“There’s a huge number of exceptional players in Germany”
However, Heinen is not someone who dwells on painful memories from his past, preferring instead to always look to the future. “I personally feel very lucky to be able to watch my children grow up. I missed a lot when I was playing; I was rarely at home.”
He now gets to spend a lot of time with his children, recently building a tree-house with them in the woods. He very much enjoys this aspect of his life and considers it a blessing, and nor does he have to miss out on any football to do it. “The highest standard of football in Ireland is equivalent to the Bundesliga second division in Germany,” says Heinen. “Unfortunately, the best players go to England early in their careers and usually only return once they are past their peak. The national team also has its problems. Despite having fantastic fans, they won’t qualify for this World Cup.”
In contrast, Heinen is confident in Germany’s ability to perform in Brazil next year. “It’s clear how far German football has come in every respect,” he says. “There’s a huge number of exceptional players because so much good work has been done in recent years.”
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When Dirk Heinen thinks of home, it is a place almost 1400 kilometres away. In fact, three or four countries, the English Channel and the Irish Sea all separate Kilmacthomas from Cologne’s Zollstock district. The former Bundesliga goalkeeper has spent the last six years living with his family in this small corner of Southern Ireland working for the Irish Football Association.
Heinen is not happy unless he sees Cologne Cathedral at least once a year, so Germany’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match on Friday (live on ARD from 20:45 CET) in his native city against his adopted home, Ireland, is a particularly special occasion for the former Bayer Leverkusen player.
Goalkeeping coach in Ireland
Dirk Heinen retains a strong connection with the Rhineland, as his two sisters and three brothers all live in the region, but Ireland currently plays a more significant role in his life. His wife Sandra hails from here, and his children Cormac, 15, and Kylie, 11, now feel at home here. Heinen, too, has long been accustomed to life in Ireland, and it is all thanks to football.
However, around here he is not the man who won the German league in 2007 with Stuttgart, nor the former German youth international, nor the goalkeeper who played in the Champions League with Bayer Leverkusen many times. Here, he is just “the German”, just Dirk.
Heinen likes it that way. Not all that long ago, he was yearning for a long break from football. Despite wanting to get some distance, he only partly succeeded, as the 42-year-old quickly realised that he could not function without the sport he loves: “Football is my life, it’s what I do best.” He soon returned to the sport, taking a job with the Irish Football Association in 2008. Now he works as a goalkeeping coach in the Waterford region on a fee basis, and is also involved with Irish second-division side Waterford United.
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Heinen: “I have to see the Cathedral once a year”
Germany’s upcoming match against Ireland in Cologne is exceptional for Heinen in several respects. His home country will face his adopted country in the city where he was born. “I have to see the Cathedral at least once a year,” says Heinen. “I still have very strong ties to Cologne.”
He still remembers how he used to scurry a few yards down the street to get to Rot-Weiss Zollstock’s cinder pitch as a young boy. In those early days he normally played in goal, simply because he was the tallest, leading to his eventual discovery by scouts from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. This was the start of an impressive career in the Bundesliga for Heinen, who moved initially from Leverkusen to Eintracht Frankfurt, followed by a brief stint in Turkey, before returning to Germany and VfB Stuttgart. He ended his playing career with a short-lived comeback at Arminia Bielefeld.
“It was a fantastic time,” says Heinen. “I’m grateful that I was able to experience it all.” But life wasn’t always plain sailing, not least when his sister died of cancer when he was 23. It was the first time he considered matters of life after death, and has been a religious man ever since. It is possible that this faith has also given him strength when facing setbacks, such as after he fractured his skull at the peak of his powers when playing for Bayer, or when he tore his Achilles tendon, limiting his contribution to Stuttgart’s championship-winning season.
“There’s a huge number of exceptional players in Germany”
However, Heinen is not someone who dwells on painful memories from his past, preferring instead to always look to the future. “I personally feel very lucky to be able to watch my children grow up. I missed a lot when I was playing; I was rarely at home.”
He now gets to spend a lot of time with his children, recently building a tree-house with them in the woods. He very much enjoys this aspect of his life and considers it a blessing, and nor does he have to miss out on any football to do it. “The highest standard of football in Ireland is equivalent to the Bundesliga second division in Germany,” says Heinen. “Unfortunately, the best players go to England early in their careers and usually only return once they are past their peak. The national team also has its problems. Despite having fantastic fans, they won’t qualify for this World Cup.”
In contrast, Heinen is confident in Germany’s ability to perform in Brazil next year. “It’s clear how far German football has come in every respect,” he says. “There’s a huge number of exceptional players because so much good work has been done in recent years.”
