Cup, he worked for Sport1 throughout the tournament in the German national camp.

Thomas Helmer is currently working as a sports columnist and moderator at Sport1. As a rule, he comments on the games of the German youth football team and leads three analysis programs on the subject of football. For several years, Thomas Helmer has been promoting the series of games “This Is Football” for the PlayStation 2. Thomas is currently married to Moroccan actress Jasmine Filali and they have two children. He also has two sons from his first marriage.