Franco Foda

Franco Foda

Personal information
Date of birth	23 April 1966 (1966-04-23)
Place of birth	Mainz, Germany
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Sturm Graz (coach)
Youth career
1982–1983	1. FSV Mainz 05
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1983–1984	1. FC Kaiserslautern	3	(0)
1984–1985	Arminia Bielefeld	43	(8)
1985–1987	1. FC Saarbrücken	52	(3)
1987–1990	1. FC Kaiserslautern	87	(5)
1990–1994	Bayer Leverkusen	113	(10)
1994–1996	VfB Stuttgart	69	(0)
1997	FC Basel	13	(0)
1997–2001	Sturm Graz	99	(1)
National team
1987	West Germany	2	(0)
Teams managed
2001–2002	Sturm Graz (amateurs)
2002–2003	Sturm Graz (assistant)
2003	Sturm Graz
2003–2006	Sturm Graz (amateurs)
2006–	Sturm Graz
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Franco Foda (born 23 April 1966 in Mainz) is a retired German football player in the defender role who is currently the manager of Austrian side SK Sturm Graz.

Football career

Foda, who started his football career with hometown's 1. FSV Mainz 05, began playing professionally for 1. FC Kaiserslautern (three matches in 1983–84), then represented Arminia Bielefeld and 1. FC Saarbrücken in both the first and second levels. He then returned to Kaiserslautern for three additional seasons, also managing two friendly substitute appearances for West Germany in December 1987, at Brazil (1–1) and Argentina (0–1).

Foda joined Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1990, being an important defensive element and scoring four league goals in his fourth season, as Leverkusen finished third. He then played with VfB Stuttgart, FC Basel (a short 1997 spell) and SK Sturm Graz, retiring in 2001 at 35, with 321 German first division matches played.

Subsequently, Foda moved into coaching with Sturm Graz and, after a short spell in 2003 (he also had been an assistant and worked with the amateur side), was definitely promoted as head manager for 2006–07.

Honours

As player

• 2 × German Cup with 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1989–90) and Bayer Leverkusen (1992–93)
• 2 × Austrian Champion with SK Sturm Graz
• 2 × Austrian Cup with SK Sturm Graz
• 1 × Austrian Supercup SK Sturm Graz

As manager

• 1 × Austrian Cup with SK Sturm Graz
• 1 × Austrian Champion with SK Sturm Graz

Personal

His son Sandro (born 1989) first appeared professionally with Sturm Graz in 2007, and would be managed by his father.

External links

• Franco Foda at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Franco Foda at worldfootball.net