Dresden. He gave everything again, but it was not a question anyway. How many times has Marco Hartmann struggled to come back from injuries, every time he came back and was able to help the team on and off the pitch with his special mindset, his charisma, his leadership. But now his time at Dynamo Dresden is over: after eight years in which the club has “experienced many highs with him, but also went through some lows”, as Hartmann quoted in the press release.
“I wanted to play another year of football with this emotionally charged club in this beautiful city,” Hartmann explains. “So, at the first moment, of course, the disappointment of having my route finished at Dynamo Dresden prevails. It was an incredibly special time for me.”
an emotional address to the team
Sports director Ralph Baker, who told him earlier on Wednesday in a personal conversation, thanked Hartmann via press release “for eight years of honest and self-sacrificing work at Dynamo jerseys.” He has always put himself on and off the pitch “with full commitment, honestly and authentically. Marco is a real role model for our game!”, Baker continues – and yet: “Unfortunately, sometimes You have to make tough human decisions even in football.”
On the pitch, Marco Hartmann was always an emotional driver, a leader in the best sense of the word. © DPA / Robert Michael
It was done with a heavy heart and carefully evaluated from the point of view of the game. The facts are clear: at Dynamo, the often injured veteran was no longer credited with the Second Division, and the squad’s central defense and defensive midfield positions are extremely well staffed in terms of both quantity and quality.
Hartmann, who bid goodbye to his former teammates with an emotional speech, is to be honored for his services in the Dresden home game against SC Paderborn on 29 August. Confirming the team’s “excellent character and cohesion”, he says, “People have been excited for the past few weeks and have participated in my effort to get a new contract.” He wants it to stay like this for a long time, “even if the wind comes again”.
His final goal celebration: in a 3–1 victory over Dresden in the former duel at Hansa Rostock, Marco Hartmann (second from right) scored to make it 2–0; Philipp Hosner, Christoph Dafner and Kevin Ehlers (from left) are delighted with him. © Picture Point
His now unusually long time in Dresden for professional football can also be expressed in statistics: 3,032 days have come from Holschen FC in the summer of 2014, since 1990 to date, with Volker Opitz at only 14 and Volker Opitz at 14. Playing ten bars for black and yellow is active in Mach Weijfeld. In his 146 competitive games he wore the captain’s armband 73 times, scoring 17 goals as a defensive player, two of which were important again in the 2020/21 promotion year.
Dynamo was more successful with Hartmann than without him.
What Dynamo also offsets in farewell: As Hartmann’s leader, Dynamo averaged 1.66 points in league games, only 1.23 without him. The relationship that kept the team in better shape for as many times as he could play was only broken in preseason, whereby: after a mixed start, he had meanwhile ensured stability as chief of defense. Of the five games Hartmann started, Dynamo won four and scored two goals. He made his last appearance so far, in a 0–0 draw against Urdingen on 5 December. During this he injured himself.
Not only because of the unusually long time, but above all because of his temperament, Marco Hartmann also became a mark for Dynamo fans. © Robert Michael
After conservative treatment did not have the desired effect, he underwent surgery on his injured right knee in March. As announced by the club at the time, the biceps tendon was fixed on the fibula head. Since then, Hartmann has once again fought for his return and should be given a chance to introduce himself into training after rehab.
“He works very hard with Toby[Tobias Lang, head of physiotherapy]”, coach Alexander Schmidt reported last week. Hartmann expected another year as a footballer in Dresden. Given his lengthy medical record, however, he also said self-deprecatingly: “My body is not in a condition that I have to go straight to a wheelchair after my career.” He built his vision of the future at Dynamo. Obvious Months Ago: “I don’t want someone who is the kind of appendage you can’t get rid of, but someone who needs it and is taken with you for that reason.”
Recently, Marco Hartmann trained with the team again, but now he probably has no future at Dynamo. © Lutz Hentschel
Now the decision has been made – against a new contract as a professional at Dynamo. A return to a separate ceremony is not ruled out, Baker insists. “On the contrary. We would love it very much. Our door is always open and we will certainly have a proper conversation with him, in what form and at what time he can envision a return.”
“Maybe we’ll all see each other again someday”
According to the press release, Hartmann even points it out in the blink of an eye: “And who knows, maybe we’ll all see each other again someday.”
How things would turn out for the father of two later, he left it open. After the end of his career, Hartmann could work as a teacher. He completed his studies along with his football career, the only thing missing was his legal clerkship. “It’s a point that looks to the more distant future very comfortably, because I have a pretty good outlook as to an option,” he says.
His time at Dynamo was also a personal tale of suffering: broken ribs, torn muscle fibers, torn tendons, bruised bones – and mostly it was more severe than before. Injury to the right knee and until the operation in March. © Lutz Hentschel
Before that, however, he along with his wife and two children wants to fulfill a big dream and sets out on a big trip around the world with his family. “Should it start in the summer of 2022, the starting point would probably be Canada. Then it always goes south with the sun. New Zealand and Australia will be on the plan in the winter. But where the journey ends – I don’t know, Maybe somewhere in the South Pacific.”
Whether he is looking for a new club as a footballer remains to be seen. This has to be someone with whom Hartmann can take up the challenge again with his sentimentality. He leaves it open what may seem obvious could be linked with a return to Holschen FC – as he does not comment on the day of his departure from Dynamo beyond quotes published by the club.
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