Difficult first years of career
However, Terodde’s path to professional football was difficult. In 2007, the Bocholt-born striker became a professional at MSV Duisburg. Due to a knee injury, Terodde only played two professional games in a year and a half at MSV and failed to score. Things didn’t go any better with a loan spell at Fortuna Düsseldorf. An injury set him back again, so he only made eight third division appearances (one goal) in Düsseldorf.
This was followed by a move to 1. FC Köln, where he mainly played in the second team. He only scored his first second division goal on December 10, 2011 for Union Berlin, for whom he scored 25 times in 93 games.
Terodde finally became the top scorer at VfL Bochum. After 16 goals in the 2014/15 season, Terodde became second division top scorer for the first time the following season with 25 goals in 33 games.
Terodde as a guarantee of promotion
In the following season Terodde even defended his title. He scored 25 times again, but this time in the VfB Stuttgart jersey. He was the guarantee of promotion for VfB and initially earned a reputation as a savior for fallen traditional clubs.
In 2019, after his return, he scored 29 goals in 33 games to help 1. FC Cologne win direct promotion. In 2022 he helped FC Schalke return to the Bundesliga with 30 goals in 30 games. Only Terodde couldn’t help Hamburger SV. Despite scoring 24 goals in 33 games for HSV, the North Germans missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga.
No luck in the Bundesliga
But while Terodde helped three clubs get promoted, he personally struggled in the first division. Terodde played 90 times for Stuttgart, 1. FC Köln and Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga, but only scored 15 goals in total.
This is also why Simon Terodde always ended up back in the 2nd Bundesliga. He now has two games left to increase his goal tally and extend his own record. Terodde currently has five goals this season. After the game against Rostock, the 36-year-old will say goodbye to the second division stage on May 19th (3:30 p.m.) away to Greuther Fürth.
Source: sid/dpa/red