Malik Fathi

Malik Fathi — Biography

Malik Fathi is a former footballer, born in West Berlin to a Turkish father and a German mother, who played as a left-back and center-back. He came through at Hertha Berlin, reached the Bundesliga, earned two caps for Germany, and also played in Russia, Turkey and Spain. After retiring he turned to coaching and worked as assistant to Sebastian Hoeneß at VfB Stuttgart.

His career began in Hertha BSC's second team in 2001-02, and he made his first Bundesliga appearance against VfL Wolfsburg on November 1, 2003. He stayed with the Berlin club until 2008, was part of the squad that won the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, and scored his first Bundesliga goal that season against Bayern Munich. In March 2008 he moved to Spartak Moscow, where he did not establish himself. He played for Mainz 05 on loan in 2010 and permanently from 2011. In 2012-13 he was loaned to Kayserispor and then, for half a season, to 1860 Munich. When Mainz did not extend his contract in 2014, he joined third-tier Atlético Baleares in January 2015, where he played close to a hundred league matches.

He played for Germany's youth sides from 2000 and appeared at the 2006 European Under-21 Championship. His first senior cap came on August 16, 2006, in a 3-0 friendly win over Sweden; his second and last was against Georgia. In October 2012 he took Turkish citizenship, but he did not choose Turkey as his national team.