Felix Magath

Felix Magath

Personal information
Full name	Wolfgang-Felix Magath
Date of birth	26 July 1953 (1953-07-26)
Place of birth	Aschaffenburg, West Germany
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Offensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	VfL Wolfsburg (coach)
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)
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–	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 of VfL Wolfsburg.

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. 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.

Managing career

After retiring as a player, Magath began coaching in October 1995 for his former club Hamburg. He was sacked at the end of the 1996–97 season.

After a stint at Eintracht Frankfurt, his reputation in the German league grew with his performances as coach of VfB Stuttgart. He was then appointed as manager of FC Bayern Munich 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. In June, he signed a contract at VfL Wolfsburg, leading 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.

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. Before 2008–09 had ended, he agreed on a four-year contract with FC Schalke 04 as both head coach and general manager, starting on 1 July 2009.

On 16 March 2011 Magath was sacked by Schalke. Only 24 hours later, on 17 March, he once again signed with VfL Wolfsburg, whom he led to the national championship in 2009.

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).

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	Second Division	38	12
1975–76			38	17
1976–77	Hamburger SV	German League	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

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

Honours

Player

Club

• Hamburg:
  • 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

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.

External links

• Bundesliga stats at Fussballdaten (German)
• Felix Magath at National-Football-Teams.com