Club Career
Born in Graz, Pogatetz's career started at Sturm Graz before going to Kärnten and later to Bayer Leverkusen. After a short loan spell at Aarau, Grazer, and Spartak Moscow, he joined Middlesbrough.
He had also been tracked by Fulham, but during his final match on loan at Spartak Moscow, he tackled Yaroslav Kharitonskiy, leaving the Russian with a double leg fracture. Although initially banned for 24 weeks by the Russian Football Union, the suspension was later reduced to eight weeks after Pogatetz attended a personal hearing in Moscow. As the ban commenced in June and was specified as a length of time rather than a number of matches, he ended up missing only three games for his new club Middlesbrough.
On 30 March 2006, during the first leg of Middlesbrough's 2–0 UEFA Cup quarter-final defeat against Basel, Pogatetz broke his nose, jaw and cheekbone in an accidental clash of heads with Mladen Petrić"Pogatetz will miss rest of season". BBC Sport. 31 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/4857910.stm. Retrieved 22 July 2012. and was later warned against returning to full training for three months, for fear of losing his eyesight. He underwent successful surgery to have the fractures reset and Dr. Douglas Bryan declared himself "delighted" with Pogatetz's progress. "It is anticipated he will make a full recovery and be back with his team-mates for pre-season training," said Middlesbrough head physio Grant Downie. "The only disappointing thing for Manny is he won't be able to play football, and he was desperate to get back involved. But another blow to his face would risk severe trauma and a potentially eyesight-threatening injury."
Pogatetz suffered from a hernia, for which he received corrective surgery in Munich on 24 April 2006. On 4 July, he returned to training following successful surgery on his hernia and cheek.
In the 2006–07 season, Pogatetz was forced into the centre of defence due to an injury to Chris Riggott. He formed impressive partnerships at the back with both Robert Huth and Jonathan Woodgate, but was able to keep his place, even upon the returns of Woodgate and Riggott. Former England and Middlesbrough coach Steve McClaren said "He never, ever, gives less than 300% in performance."
After the 2007–08 season, Pogatetz was given the captain's armband on a full-time basis, following his taking up of the role towards the end of the season.
Pogatetz returned in the 2009–10 season after a long injury layoff, on 7 November in a 0–1 loss to Plymouth Argyle, only to suffer a recurrence of his cheekbone fracture with the scores tied at 0–0. He made his return to the first team against Nottingham Forest on 21 November in a 1–1 draw. He had to wear a protective mask because of his cheekbone fracture which he picked up in the Plymouth game. He received a bang to the head in the Forest game and had to receive stitches at half time, he still completed the full 90 minutes.
On 2 June 2010, he signed for German side Hannover 96 on a three-year contract.
On 20 June 2012 Pogatetz signed for the German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg.
Read more about this topic: Emanuel Pogatetz
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