Thomas Linke

**Thomas Linke** (born 26 December 1969) is a German former football player. He played as a central defender for Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and for Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. He also played for the German national team.

## Career

Linke started with his local club BSG Robotron Sömmerda and went to  FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt, where he played 84 games in the East German First Division. After the reunification of Germany he went to Schalke 04. In 1998, he came to Bayern Munich. The time with this team was his most successful. With Bayern, Linke won five leagues, three German Cups and four league cups and the 2001Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup.

At the age of 35 he went to the newly formed FC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. Soon he became team captain. In his second season with Salzburg he won the Austrian championship. 2007 he was told, that his contract would not be extended. His last year as player he spent with the second team of Bayern München. Then he became assistant to the director of football Heinz Hochhauser for Red BUll Salzburg. Later he became director of football with RB Leipzig. Soon he left for personal reasons.

Linke's international debut with the Germany national team took place in a 3–0 victory over South Africa, on 15 November 1997. He represented Germany at UEFA Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. From 1997 till 2004 he played 43 international matches and scored one goal.

### Club

- **Schalke 04**:
    - UEFA Cup: 1996–97

- **Bayern Munich**:
    - German League: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05
    - German Cup: 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2004–05; runner-up 1998–99
    - German League Cup: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004
    - UEFA Champions League: 2000–01; Runner-up 1998–99
    - Intercontinental Cup: 2001
    - UEFA Super Cup: Runner-up 2001

- **Red Bull**:
    - Austrian League: 2006–07

### Country

- FIFA World Cup: runner-up 2002

### Club

|rowspan=2|Club|rowspan=2|Season|colspan=3|League|colspan=2|National Cup|colspan=2|League Cup|colspan=2|Europe|colspan=2|Total||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="5"|Rot-Weiß Erfurt|1988–89|rowspan="3"|DDR-Oberliga|5|0|0|0|–|–|5|0|||
|1989–90|22|0|1|0|–|–|23|0|||||||
|1990–91|25|1|4|0|–|–|29|1|||||||
|1991–92|2. Bundesliga|27|1|2|0|–|4|0|33|1|||||
|rowspan="7"|Schalke 04|1992–93|rowspan="6"|Bundesliga|25|0|1|0|–|2|0|28|0||
|1993–94|31|4|1|0|–|–|32|4|||||||
|1994–95|31|2|4|0|–|–|5|2|||||||
|1995–96|27|3|2|0|–|–|29|3|||||||
|1996–97|30|1|2|1|–|11|2|43|4||||||
|1997–98|31|3|2|0|–|7|0|40|3||||||
|rowspan="8"|Bayern Munich|1998–99|rowspan="7"|Bundesliga|27|1|5|1|1|0|9|0|42|2|
|1999–2000|27|1|1|0|2|0|11|1|41|2|||||
|2000–01|28|0|0|0|1|0|15|1|44|1|||||
|2001–02|20|0|5|0|1|0|6|0|32|0|||||
|2002–03|32|0|6|0|0|0|6|1|44|1|||||
|2003–04|21|0|2|0|1|0|4|0|28|0|||||
|2004–05|11|0|1|0|2|0|4|0|18|0|||||
|rowspan="3"|Red Bull Salzburg|2005–06|rowspan="2"|Austrian Bundesliga|24|3|1|0|–|–|25|3|||
|2006–07|27|0|2|0|–|6|0|35|0||||||
|Bayern Munich II|2007–08|Regionalliga Süd|33|1|–|–|–|33|1||||||

### International

|Year|Apps|Goals|
| --- | --- | --- |
|colspan=3|Germany||
|1997|1|0|
|1998|2|0|
|1999|7|0|
|2000|11|0|
|2001|7|0|
|2002|14|1|
|2003|0|0|
|2004|1|0|

- _Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:_
|#|Date|Venue|Opponent|Score|Result|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1.|1 June 2002|Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan||**6**–0|8–0|2002 World Cup|

## Honours

**Schalke 04**
- UEFA Cup: 1996–97

**Bayern Munich**
- Bundesliga: 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05
- DFB-Pokal: 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2004–05; runner-up: 1998–99
- DFB-Ligapokal: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004
- UEFA Champions League: 2000–01; runner-up: 1998–99
- Intercontinental Cup: 2001
- UEFA Super Cup runner-up: 2001

**Red Bull Salzburg**
- Austrian Bundesliga: 2006–07

**Germany**
- FIFA World Cup: runner-up 2002