The 1.93 meter tall goalkeeper from Bergisch Gladbach (ten kilometers east of Cologne) played 213 matches in the Bundesliga and 165 matches at the second level in Germany. Koch came to PSV in July 1997 after five seasons at Fortuna Düsseldorf, but ultimately only stayed in Eindhoven for three months.
In August 1997, Koch played goalkeeper in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Shield against cup winner Roda JC (3-1 win) and the first three competition matches, in which PSV took seven points. From September, Koch never played for PSV again, where then coach Dick Advocaat quickly made Ronald Waterreus his first goalkeeper. Koch said he was not given a real chance by Advocaat and was soon at odds with his competitor/colleague Waterreus. Koch returned to Eindhoven on March 15, 2001, when he won 0-1 at PSV with FC Kaiserslautern in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.
The former goalkeeper was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. The doctors only gave him six months, but Koch managed to prolong his life quite nicely. “I’m going to die, that’s for sure. But it is not yet clear when the good Lord will take me,” Koch said Bild am Sonntag.
“The whole mess was discovered last year during a routine investigation. I haven’t been feeling well for a while and my blood values were bad,” said the former professional footballer. Things that used to take me five seconds now take me a minute. But I have to come to terms with the disease. Complaining doesn’t help and has never been my thing,” says Koch.
“If you have been to the cancer department of the hospital and you see how much misery there is and that it also affects small children, then I can see it differently and come to the conclusion: I have had a wonderful life.”
During a match for Austria Wien in 2008, fireworks exploded near Koch. He suffered circulatory collapse and damage to his ear as a result. As a result, he developed problems with his balance and had to end his career in 2009. Since then, Koch has worked for many years as a goalkeeper coach and team manager, until last year at Viktoria Köln in the 3. Liga.
Koch may have been inspired by Sven-Göran Eriksson for his last wish. The 76-year-old Swede also has a short time to live due to cancer and was recently the coach of the Liverpool Legends against the Ajax Legends at a packed Anfield. Eriksson recently visited his old clubs IFK Göteborg and Benfica, where he took to the field together with the players with whom he achieved success.
This also happened on Sunday in Genoa at the current Serie B club Sampdoria, where Eriksson was successful from 1992 to 1997. In addition to his then star player Roberto Mancini, Clarence Seedorf was also present. “Of course I wanted to be at Eriksson’s tribute. I am very grateful to him, because he took care of me when I went abroad from Ajax as a teenager. I learned so much from him in one year at Sampdoria. I will never forget that,” said Seedorf, who immediately moved back to Real Madrid after 34 matches for Sampdoria in 1996.
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 does not have long to live: ‘A whole mess was discovered last year’ | Foreign football){kind=link}