Karlsruher SC After playing youth football for two clubs, Nowotny finished his formation with
Karlsruher SC. He made his first team – and
Bundesliga – on 2 May 1992, playing the entire 1–0 away win against
Hamburger SV, and finished
the season in the starting eleven, as the club collected three wins in four matches (three goals conceded) and finished in eighth position. Still not in his 20s, Nowotny became a defensive mainstay for Karlsruhe. On 10 April 1993, he scored a brace for the club in only ten minutes, in a 2–2 draw at
VfL Bochum, and went on to collect nearly 150 official appearances during his spell, including four in the
1993–94 UEFA Cup.
Bayer Leverkusen Aged 22, Nowotny signed for
Bayer 04 Leverkusen, making his league debut on 21 August 1996, a 3–1 away success against
MSV Duisburg. An undisputed first-choice from the start, he appeared in 32 matches in
his first season, as the club finished in second place, trailing
FC Bayern Munich by two points; he continued to appear regularly during his stay, often forming an efficient defensive partnership with
Carsten Ramelow. On 30 October 1998, Nowotny scored his first league goal for Leverkusen, in an 8–2 home demolition of
Borussia Mönchengladbach. Additionally, he appeared in 16 games in the club's
2001–02 UEFA Champions League runner-up run; however, he was greatly missed in
the following season's league campaign, only appearing once as the club finished in 15th position, narrowly escaping relegation, and having the fourth-worse defensive record in the league, at 56 goals conceded. On 28 September 2004, Nowotny scored his first and only
Champions League goal, in Bayer's 2–4 away defeat against
FC Dynamo Kyiv. He left the club in the 2006 summer, with more than 300 official appearances - 231 in the Bundesliga - in 10 years.
Dinamo Zagreb On 18 July 2006, 32-year-old Nowotny agreed to sign a three-year contract with
Croatian League champions NK Dinamo Zagreb. He made his debut for Dinamo on 29 July, against
NK Slaven Belupo, in the first domestic league match of
2006–07, and also appeared in the club's
Champions League qualifying round against
Arsenal – the English had tried to sign him in the past – a 0–3 home defeat. On 19 August 2006, Nowotny suffered an injury during Dinamo's home match against
NK Međimurje, a 4–1 win. Even though he was not fully healed and had played all 90 minutes for
Germany in a
friendly match only three days earlier, he asked to play because his wife and children came to
Zagreb to watch him. Coach
Josip Kuže, as he later admitted, had his doubts about the player's decision to play; he also had thoughts to substitute him by the end of the match, but changed his mind because of the fans, who had accepted Nowotny with acclamation. After the match, his injury became more serious, and needed surgery, and a one-month layoff (he missed both legs of the side's 2–5 aggregate loss against
AJ Auxerre, for the
UEFA Cup). Eventually, on 22 January 2007, Nowotny announced his retirement from football, not being able to fully recover. He said: "To think I may have to wait another 10 months through physiotherapy and returning to training – this is enough." ==International career==