Please answer the following question: Michael Niedrig (born 12 January 1980 in Cologne) is a German former footballer. He made his professional debut for 1. FC Köln in the 2003–04 season. Given a list of categories: company, educational institution, artist, athlete, office holder, mean of transportation, building, natural place, village, animal, plant, album, film or written work, what category does the paragraph belong to?
A:
Athlete