Otto Rehhagel
This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (June 2010) |
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 9 August 1938 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Essen, Germany | ||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||
Position(s) | Defender | ||||||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
1948–1957 | TuS Helene Altenessen | ||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
1957–1960 | TuS Helene Altenessen | ||||||||||||||||
1960–1963 | Rot-Weiss Essen | 90 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
1963–1965 | Hertha BSC | 53 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
1965–1972 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 148 | (17) | ||||||||||||||
International career | |||||||||||||||||
1960 |
West Germany Amateur | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
1972 | FV Rockenhausen | ||||||||||||||||
1972–1973 | 1. FC Saarbrücken | ||||||||||||||||
1973–1974 | Kickers Offenbach (Assistant coach) | ||||||||||||||||
1974–1975 | Kickers Offenbach | ||||||||||||||||
1976 | Werder Bremen | ||||||||||||||||
1976–1978 | Borussia Dortmund | ||||||||||||||||
1978–1979 | Arminia Bielefeld | ||||||||||||||||
1979–1980 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | ||||||||||||||||
1981–1995 | Werder Bremen | ||||||||||||||||
1995–1996 | Bayern Munich | ||||||||||||||||
1996–2000 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | ||||||||||||||||
2001–2010 | Greece | ||||||||||||||||
2012 | Hertha BSC | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Otto Rehhagel (German: [ˈɔtoː ˈʁeːhaːɡl̩]; born 9 August 1938) is a German former football coach and player.
Rehhagel is one of only two people who, as player and manager combined, has participated in over 1,000
Internationally, Rehhagel coached the Greece national team from 2001 to 2010 in their most successful footballing era – during that period, Greece won the 2004 European Championship unexpectedly and qualified for the 2010 World Cup, their second World Cup finals appearance. A 2022 critically acclaimed film entitled, King Otto, was made on Otto Rehhagel's triumph with the Greece national team for the 2004 European Championships.
Playing career
Born in Altenessen, Rehhagel began his playing career with local club TuS Helene Altenessen in 1948. He moved to Rot-Weiss Essen (1960–63), after the start of the Bundesliga for Hertha BSC (1963–65), and until 1972 for Kaiserslautern. He played 201 games in the Bundesliga. As a player, Rehhagel was known as a tough-as-nails defender.
Managerial career
Early years
In 1974, he took charge of Kickers Offenbach, but failed to make an immediate impact as a manager. Most famously, while in charge of Borussia Dortmund in 1978, he suffered a historic, record-setting 12–0 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach, after which the tabloids called him Otto Torhagel ("Tor" means goal in German, and "Hagel" means a hailstorm). In 1980, Rehhagel won his first trophy as a manager, when his Fortuna Düsseldorf side won the German Cup.
Werder Bremen
Rehhagel managed
Bayern Munich
After 14 golden years at
1. FC Kaiserslautern
After being sacked by
Greece national team
In August 2001, following
Rehhagel adopted a defensive approach in playing his Greek side, using energetic midfielders to wear down the opponents and the policy of defending in numbers to numb the opposition's attacks. When charged with boring play, he said, "No one should forget that a coach adapts the tactics to the characteristics of the available players." His time at Werder Bremen, in contrast, saw play described as flashy and spectacular attacking football.[8]
After Rudi Völler resigned as Germany coach in the wake of that country's first-round exit in Euro 2004, Rehhagel was considered by many to be a strong candidate for his homeland's job. He had the support of the public, despite being considered a maverick by the footballing establishment. After three other candidates removed themselves from consideration, Rehhagel received an offer to take over as Germany coach, which he officially turned down on 10 July.
In their
For the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying group and having finished second in Group 2 behind Switzerland, coach Rehhagel and the national team faced Ukraine in a two-legged play-off and won 1–0 in Donetsk after a 0–0 draw in Piraeus, with Dimitris Salpingidis scoring the winner. The win against Ukraine allowed the Greek squad to compete in the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa and solidified the position of Otto Rehhagel as one of the most important people in the history of Greek sport. At the age of 71, he also became the oldest national team manager to coach in a FIFA World Cup, surpassing Cesare Maldini's record from 2002.[10] Greece lost to South Korea, Argentina, defeated Nigeria 2–1 and exited the FIFA World Cup in the group stage, despite Salpingidis scoring Greece's first ever goal in a World Cup against Nigeria. Rehhagel announced his intention to leave his coaching position after the World Cup. On 23 June 2010, he announced his resignation from Greece.[11][12]
The 2021 documentary King Otto by New York-based director Christopher André Marks chronicles Rehhagel's success in Greece. The film's opening line quotes the first line of Homer's Odyssey, "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide".[13]
Hertha BSC
Rehhagel signed for ailing Bundesliga club Hertha BSC[14] and was manager of the club between 18 February 2012 and 30 June 2012.[15] His attempt to save Hertha from relegation however ended in a failure, after the Berliners were defeated by 2. Bundesliga club Fortuna Düsseldorf in a two-legged playoff. Rehhagel finished with a record of three wins, three draws, and eight losses.[16]
Coaching style
Rehhagel popularized the phrase kontrollierte Offensive (controlled offence). He prefers a grass-roots approach to football, stressing the importance of at least two (often also three) big, strong headers in central defence. His defensive schemes often use a dominant
Rehhagel's teams regularly develop pressure on the wings complemented with at least one dominant header as the central striker. Examples include Mario Basler/Marco Bode playing on the wings at Bremen or Andreas Buck/Marco Reich at Kaiserslautern while (Rudi Völler, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Frank Neubarth, Olaf Marschall, and Angelos Charisteas) at the top of the formation.
The backbone of his teams are usually older, more experienced players while younger talents rarely find themselves taking responsibility. At Kaiserslautern, Rehhagel often kept the young Michael Ballack on the bench as a substitute. Despite this, he is also known for being an excellent talent scout, having discovered Völler, Riedle, Marco Bode, Dieter Eilts, Marco Reich, Miroslav Klose, Angelos Charisteas, Sotiris Kyrgiakos, Theofanis Gekas and many others.
With Greece he used man-marking, which was an unusual tactical throwback at the time, meaning their opponents were unprepared to combat it.[17]
Rehhagel is also known for being a good motivator. His teams possess a lot of team spirit, most famously the Greece national team, which he turned from a dead-end squad nobody wanted to play for into a must-be-there-at-all-costs team. He is also famous for reigniting the careers of older players, such as
Rehhagel is also a deft and ruthless club politician. He is notorious for restructuring clubs by making friends with powerful people and using them to eliminate the opposition in order to wield absolute power, preferring the system of a
Finally, Rehhagel is considered somewhat of a maverick in Germany. In decades of interviews, he has established a reputation for being eccentric, arrogant and unwilling to admit mistakes, similar to e.g. José Mourinho and Brian Clough. However, seeing his impressive record, he is apparently able to back up his words.
Famous players associated with Rehhagel include
Personal life
Rehhagel is married to Beate Rehhagel from Steele, Essen since 1963. They have one child, Jens Rehhagel, who has played football at semi-professional level.[18]
Rehhagel likes to call himself Kind der Bundesliga ("Child of the Bundesliga"), having played in the very first Bundesliga game, and spent his club career there, with nine teams. In
Managerial statistics
- As of 15 May 2012
Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | Win % | Ref. | |||||
1. FC Saarbrücken | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1973 | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 23.33 | |||
Kickers Offenbach | 2 April 1974 | 9 December 1975 | 60 | 23 | 10 | 27 | 38.33 | |||
Werder Bremen | 29 February 1976[21] | 30 June 1976[21] | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 30.77 | [21] | ||
Borussia Dortmund | 1 July 1976[22] | 30 April 1978[22] | 74 | 29 | 16 | 29 | 39.19 | [22] | ||
Arminia Bielefeld | 10 October 1978 | 11 October 1979 | 37 | 15 | 9 | 13 | 40.54 | |||
Fortuna Düsseldorf | 12 October 1979 | 5 December 1980 | 53 | 26 | 9 | 18 | 49.06 | |||
Werder Bremen
|
2 April 1981[21] | 30 June 1995[21] | 609 | 322 | 156 | 131 | 52.87 | [21] | ||
Bayern Munich | 1 July 1995[23] | 27 April 1996[23] | 42 | 27 | 5 | 10 | 64.29 | [23] | ||
1. FC Kaiserslautern | 20 July 1996 | 1 October 2000 | 174 | 87 | 38 | 49 | 50.00 | |||
Greece | 9 August 2001 | 30 June 2010 | 106 | 52 | 22 | 32 | 49.06 | |||
Hertha BSC | 19 February 2012 | 30 June 2012 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 21.43 | [16] | ||
Total | 1,225 | 606 | 278 | 341 | 49.47 | — |
Honours
Managerial honours
- Fortuna Düsseldorf
- Werder Bremen
- 1. FC Kaiserslautern
- Greece
- UEFA European Championship: 2004
- Individual
- Order of the Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic: (2005)
- Laureus World Sports Awards with the Greece national football team: (2005)
- "Greece's Coach of the Year"(2004, 2007), first-ever foreigner to win this award
- European Coach of the Year—Alf Ramsey Award: 2004
- IFFHS World's Best National Coach: 2004
- World Soccer 36th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013[24][25]
- France Football 46th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019[26][27]
References
- ^ "1. FC Kaiserslautern". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ "Greeks go with Rehhagel". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 9 August 2001. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ a b "Rehhagel plots England downfall". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 September 2001. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ "Troubled Greek journey". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 September 2001. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ "Greeks through to finals". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 11 October 2003. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ Bull, Andy; Doyle, Paul; Bandini, Paolo (4 December 2009). "The Joy of Six: memorable sporting moments of the decade". The Guardian.
- ^ Walker, Michael (14 June 2004). "Scolari bears brunt as hosts turn their anger inwards". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ a b Baumann, Hendrik (23 June 2010). "Ende der Ottokratie". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ "Rehhagel agrees new Greece contract". uefa.com. 29 March 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
- ^ Nicola Cecere (3 April 2016). "Maldini, dalla Coppa Campioni a c.t. del figlio: una carriera straordinaria" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
- ^ "Rehhagel officially announced his resignation". troktiko. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ "Otto Rehhagel quits as Greece coach". BBC Sport. 24 June 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
- ^ Voutos, John (26 May 2021). ""Not many football documentaries start with a quote from Homer": Christopher Marks on 'King Otto'". The Greek Herald. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ "Preetz bestätigt: Rehhagel übernimmt Hertha" (in German). kicker.de. 18 February 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- ^ Bremer, Uwe (17 May 2012). "Hertha setzt jetzt auf den "kleinen Diktator" Luhukay". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- ^ a b "Hertha BSC" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ Askew, Joshua (11 June 2021). "How did Otto Rehhagel's Greece win Euro 2004?". Holding Midfield. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
- t-online(in German)
- ^ "Greeks Won't Prevent 'Rehakles' Returning to Germany", Deutsche Welle, 9 July 2004
- ^ Rehhagel, Otto; Marks, Christopher (23 March 2022). "Hi! We're Coach "King Otto" Rehhagel and documentarian Christopher André Marks here answering your questions. Ask Us Anything!". Reddit. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "Werder Bremen" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ a b c "Borussia Dortmund" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ a b c "Bayern München" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ Jamie Rainbow (4 July 2013). "The Greatest Manager of all time". World Soccer.
- ^ Jamie Rainbow (2 July 2013). "The Greatest XI: how the panel voted". World Soccer. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ "Top 50 des coaches de l'historie". France Football. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ "The 50 best coaches in history, according to 'France Football'". BeSoccer. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
External links
- Otto Rehhagel at fussballdaten.de (in German)
- "Tanz den Rehakles" on YouTube, by DJ Ötzi