On Saturday, Selangor FC announced their latest signing for the 2021 season; German defender Tim Heubach. The announcement video featured him riding a motorcycle on Malaysian streets, with his identity revealed at the end when he removed his full-faced crash helmet.
The 1.92 metre tall, left-footed central defender will replace centre back Taylor Regan in defence, but little else is known about him.
Here is what we do know of the 32-year old defender.
Came very close to making a Bundesliga appearance
His first professional club were German top-tier side Borussia Mönchengladbach, from 2007 to 2012. Even though he mainly turned out for their reserve team in the fourth division, he almost made a Bundesliga appearance, against Bavarian giants Bayern Munich in the 2008/09 season. He was an unused substitute in the league encounter, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Unfortunately, that would be the closest he would get to a Bundesliga appearance in his career.
Twice very nearly helped his 2. Bundesliga teams qualify for promotion
Failing to make the cut at the Mönchengladbach first team, he then dropped down one level, first moving to FSV Frankfurt in 2012 and then to FC Kaiserslautern ahead of the 2014/15 season. In the German second tier Heubach finally received regular first team action, and with each club he once finished the season in fourth place, just one spot lower than the promotional play-off place.
His Israeli club just missed out on Europa League play-offs
The decline of traditional German powerhouse club Kaiserslautern led to the club not extending his contract, and rather than moving further down the pyramid, Heubach decided to join Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Netanya instead, ahead of the 2017/18 season.
The Diamonds were a decent side, finishing in the top five of the regular season standings in his first two seasons there. They even came close to qualifying for the Europa League play-offs, when they reached the 2018/19 State Cup final against Bnei Yehuda. The two teams ended regular time and extra time tied at 1-1, and in the penalties Heubach converted his spot kick, but in the end lost 4-5 in the shooutouts. In interviews with the German media, the defender remarked that he immensely enjoyed his time in the Middle Eastern country, especially the laid-back lifestyle in the city of Netanya. In fact, the opportunity of experiencing Malaysian culture is one reason for his joining Selangor, Heubach later told Transfermarkt.
But financial difficulties faced by the club due to the Covid-19 pandemic led to him leaving them early, to join the Red Giants.
Yes, he rode the motorcycle in his announcement video!
The German's Selangor signing announcement video showcased him as an adventure-seeker who loves the open road, but fans wondered; did he do his own riding for the video?
Goal posed this question to a media officer of the club, and they responded in the affirmative.
"Although the part with him riding over a road crest was done by a stunt person, everything else was all him.
"He's not a motorcycle guy, but he is very open to try anything. When he was first briefed by us, he told us he was okay to do all the scenes."
