Felix Magath

Felix Magath

Felix Magath at a press conference of VfL Wolfsburg
Personal information
Full name	Wolfgang-Felix Magath
Date of birth	(1953-07-26) 26 July 1953
Place of birth	Aschaffenburg, West Germany
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Offensive Midfielder
Youth career
1960–1964	VfR Nilkheim
1964–1972	TV 60 Aschaffenburg
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1972–1974	Viktoria Aschaffenburg
1974–1976	1. FC Saarbrücken	76	(29)
1976–1986	Hamburger SV	306	(46)
Total		386	(75)
National team
1977–1986	West Germany	43	(3)
Teams managed
1995–1997	Hamburger SV
1997–1998	1. FC Nuremberg
1998–1999	Werder Bremen
1999–2001	Eintracht Frankfurt
2001–2004	VfB Stuttgart
2004–2007	Bayern Munich
2007–2009	VfL Wolfsburg
2009–2011	Schalke 04
2011–2012	VfL Wolfsburg
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Wolfgang-Felix Magath (born 26 July 1953) is a former German football central midfielder and current manager. Until October 2012, he was manager of VfL Wolfsburg.

Personal life

Magath is the son of a former Puerto Rican soldier in the United States Army stationed in Aschaffenburg and a German mother. Both were abandoned by his father in 1954, when he returned to his homeland. The adolescent Magath first heard from his father when he was 15 years old, after he wrote a letter to Puerto Rico. In 1999, he visited Puerto Rico and finally met his father. They established a relationship and started visiting each other twice a year ever since.

Playing career

Born near Aschaffenburg, Magath started his career playing for local club Viktoria Aschaffenburg. From 1974–76, he played for 1. FC Saarbrücken, at that time in the second division, before moving to Hamburger SV in the top flight.

He would spend the following ten seasons with Hamburg, and from his debut in 1976 to his retirement he scored 46 goals in 306 games in the first division.

In 1983, Magath led Hamburg to success in the European Cup, scoring the single goal in the final against Juventus FC; in 1980–81, he netted a career-best (in the first division) 10 goals, helping his side to a runner-up league spot, as Hamburg also won the league in three years during that time.

He also represented the German national team at many international events, including the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, helping Germany land in second place both times. He was also part of the squad that won the 1980 UEFA European Championships. Magath made his debut on 30 April 1977, in a 2–1 friendly win with Yugoslavia, and went on to amass 43 caps, with three goals.

Off-field career

1986–1992: General manager

Having suffered a career-ending knee injury, Magath retired shortly after the 1986 World Cup and became general manager for his former club Hamburg. Magath left Hamburg in June 1988 after moderate success. His next stints as general manager included then 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Saarbrücken (November 1989 to June 1990) as well as Bayer Uerdingen (July 1990 to January 1992) who were relegated from the first tier during Magath's time at the club.

1992–2001: Early coaching career

Magath took up coaching in 1992 as a player-coach for the fourth-tier club FC Bremerhaven which he led to division championship. He then rejoined Hamburg as reserves coach in 1993 and became manager Benno Möhlmann's assistant soon after. Magath succeeded Möhlmann as manager after the latter was sacked in October 1995. Having reached the UEFA Cup during his first season, Hamburg finished the following season as disappointing 13th and Magath was sacked.

In the following years, Magath acquired a reputation as a fireman, coming in at difficult times at a club and leading it to salvation. In September 1997, he took over 1. FC Nuremberg who were newly promoted to the 2. Bundesliga and fighting relegation. The Club finished the season as third, meaning promotion to the Bundesliga, but Magath left due to differences in opinion with the club president Michael A. Roth. During a short stint at SV Werder Bremen during the 1998–99 season, Magath lead the club out of relegation places, only for Bremen to find themselves in the relegation dogfight again with two games to go. Halfway through the 1999–00 season, Magath joined troubled Eintracht Frankfurt. An impressive Magath-inspired run saw Frankfurt finish the second round as third best and four points off relegation. Magath was sacked the season after when Frankfurt found themselves third last in January.

2001–2007: Manager at Stuttgart and Bayern

Magath bounced back with what was to become one of his most successful stints when he took over fellow relegation battlers VfB Stuttgart a few weeks after. Having narrowly avoided relegation in 2001, Stuttgart finished the 2001–02 in a mid-table position. The club went then on to become 2002–03 Bundesliga runners-up and finished the 2003–04 season as respectable fourth. During this time, Magath also introduced a group of players from the Stuttgart youth ranks, such as Timo Hildebrand, Andreas Hinkel and Kevin Kurányi, who became known as "die jungen Wilden" (wild youth). The Stuttgart stint was also the first time Magath combined the manager and the director of football roles, rather an anomaly in Germany where managers tend to be in charge of day-to-day training and matchday coaching only and are not responsible for transfers and contract negotiations.

Having impressed with Stuttgart, Magath was handed the FC Bayern Munich job on 1 July 2004. In his first season, Magath was able to lead his team to victory in both the league and cup, completing the double, a feat which would be repeated in 2005–06, the first time ever in the competition's history.

However, after a slow start to the 2006–07 season, with the team mired in fourth place which would not qualify them for the Champions League, Magath was sacked on 31 January 2007.

On 7 August 2006, Magath revealed that the Puerto Rico Football Federation had approached him with an offer to assume the position of national team director in preparation for the Caribbean commonwealth's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign in South Africa.

"I have an offer from Puerto Rico, Magath told Focus magazine. The president of the Puerto Rico Football Federation asked me whether I could work as team director in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup."

Magath went on to admit that he was tempted, although he ultimately turned it down.

2007–present: Manager and director of football combined

In June 2007, he signed a contract with VfL Wolfsburg, as manager and director of football. Magath lead the Wolves to play in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup and the following season's Champions League, the latter as league champions for the first time.

Before the season 2008–09 had ended, he agreed on a four-year contract with FC Schalke 04, again as both head coach and director of football, starting on 1 July 2009. Schalke finished Magath's first season in charge as runners-up, but after a series of disappointing domestic performances and growing player discontent, Magath was sacked by Schalke in March 2011.

Only 24 hours later, on 17 March, he once again signed with now relegation-battling VfL Wolfsburg, the side he had previously led to the league title in 2009. Magath steered the club to safety, but though the club invested heavily, Magath could only achieve a mid-table finish in the following 2011–12 season. After only five points in eight matches (and no goals and points in the last four games) in the 2012–13 season, Magath left the club by mutual consent on 25 October 2012.

Reputation

As a manager, Magath quickly gained respect and became notorious for his hard, grinding training methods, laying heavy emphasis on discipline, fitness and conditioning. Players gave him nicknames like “Saddam” (Saddam Hussein) or “Quälix”, a mash of his first name Felix and the German verb “quälen” (to torture). He was once described by former Eintracht Frankfurt player Bachirou Salou as the "last dictator in Europe".

Statistics

Club

Club performance			League		Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Germany			League		DFB-Pokal		Europe		Total
1974–75	1. FC Saarbrücken	2. Bundesliga	38	12
1975–76			38	17
1976–77	Hamburger SV	Bundesliga	30	1
1977–78			33	4
1978–79			21	4
1979–80			32	5
1980–81			33	10
1981–82			28	8
1982–83			34	4
1983–84			34	5
1984–85			32	3
1985–86			29	2
Total	Germany		382	75
Career total			382	75

International statistics

National team statistics

Germany national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1977	2	0
1978	0	0
1979	0	0
1980	6	1
1981	11	1
1982	5	0
1983	0	0
1984	2	0
1985	8	1
1986	9	0
Total	43	3

International goals

Score and results list West Germany's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	10 September 1980	St. Jakob-Park, Basel	Switzerland	2–0	3–2	Friendly
2.	14 October 1981	Praterstadion, Vienna	Austria	2–1	3–1	1982 World Cup qualifier
3.	27 March 1985	Ludwigsparkstadion, Saarbrücken	Malta	2–0	6–0	1986 World Cup qualifier

Managerial record

As of 25 October 2012

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Source
Hamburger SV II	1 July 1993	5 October 1995	700173000000000000073	700125000000000000025	700118000000000000018	700130000000000000030	7002108000000000000108	7002129000000000000129	−21	700134250000000000034.25
Hamburger SV	5 October 1995	18 May 1997	700171000000000000071	700129000000000000029	700120000000000000020	700122000000000000022	7002107000000000000107	7002106000000000000106	+1	700140850000000000040.85
1. FC Nuremberg	1 September 1997	30 June 1998	700129000000000000029	700116000000000000016	70008000000000000008	70005000000000000005	700143000000000000043	700121000000000000021	+22	700155170000000000055.17
Werder Bremen	22 October 1998	10 May 1999	700128000000000000028	700110000000000000010	70008000000000000008	700110000000000000010	700132000000000000032	700135000000000000035	−3	700135710000000000035.71
Eintracht Frankfurt	27 December 1999	29 January 2001	700137000000000000037	700115000000000000015	70005000000000000005	700117000000000000017	700149000000000000049	700159000000000000059	−10	700140540000000000040.54
VfB Stuttgart	23 February 2001	30 June 2004	7002208000000000000208	700191000000000000091	700154000000000000054	700163000000000000063	7002305000000000000305	7002241000000000000241	+64	700143750000000000043.75
Bayern Munich	1 July 2004	31 January 2007	7002135000000000000135	700185000000000000085	700126000000000000026	700124000000000000024	7002270000000000000270	7002136000000000000136	+134	700162960000000000062.96
VfL Wolfsburg	15 June 2007	30 June 2009	700185000000000000085	700146000000000000046	700118000000000000018	700121000000000000021	7002180000000000000180	7002110000000000000110	+70	700154120000000000054.12
Schalke 04	1 July 2009	16 March 2011	700183000000000000083	700144000000000000044	700116000000000000016	700123000000000000023	7002125000000000000125	700182000000000000082	+43	700153010000000000053.01
VfL Wolfsburg	18 March 2011	25 October 2012	700152000000000000052	700118000000000000018	700110000000000000010	700124000000000000024	700169000000000000069	700187000000000000087	−18	700134620999990000034.62
Total			7002801000000000000801	7002379000000000000379	7002183000000000000183	7002239000000000000239	70031288000000000001,288	7002973000000000000973	+315	700147320000000000047.32

Honours

Player

Club

• Hamburger SV:
  • Fußball-Bundesliga: 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83;
  • European Cup: 1982–83
  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1976–77
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1977 runner-up, 1983 runner-up
  • UEFA Cup: 1981–82 runner-up

Country

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1980

Manager

• Stuttgart:
  • UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002

• Bayern Munich:
  • Fußball-Bundesliga: 2004–05, 2005–06
  • DFB-Pokal: 2004–05, 2005–06
  • DFB Ligapokal: 2004

• Wolfsburg:
  • Fußball-Bundesliga: 2008–09

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

• Felix Magath at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Felix Magath at National-Football-Teams.com