Mourning for Georg Koch. © APA/DIENER/Nina Manhart / DIENER/Nina Manhart

Former Bundesliga goalkeeper has died

Former Bundesliga goalkeeper Georg Koch has died at the age of 54.

March 04, 2026

From: dpa

The former Fortuna Düsseldorf player had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. A Fortuna spokesperson confirmed Koch's death to the German Press Agency (dpa), citing the family.

"Fortuna Düsseldorf mourns the loss of Georg Koch and will always cherish his memory. The condolences and sympathy of everyone at Fortuna go out to his family, his friends, and all who knew and valued Georg Koch," the club announced. Koch made 118 appearances for Düsseldorf, more than for any other club. MSV Duisburg and 1. FC Kaiserslautern also expressed their grief for their former goalkeeper on social media.

Diagnosis in 2023 during a routine examination

Koch made 213 appearances in the Bundesliga and 165 in the 2. Bundesliga during his career. After his breakthrough in Düsseldorf, he played for clubs including Eindhoven, Bielefeld, Kaiserslautern, Duisburg, and Cottbus. Most recently, he worked in professional football as the goalkeeping coach for third-division side Viktoria Köln during the 2022/23 season.

Koch was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, and made the diagnosis public a year later. "The whole mess was discovered during a routine check-up. I wasn't feeling well before, and my blood test results were noticeably bad," Koch told Bild am Sonntag at the time.