Matthias Langkamp

Born in Speyer, Langkamp first signed professional terms with Arminia Bielefeld and enjoyed an impressive debut season in the Bundesliga in the 2004–05 season, earning rave reviews and a call-up to the international setup with the Germany U-21. Considered a very promising young talent at that time, he courted the attention of a host of bigger clubs and was eventually bought by Wolfsburg. However, there he had a falling out with manager Holger Fach, who relegated Langkamp to the reserve team[1] and only granted him one appearance for the first team before offloading him to Swiss club Grasshoppers.

After a season in Switzerland, Langkamp returned to his former club Arminia Bielefeld[2] and at the beginning of the season he enjoyed a remarkable return to form. However, after a strong challenge during a match against Duisburg, strangely Langkamp appeared to still be concussed even a week after the match.[3] Upon return from his injury, Langkamp suffered a dramatic loss of form and confidence. After his error led to a crucial goal for opponents Cottbus, he had to endure a very public on-pitch dressing down from his teammates. He fell out of favour for the remainder of the season and rarely featured in the first team again.

Langkamp was not offered a new contract by Arminia Bielefeld, who released him at the end of the 2007–08 season. He then secured a contract with Panionios F.C. in the Greek Super League and played a number of games for them in the 2008–09 season, becoming a popular figure amongst the local fans.

He returned to Germany after one season, signing with Karlsruher SC on 29 June 2009. In his first season back in Germany however, his attempts to re-establish himself were thwarted by injury. Although he found himself out of the side initially, he later forced his way into the team and looked impressive, showing off his attacking threat by scoring two goals in successive games. However, just as he was gaining momentum, in November he went into the treatment room complaining of a pain in his hamstrings; upon investigation, the physio found that he would need an operation on his Achilles tendon. When he went in for the operation, the surgeon discovered that he would actually need operations on both of his Achilles tendons.[4]

The operations kept Langkamp on the sidelines until late March 2010.[5] He made his comeback against Hansa Rostock, coming on as a late substitute and playing for two minutes. But his next substitute appearance proved to be a disaster – with his first tackle he conceded a penalty and with his second tackle he injured himself, damaging his left shoulder joint and effectively ending his season as he required surgery.[6]

Langkamp fought his way back to fitness in time for the 2010–11 season and was involved in the pre-season build-up. On 19 July 2010, Langkamp's injury jinx struck again and threatened to derail his season when he slipped up attempting a sprint, tearing a muscle in his right thigh.[7]

However, the player showed remarkable resilience to overcome this latest injury and fought his way back by mid-August. He wasted no time in proving himself a remarkable talent at this level and his experience and leadership skills shone through as he quickly established himself as the lynchpin of the defence and one of the first names on the Karlsruher SC team-sheet. Allowed a relatively injury-free run in the team for the first time in years, Langkamp earned rave reviews and showed the defensive skills that had once made him one of the most coveted defenders in Germany. His powerful physique and heading ability saw him sometimes deployed up-front as an emergency striker, which proved justified when he volleyed in the equalising goal in a crucial match against relegation rivals Osnabrück. The goal proved decisive in securing the club's status in the 2. Bundesliga and earnt Langkamp legendary status amongst the Karlsruher SC fans.

In a shock move which caused uproar amongst some sections of the fanbase, Karlsruher SC decided against renew Langkamp's contract, citing that they could not afford their star defender's wage demands. Whilst trying to maintain fitness, searching for a new club, tragedy struck when Langkamp suffered a broken leg in a freak training accident. The serious injury scuppered his attempts to find a club for new season and complications with the rehabilitation have led to a pro-longed recovery period, but Langkamp is now back to full fitness and looking to return to the game.

Langkamp has played two games for the Under-21 German national team.