Schmadtke played as a goalkeeper for Fortuna Düsseldorf (until 1993), SC Freiburg (1993–1997) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1997–98), all together 266 games in the German Bundesliga.

[3] In December 2001, Schmadtke started working as a sporting director at Aachen which had four million Euro debt and were in danger of losing the license.

Hannover had a few very successful seasons, both from a sports perspective (they reached the fourth position in the league and played in the UEFA Cup), as well as financially.

Transfers included Didier Ya Konan, Mohammed Abdellaoue, Lars Stindl, Emanuel Pogatetz, Ron-Robert Zieler, Mame Diouf.

Transfers included Dominique Heintz, Anthony Modeste, Leonardo Bittencourt, Marco Höger, Jorge Meré.

[11] It was reported in papers that Wolfsburg paid a half-million Euro to Köln to lift the occupational ban that was set on Schmadtke,[12] thus allowing him to work one month earlier than originally planned.

[1][13] Schmadtke is married to Andrea and the couple have a son, Nils, who currently works as a sporting director for Borussia Mönchengladbach.