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Littbarski spent most of his playing career at1. FC Köln. He made his debut for the club, at the time coached byHennes Weisweiler, at the age of 18. The stars on the team during Littbarski's first few years were goalkeeperHarald Schumacher, goal scorerDieter Müller, and midfielderBernd Schuster. Littbarski scored the winning goal in the1983DFB-Pokal final againstFortuna Köln. He was on teams that were three times the runner-up in theBundesliga title chase, in1982,1989 and1990. In his career, he was initially used as a deep-lying striker before being utilised as an attacking midfielder. Playing in the former role, in the four seasons from 1981 to 1985 he scored 64 league goals in 128 Bundesliga games. "Litti", as he was nicknamed by German fans, was widely known for his excellent dribbling abilities and humorous attitude, and was one of the fan favourites in the West German Bundesliga during the decade. In 1985 his goal versusWerder Bremen was elected "Goal of the Year". He later played forRC Paris inLigue 1 as well as forJEF United Ichihara andBrummel Sendai in Japan.
Littbarski had a prolific but short career as part of theWest German Under-21 side. He was a part of the squad that got to the1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final. The team lost toEngland 5–4 after a two-leg final (losing 1–3 away and winning 3–2 at home). Littbarski scored ahat-trick against the English in West Germany, but ultimately they lost the tie. Littbarski has the most goals on the Under-21 Germany squad in the team's history.
Littbarski earned his firstcap forWest Germany on 14 October 1981 in the1982 World Cup qualification againstAustria. West Germany managerJupp Derwall started him in a three-man front line alongsideKlaus Fischer andKarl-Heinz Rummenigge. Littbarski's international career got off to a promising start, as he scored his first and second goals in that game. His third international goal came at the1982 World Cup, in the second round match againstSpain, a 2–1 victory. AgainstFrance in the semi-final, Littbarski scored the opening goal, and later was successful on apenalty in the decidingshoot-out. Thenow legendary match ended in a 3–3draw, with Littbarski involved in the dramatic extra-time equalizer, crossing toHorst Hrubesch, who headed toKlaus Fischer, who scored with an overheadbicycle kick. Littbarski had minutes earlier provided the pass that Rummenigge scored from to cut France's lead to 3–2. A poignant scene in the penalty shootout showed the young Littbarski consoling a tearfulUli Stielike, who had just missed a penalty and had buried his head in Littbarski's shirt, while watching West Germany's goalkeeper,Harald Schumacher, saveDidier Six's penalty to even the score. West Germany eventually won 5–4 on penalties. West Germany lost 3–1 toItaly in the final. Littbarski played the whole match, receiving ayellow card in the 88th minute.
At theUEFA Euro 1984, West Germany, with Littbarski, were eliminated in thegroup stage after a string of poor performances. The1986 FIFA World Cup inMexico, while successful for West Germany, proved less so for Littbarski personally. He was benched bymanagerFranz Beckenbauer, and had to watch the semi–final andfinal from the bench. West Germany again finished as runners–up, losing 3–2 toArgentina. In 1987, he played in afriendly match againstEngland and scored two goals, one directly from a corner, as the West Germans won 3-1.
The West German players had high hopes for theUEFA Euro 1988 on their home soil. However, the hosts lost 2–1 tothe Netherlands in the semi–finals. Littbarski did not score any goals in the tournament. In 1990, Littbarski enjoyed a successful final appearance at theFIFA World Cup, as West Germany won their third title, defeating Argentina 1–0 in the final inRome. Littbarski scored his only goal in thegroup stage againstColombia but started three of the four games at theknockout stage, including thefinal.
In 1999, he started his coaching career withYokohama FC ofJapan Football League and he led the club to the promotion to J2 League.He has also been the manager of Yokohama FC (twice), as well as assistant manager ofBayer 04 Leverkusen and manager ofMSV Duisburg.
He was famous amongst Sydney FC supporters and the media for his stylish brown suits. Sydney under Littbarski were criticised for boring football, but the results could seldom be argued with and Sydney FC went on to claim the inaugural A-League Championship under his reign. Littbarski and Sydney FC severed ties on Wednesday, 5 May 2006, with Littbarski announcing he would not re-sign for the club following disputes over a cut-price contract offer.
In December 2006, Littbarski was appointed the manager of Avispa Fukuoka, a J2 League side that was newly demoted to the second division after the 2006 season. In July 2008, he left the club and was replaced by Yoshiyuki Shinoda.[2]
On 26 July 2008, it was announced that he became the new manager of Iranian sideSaipa F.C.[3] His contract was terminated on 8 October 2008 after nine games.
On 9 June 2010, Littbarski signed a two-year contract as assistant coach byVfL Wolfsburg.[7] AfterSteve McClaren was sacked on 7 February 2011, Littbarski was appointed caretaker manager of VfL Wolfsburg.Felix Magath was subsequently made head coach in March 2011.
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