Jakob Karl Gerhard Golz

Jakob Golz was born in Hamburg. He progressed from the under-17s to the under-19s and then into the second team at Hamburger SV, helping HSV II to the Regionalliga Nord title. When his contract there ran out, he moved to Rot-Weiß Essen as a free transfer in the summer of 2019.

At Essen, Golz was a key figure as the club won the Regionalliga West in the 2021–22 season, a title that brought promotion to the 3. Liga. Cup football has been less kind to him: the club found no answer in the DFB-Pokal in three straight seasons, going out in 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26.

Golz has never been capped by Germany at senior or youth level, and his career has so far been built entirely on steady progress at club level rather than individual honours. Essen rewarded that consistency in March 2025 with a contract extension through to 2027, a deal reported by the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung to include a release clause of €150,000 — a modest figure that reflects his status as a 3. Liga regular rather than a marquee name, but one that has done little to discourage interest from elsewhere, with Schalke among the clubs linked to him.