 | This articlecontainsweasel words: vague phrasing that often accompaniesbiased orunverifiable information. Such statements should beclarified or removed.(June 2010) |
 Rehhagel in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1938-08-09)9 August 1938 (age 87) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Essen,Germany | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | 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 | ||||||||||||||||
| 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
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Otto Rehhagel (German:[ˈʁeːhaːɡl̩]; born 9 August 1938) is a German formerfootball coach and player.
Rehhagel is one of only two people who, as player and manager combined, has participated in over 1,000Bundesliga matches (the other beingJupp Heynckes). In the Bundesliga, he holds the records for the most wins (387), most draws (205), most losses (228), and his teams scored the most goals (1,473) and conceded more (1,142) than any other. He served as the head coach ofWerder Bremen between 1981 and 1995, winning theBundesliga twice and in theCup Winners' Cup in 1992, the club's only continental title so far. After a rather unsuccessful intermezzo atBayern Munich, he sensationally won the Bundesliga with the promoted team1. FC Kaiserslautern in1998.
Internationally, Rehhagel coachedGreece from 2001 to 2010 in their most successful footballing era—during that period, Greece unexpectedly won the2004 European Championship and qualified for the2010 World Cup, their only second World Cup finals appearance. A 2022 critically acclaimed film entitledKing Otto was made on Rehhagel's triumph with the Greece national team in the 2004 European Championship.
Born inAltenessen, Rehhagel began his playing career with local clubTuS Helene Altenessen in 1948. He moved toRot-Weiss Essen, after the start of theBundesliga forHertha BSC (1963–65), and until 1972 forKaiserslautern. He played 201 games in the Bundesliga. As a player, Rehhagel was known as a tough-as-nails defender.
In 1974, he took charge ofKickers Offenbach, but failed to make an immediate impact as a manager. Most famously, while in charge ofBorussia Dortmund in 1978, he suffered a historic, record-setting12–0 loss toBorussia Mönchengladbach, after which the tabloids called himOtto Torhagel ("Tor" means goal in German, and "Hagel" means a hailstorm). In 1980, Rehhagel won his first trophy as a manager, when hisFortuna Düsseldorf side won theDFB-Pokal.
Rehhagel managedWerder Bremen from 1981 to 1995. During these 14 golden years for the club, Rehhagel transformed Werder from a small minnow into a powerhouse, dazzling spectators with powerful up-tempo play and a smothering defence. During this spell, Werder Bremen established themselves as one of the main teams in the Bundesliga, overtaking hated rivalsHamburg as the top club in the north and sparking an intense feud withBayern Munich. In the mid-eighties, Rehhagel often fell just short of success and had a string of second places and Cup Final losses. In that time, his nickname wasOtto II orVizeadmiral ("Vice Admiral"). However, Rehhagel ledWerder Bremen to two German championships in 1988 and 1993, twoDFB-Pokal victories in 1991 and 1994, as well as winning theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in 1992. In this period, Rehhagel produced a host of international stars, such asRudi Völler,Karl-Heinz Riedle,Dieter Eilts,Marco Bode,Mario Basler,Hany Ramzy,Andreas Herzog andRune Bratseth. Rehhagel'sWerder Bremen team of 1987–88 was at that time the squad which conceded the fewest goals ever in the Bundesliga (22), this record was surpassed byBayern Munich in the 2007–08 season with 21 goals. His stint with Werder Bremen (14 years Bundesliga) is the second longest consecutive occupation as a manager ever in the Bundesliga. It was eventually surpassed byVolker Finke ofFreiburg (16 years).
After 14 golden years atWerder Bremen, Rehhagel left to manage former hated rivals,Bayern Munich, before the start of the 1995–96 season. Prior to Rehhagel's arrival, Bayern had a disappointing, but financially lucrative season in 1994–95 (a very poor sixth place in the Bundesliga, but semi-finals in the Champions League). In the summer of 1995, Bayern spent a lot of money, buyingJürgen Klinsmann,Andreas Herzog, and others, and Rehhagel was brought in as manager to replaceGiovanni Trapattoni. It was widely expected that Munich would steamroll the opposition in 1995–96, but from day 1, Rehhagel clashed with the team and the team environment. His single-minded and occasionally eccentric ways did not mesh at all with Bayern, who quickly felt that Rehhagel was too rural at heart and had no clue about how to interact in the fancy environment of Munich. Moreover, Rehhagel's old-school tactics and patronising of the Bayern players caused major antipathy in the Bayern team, especially from Klinsmann, who never missed an opportunity to take shots at Rehhagel. Despite Rehhagel getting Bayern to theUEFA Cup final, Bayern's results in the Bundesliga dropped alarmingly in the second half of the season, and Rehhagel was famously sacked just 4 days before they were due to play in the first leg of the 1996UEFA Cup final. Rehhagel's job was taken over byFranz Beckenbauer, who led the team to victory in the 1996 UEFA Cup final, but saw no upturn in form in the last couple of weeks in the Bundesliga, leading Bayern to finished second, asBorussia Dortmund won their second German championship in a row.
After being sacked byBayern Munich, Rehhagel took over as manager ofKaiserslautern in 1996, after a season where the club had won theDFB-Pokal but had also been relegated from the top-flight following a catastrophic season in the Bundesliga. Rehhagel's team won the1996–97 2. Bundesliga by ten points, ending the season with a 7-6 win overSV Meppen.[1]
In Rehhagel's second season, Kaiserslautern won theBundesliga title, the first and so far only German championship triumph by a team that had just been promoted the previous season. Going into the season, expectations were low and the team's goal was only to avoid relegation.[2] They started with a 1-0 win over reigning champions and Rehhagel's former club, Bayern, and moved into first place after four matchdays.[3] Kaiserslautern were still first when the two teams played again, and won again, giving them a seven point lead at the top of the table. Kaiserslautern secured the title with a win overVfL Wolfsburg in the penultimate game of the season.[4] Kaiserslautern's championship is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in German football history and was described as "something that will never happen again" by both Rehhagel andRudi Völler.[5][6]
As well asJupp Heynckes, Rehhagel was offered the job of managing theGermany national team in summer 1998, but rejected it.[7] In the season after the title, Rehhagel coached Kaiserslautern to the quarter-finals of the1998–99 UEFA Champions League and a fifth-placed finish in the Bundesliga, having club captainAndreas Brehme and liberoMiroslav Kadlec.[4] Rehhagel resigned from Kaiserslautern in October 2000 after a bad start to the new season and pressure from supporters.[8] His final year at the club had been marred by a public dispute with star playerCiriaco Sforza.[9][10]
Rehhagel finished with a record of 87 wins, 39 draws, and 48 losses.[11]
In August 2001, followingVassilis Daniil's departure, Rehhagel was appointed as the new manager ofGreece,[12] ahead of other candidates, such asMarco Tardelli,Nevio Scala,Vanderlei Luxemburgo, andTerry Venables, who had also been considered for the managerial post.[13] Rehhagel's first match in charge was in October 2001, a2002 World Cup qualifier againstFinland, which ended in a 5–1 away defeat.[13][14] As a result, he rebuilt the squad, and in October 2003, after a 1–0 win overNorthern Ireland,[15] Greece qualified automatically forEuro 2004, ahead ofSpain andUkraine. Ranked 150–1 outsiders,[16] they nevertheless defeated host nationPortugal,[17] holdersFrance and the much more fanciedCzech Republic on the way to thefinal, where they again defeated Portugal 1–0. Rehhagel, who was seen as the man most responsible for the team's success, became the first foreign manager ever to win aEuropean Championship and remains the only one to date. Despite not having a star-studded line-up, the Greek team won the championship, conceding no goals in the knockout stage.
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.[18]
AfterRudi Völler resigned asGermany 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 theirqualifying group for the2006 FIFA World Cup, the Greek side failed to make the grade, finishing fourth in a tough group which saw Ukraine advance as group winner and Turkey go on to the play-off. The team returned to success though by qualifying forEuro 2008, ending the qualifying stage with the highest points total of any team and ensuring they would be able to defend their title. On 30 March 2008, Rehhagel extended his contract with Greece until 2010.[19] The Euro 2008 ended in disappointment after three group stage losses against Sweden, Russia, and eventual winners Spain.
For the 2010 FIFA World Cupqualifying 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, withDimitris Salpingidis scoring the winner. The win against Ukraine allowed the Greek squad to compete in the2010 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, surpassingCesare Maldini's record from 2002.[20]Greece lost to South Korea and 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 againstNigeria. Rehhagel announced his intention to leave his coaching position after the World Cup. On 23 June 2010, he announced his resignation from Greece.[21][22]
The 2021 documentaryKing Otto by New York-based director Christopher André Marks chronicles Rehhagel's success in Greece. The film's opening line quotesthe first line ofHomer'sOdyssey, "Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide".[23]
Rehhagel signed for ailing Bundesliga clubHertha BSC[24] and was manager of the club between 18 February 2012 and 30 June 2012.[25] His attempt to save Hertha from relegation however ended in a failure, after the Berliners were defeated by2. Bundesliga clubFortuna Düsseldorf in a two-legged playoff. Rehhagel finished with a record of three wins, three draws, and eight losses.[26]
Rehhagel popularized the phrasekontrollierte 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 dominantlibero, such asRune Bratseth,Miroslav Kadlec, orTraianos Dellas. In defence, Rehhagel usually prefers robustness and height over footballing abilities (the most notorious example beingUlrich Borowka). In the period of all-round, fluid defence, many have criticized this as dated and anachronistic, with Rehhagel rebutting the claims due to his success.
Rehhagel's teams regularly develop pressure on the wings complemented with at least one dominant header as the central striker. Examples includeMario Basler/Marco Bode playing on the wings at Bremen orAndreas Buck/Marco Reich at Kaiserslautern while (Rudi Völler,Karl-Heinz Riedle,Frank Neubarth,Olaf Marschall, andAngelos 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 youngMichael 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.[27]
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 asManfred Burgsmüller,Mirko Votava,Olaf Marschall orTheodoros Zagorakis.
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 abenign dictatorship. His way of handling a club – in a competent and innovative, but also highly patronizing and condescending way – has been immortalized asottocracy, a pun on his name alluding to the style of management/government;autocracy.
Finally, Rehhagel is considered somewhat of a maverick in Germany. In decades of interviews, he has established a reputation for being eccentric, similarly toJosé Mourinho andBrian Clough. However, seeing his impressive record, he is apparently able to back up his words.
Famous players associated with Rehhagel includeKlaus Allofs,Mario Basler,Marco Bode,Rune Bratseth,Manfred Burgsmüller,Theofanis Gekas,Angelos Charisteas,Traianos Dellas,Dieter Eilts,Andreas Herzog,Marian Hristov,Miroslav Klose,Olaf Marschall,Hany Ramzy,Karl-Heinz Riedle,Wynton Rufer,Thomas Schaaf,Ciriaco Sforza,Rudi Völler,Theodoros Zagorakis,Andreas Brehme andMichael Ballack.
Rehhagel is married to Beate Rehhagel fromSteele, Essen since 1963. They have one child, Jens Rehhagel, who has played football at semi-professional level.[28]
Rehhagel likes to call himselfKind der Bundesliga ("Child of the Bundesliga"), having played in the very first Bundesliga game, and spent his club career there, with nine teams. InGreece, he is occasionally calledKing Otto (βασιλιάς Όθων), probably in allusion to KingOtto of Greece from Bavaria, however he already had this nickname during his coaching career in Germany. As a pun referring toHerakles, son ofZeus, he has been nicknamed "Rehakles" as well.[18][29] Rehhagel is an honorary citizen of Athens.[30]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | Ref. | |||||
| 1. FC Saarbrücken | 1 July 1972 | 30 June 1973 | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 023.33 | |||
| Kickers Offenbach | 2 April 1974 | 9 December 1975 | 60 | 23 | 10 | 27 | 038.33 | |||
| Werder Bremen | 29 February 1976[31] | 30 June 1976[31] | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 030.77 | [31] | ||
| Borussia Dortmund | 1 July 1976[32] | 30 April 1978[32] | 74 | 29 | 16 | 29 | 039.19 | [32] | ||
| Arminia Bielefeld | 10 October 1978 | 11 October 1979 | 37 | 15 | 9 | 13 | 040.54 | |||
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | 12 October 1979 | 5 December 1980 | 53 | 26 | 9 | 18 | 049.06 | |||
| Werder Bremen | 2 April 1981[31] | 30 June 1995[31] | 609 | 322 | 156 | 131 | 052.87 | [31] | ||
| Bayern Munich | 1 July 1995[33] | 27 April 1996[33] | 42 | 27 | 5 | 10 | 064.29 | [33] | ||
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 20 July 1996 | 1 October 2000 | 174 | 87 | 38 | 49 | 050.00 | |||
| Greece | 9 August 2001 | 30 June 2010 | 106 | 52 | 22 | 32 | 049.06 | |||
| Hertha BSC | 19 February 2012 | 30 June 2012 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 021.43 | [26] | ||
| Total | 1,225 | 606 | 278 | 341 | 049.47 | — | ||||
Awards | |||||||
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| International | |
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| People | |
