Russian-German footballer
Konstantin Viktorovich Rausch
(
Russian
:
Константин Викторович Рауш
,
German
:
Konstantin Rausch
; born 15 March 1990) is a former professional
footballer
who played as a
left-back
.
[2]
Born in Germany, he represented the country at various youth levels before switching allegiance to the
Russia senior national team
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Rausch was born in
Kozhevnikovo
,
Tomsk Oblast
,
Russian SFSR
to
ethnic German
parents. His family emigrated to Germany from Russia in 1996. His first friend in Germany could not pronounce "Konstantin" and instead called him "Kocka", a nickname still used by his teammates and coaches.
[3]
Rausch is
dual citizen
of Russia and Germany.
Club career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Shortly after moving to Germany, Rausch started playing football at the local club, TuS
Lachendorf
. At the age of twelve he received an offer to join the youth team of
Bundesliga
side
Hannover 96
. He decided he was not mature enough for such a big club and instead joined another local side, SV
Nienhagen
. He finally joined Hannover two years later, rejecting offers from
Werder Bremen
and
Feyenoord
.
[4]
Hannover 96
[
edit
]
When 96 first choice left full back
Michael Tarnat
and his replacement
Christian Schulz
were injured, Rausch debuted against
VfB Stuttgart
on 30 March 2008. He was aged 18, which made him the youngest player ever, to appear in Hannover's first squad. Rausch had a good game, but had to be substituted at half time after straining a muscle. Two days later, he signed his first professional contract, running until 2010.
[5]
While Hannover favoured a longer contract, Rausch did not want to tie himself for too long.
[6]
VfB Stuttgart
[
edit
]
After the end of his contract with Hannover on 1 July 2013, Rausch moved to VfB Stuttgart on a
free transfer
. On 5 May 2013, Konstantin Rausch signed a contract until June 2016 with VfB Stuttgart.
[7]
Darmstadt 98
[
edit
]
On 6 July 2015, Rausch signed a one-year contract with
SV Darmstadt 98
.
[8]
Dynamo Moscow
[
edit
]
On 21 January 2018, he signed with Russian club
FC Dynamo Moscow
.
[9]
On 19 December 2020, Dynamo announced that he left the club as his contract expired.
[10]
1. FC Nurnberg and retirement
[
edit
]
In summer 2022, after a season with
1. FC Nurnberg
, Rausch retired from professional football.
[11]
International career
[
edit
]
International youth teams
[
edit
]
Rausch played for various German youth teams as a left full back or wing back, accumulating more than 30 appearances.
[12]
His biggest success was a bronze medal at the
2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup
, where he started in every game except for one, which he missed following a red card.
[13]
After the tournament, he was awarded a
Fritz Walter Medal
in silver as the second most promising German football player of his age.
[14]
Senior team
[
edit
]
In March 2011, Russian media quoted Rausch to be interested in playing for the
Russia national team
, but that the
Russian Football Union
never approached him.
[15]
On 16 August 2017, he was called up for Russia for a friendly game against a club side
Dynamo Moscow
, which did not count as a full international match.
[16]
He made his full international debut on 7 October 2017 in a friendly game against
South Korea
.
[17]
On 11 May 2018, he was included in Russia's extended
2018 FIFA World Cup
squad.
[18]
He was not included in the finalized World Cup squad due to back injury.
[19]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
International
[
edit
]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
[22]
National team
|
Year
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Russia
|
2017
|
4
|
0
|
Total
|
4
|
0
|
Honours
[
edit
]
Germany U17
Individual
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]