Marcel Heister

Marcel Heister's career has been built on a left foot and a willingness to keep moving. The German left-back started out in his home region, coming through the youth ranks at TSV Gammertingen and SSV Reutlingen before Hoffenheim brought him into their academy and then their reserve side, where he made 26 appearances in the Regionalliga Süd.

From there he left Germany for good. A move to NK Zadar in Croatia in 2012 was followed two years later by his first spell at Istra 1961, where he made 64 appearances and scored three goals over two seasons. Beitar Jerusalem then signed him on what was meant to be a one-year deal in 2016; the option was extended to four years shortly after he arrived, and he stayed until 2018.

His move to Ferencváros that summer, for a fee of around €300,000, brought the most successful period of his career. Over three seasons in Budapest he won the Nemzeti Bajnokság I title three times in a row, from 2018–19 to 2020–21, making 70 appearances along the way. A free transfer took him to Fehérvár in 2021, where silverware proved harder to come by, and a season at Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad followed in 2023, though first-team opportunities there were limited to six appearances.

Heister returned to Istra 1961 on a free transfer in the summer of 2024. He has not won caps for Germany's senior national team, despite his time in Hoffenheim's youth system.