Oka Nikolov; born 25 May 1974 in Erbach im Odenwald

Erbach im Odenwald

-Location:The town lies in the Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 560 m in the valley of the Mümling.-Neighbouring communities:Erbach borders in the north on the town of Michelstadt, in the east on the market town of Kirchzell , in the south on the community of Hesseneck and the town of...

) is a Macedonian

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 football goalkeeper. Nikolov has played for Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

 since 1991 and has been capped

Cap (sport)

In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...

 five times for Macedonia.

Career

As Nikolov grew up in Sandbach in Hesse, he made his first appearance as a football player in his local club SG Sandbach. His professional career started in 1991 at Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...

. First, he was the second goalkeeper behind Uli Stein

Uli Stein

Ulrich "Uli" Stein is a former German football player. He was a goalkeeper and between 1978 and 1997, made 512 appearances in the German Bundesliga. He began his career in 1978 with Arminia Bielefeld. After two years, he moved to Hamburger SV where he played from 1980 to 1987...

 and then later Andreas Köpke

Andreas Köpke

Andreas Köpke is a former German football goalkeeper who was in the German squad that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and was also part of the 1994 FIFA World Cup squad...

. After Köpke left the club because of the relegation to the Second Bundesliga, Nikolov became Frankfurt's new first goalkeeper. In 2002, Dirk Heinen

Dirk Heinen

Dirk Heinen is a former football goalkeeper.- Career :Heinen played most of his matches in his nine year stint at Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, before moving to Eintracht Frankfurt. In 2002, he transferred to Turkcell Super League side Denizlispor, but returned to the Bundesliga after just one...

 came to Eintracht Frankfurt and Nikolov lost his position once again. However, the season was no success and Frankfurt had to go to the Second Bundesliga. So Nikolov was given another chance.

After the promotion to the Bundesliga in the 2005–06 campaign Nikolov won the goalkeeping spot from Markus Pröll

Markus Pröll

Markus Pröll is a German football goalkeeper who most recently played for Panionios F.C. in Greece.-Club career:He started his professional career with 1. FC Köln before moving to Frankfurt for the 2003–04 season....

 due to an injury. In the 2006–07 season, Pröll was the number-one keeper again, but due to problems caused by his renewed rib

Rib

In vertebrate anatomy, ribs are the long curved bones which form the rib cage. In most vertebrates, ribs surround the chest, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the chest cavity. They serve to protect the lungs, heart, and other internal organs of the thorax...

 injury, Nikolov once again became a regular in February 2007. In January 2010 it was announced that he would not renew his contract with Eintracht Frankfurt that was due to expire in summer 2010 but eventually signed a new contract until 2012.

External links

• Oka Nikolov at Eintracht Frankfurt's Official Website
• Oka Nikolov at eintracht-archiv.de
• Oka Nikolov at Macedonian Football