Felix Magath

Felix Magath
Personal information
Full name	Wolfgang-Felix Magath
Date of birth	July 27 1953 (1953-07-27) (age 54)
Place of birth	Aschaffenburg, Germany
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth clubs
1960-1964 1964-1972	VfR Nilkheim TV 60 Aschaffenburg
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1972-1974 1974-1976 1976-1986	Viktoria Aschaffenburg 1. FC Saarbrücken Hamburger SV	075 (29) 306 (46)
National team
1977-1986	West Germany	043 0(3)
Teams managed
1995-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999 1999-2001 2001-2004 2004-2007 2007-	Hamburger SV 1. FC Nürnberg Werder Bremen Eintracht Frankfurt VfB Stuttgart Bayern Munich VfL Wolfsburg
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Wolfgang-Felix Magath (born July 27, 1953 near Aschaffenburg) is a German football manager. Magath was born the son of a Puerto Rican soldier in the United States Army and a German mother. His father abandoned Magath and his mother to return to Puerto Rico in 1954. Magath first heard from his father after he sent a letter to Puerto Rico when he was 15. Magath would not visit his father in Puerto Rico until many years later in 2000. Magath says he has forgiven his father for abadoning him and they now have a friendly relationship. Magath started his career playing for local club Viktoria Aschaffenburg. From 1974 - 1976, he played for 1. FC Saarbrücken, at that time in the second professional league, before moving to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga. He would spend the entirety of his professional career as a midfielder at Hamburger SV, and from his debut in 1976 to his retirement in 1986 he scored 46 goals in 306 games for the club in the German Bundesliga.^[1] Magath became one of Germany's best football players. In 1983, he led Hamburger SV to success in the European Cup with the single goal in the 1-0 win in the final against Juventus F.C.. He also represented the German national team at many international events, including the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cup, helping Germany land in second place both times. Magath is the only Puerto Rican known to have played in a World Cup, and through his career he played 43 caps times for Germany and scored 3 goals. After retiring as a player, Magath had stints as manager of German teams Hamburger SV, 1. FC Nürnberg, Werder Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt, and VfB Stuttgart before he was appointed as manager of FC Bayern München, on July 1 2004. In his first season as manager, Magath was able to lead his team to victory in both the German Bundesliga championship and the German Cup to complete The Double. Bayern repeated the Double in the 2005-06 season, a first in the history of the Bundesliga. However, after a slow start to the 2006-07 season, with the team mirred in fourth place which would not qualify them for the Champions League, led him to be sacked on January 31, 2007.^[2] In June 2007 he signed a contract at Wolfsburg. He is the new manager at the local football club VfL Wolfsburg. He revealed to the Puerto Rican newspaper, El Vocero, that he has Puerto Rican roots. Magath and his father reestablished a relationship in 1999, and they had been visiting each other twice a year since then. Magath told El Vocero that he felt proud of his Puerto Rican heritage as well as being German. On August 7, 2006, Magath revealed that the Puerto Rico Football Federation had approached him with an offer to assume the position of Puerto Rican team director in preparation for the Caribbean country's qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup 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.

Managing 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) Reference in German. After establishing himself as one of the most successful managers in recent Bundesliga history, this became somewhat of a cult.

Coaching record

• ¹Was relieved of his Head Coaching duties on January 31, 2007. Bayern Munich were in 4^th place in the Bundesliga and won Group B in UEFA Champions League at the time of his dismissal.

Honours

As a player

• Cup Winners' Cup: 1977
• Bundesliga: 1979, 1982, 1983
• UEFA European Championship: 1980
• European Cup: 1983; Runner-up 1980
• European Super Cup: Runner-up 1977
• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 1982
• FIFA World Cup: Runner-up 1982, 1986

As a manager

• DFB Pokal: 1999, 2005, 2006
• DFB Liga-Pokal: 2004
• Bundesliga: 2005, 2006

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans

Notes

References

• Career stats
• Bayern Munich sack coach Felix Magath

•  • e West Germany squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Schumacher • 2 Briegel • 3 Breitner • 4 K. Förster • 5 B. Förster • 6 Dremmler • 7 Littbarski • 8 Fischer • 9 Hrubesch • 10 Müller • 11 Rummenigge • 12 Hannes • 13 Reinders • 14 Magath • 15 Stielike • 16 Allofs • 17 Engels • 18 Matthäus • 19 Hieronymus • 20 Kaltz • 21 Franke • 22 Immel • Coach: Derwall

•  • e West Germany squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Schumacher • 2 Briegel • 3 Brehme • 4 Förster • 5 Herget • 6 Eder • 7 Littbarski • 8 Matthäus • 9 Völler • 10 Magath • 11 Rummenigge • 12 Stein • 13 Allgöwer • 14 Berthold • 15 Augenthaler • 16 Thon • 17 Jakobs • 18 Rahn • 19 Allofs • 20 Hoeneß • 21 Rolff • 22 Immel • Coach: Beckenbauer