Falko Götz

Falko Götz (born 26 March 1962 in Rodewisch) is a former soccer player and now coach.

A defender, Götz began his career in East Germany with Vorwärts and later BFC Dynamo. In 1983, before a European Cup match against Partizan Belgrade, he escaped and fled to the west. For this rule breach, he was banned by FIFA for one year, but was able to stay in the west, joining Bayer Leverkusen, where he stayed for five years, moving to 1. FC Köln in 1988. He had spells with Galatasaray (1992-94), Saarbrücken (1994-95), and Hertha Berlin (1995-97) before retiring, to take up the role of Hertha's reserve team manager. He was briefly Hertha's caretaker manager during 2002, and was re-appointed as full-time manager in 2004, having managed 1860 München the previous season. Götz was sacked by Hertha on 10 April 2007.