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Christoph Daum

Daum in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Christoph Paul Daum
Date of birth	(1953-10-24)24 October 1953
Place of birth	Zwickau, East Germany
Date of death	24 August 2024(2024-08-24) (aged 70)
Place of death	Cologne, Germany
Height	1.80 m
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
1971–1972	Hamborn 07
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1972–1975	Eintracht Duisburg
1975–1981	1. FC Köln II
Teams managed
1986–1990	1. FC Köln
1990–1993	VfB Stuttgart
1994–1996	Beşiktaş
1996–2000	Bayer Leverkusen
2001–2002	Beşiktaş
2002–2003	Austria Wien
2003–2006	Fenerbahçe
2006–2009	1. FC Köln
2009–2010	Fenerbahçe
2011	Eintracht Frankfurt
2011–2012	Club Brugge
2013–2014	Bursaspor
2016–2017	Romania
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Christoph Paul Daum (24 October 1953 – 24 August 2024) was a German professional football manager and player. Daum played as a midfielder and was a junior for several clubs from the region of Duisburg. He began his senior career with Hamborn 07 and Eintracht Duisburg, before joining 1. FC Köln in 1975 and being part of the reserve team that won the 1980–81 German amateur football championship. As a manager, he won eight trophies with clubs from Germany, Turkey and Austria.

Coaching career

Early years

After finishing his career as a player, he earned his coaching licence at the DFB and began working in 1981 as amateur coach with 1. FC Köln. In the 1985–86, season he was promoted to assistant coach and in 1986 to the top position. During the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Daum was released from his position by Cologne's president Dietmar Artzinger-Bolten. In November 1990 he transferred to VfB Stuttgart, where he won the German championship in 1992. In the following season Daum committed a mistake in the first round of the European Cup against Leeds United on 30 September 1992 by illegally putting in a fourth foreign player. A replay was scheduled, which Leeds won. The UK newspaper 'The Sun' dubbed him 'Christoph Dumb' following this incident. The VfB missed out on the Champions League and Daum was released. Beginning in 1994 Daum worked with the Turkish club Beşiktaş J.K. in Istanbul. He won the Turkish Cup in 1994 and 1994–95 Turkish league championship title with Beşiktaş J.K. In the 1995–96 season he was sacked after losses to Kocaelispor and Vanspor.

1996–2000

Daum returned to Germany two years later to coach Bayer Leverkusen in 1996. He was very successful at Bayer Leverkusen, winning three second places in Bundesliga in four years of coaching.

2001–2010

Daum in 2009

Daum returned to his former team Beşiktaş from March 2001 to May 2002. Afterwards, he moved to Austria Wien on 4 October 2002, where he won another league championship title. Beginning in July 2003, he was head coach at Fenerbahçe. Daum won two consecutive Turkish league championships in 2004 and 2005. While his failure to succeed in the Champions League was often criticised in the Turkish media, the improvements in Fenerbahçe under his management were significant. At the end of the 2005–06 season Fenerbahçe lost the national championship to their arch-rival Galatasaray on the final week of the league, after which Daum resigned. Daum signed for 1. FC Köln on 19 November 2006. The contract ran until 2010. Köln returned to Bundesliga after finishing 3rd in Second Bundesliga in 2007–08 season. Daum left the club on 2 June 2009. Daum signed a three-year contract with Fenerbahçe on 2 June 2009. In his one season in charge Daum lost the league title to Bursaspor and the cup final to Trabzonspor. On 25 June 2010, Fenerbahçe parted ways with him.

2011–14

On 22 March 2011, it was confirmed that Daum had signed a contract with Eintracht Frankfurt as coach after the club has sacked Michael Skibbe following a decline in the Bundesliga in the second half of season. He left the club on 16 May, two days after the club's relegation was confirmed. Daum took charge of just seven games and failed to manage a victory, his record of three draws and four defeats insufficient to beat the drop. On 9 November 2011, after pausing for six months, Daum took over as head coach of the Belgian Club Brugge. Starting from a good defensive organisation, Brugge won four domestic matches 1–0 under Daum, and also a 3–4 fight back victory over NK Maribor in the Europa League group stage, after Club Brugge were still down 3–0 17 minutes before time. He led Brugge to the 2nd place in the 2011–12 season. Following the end of the season, he asked Brugge to leave his position as head coach due to his family reasons and the club accepted his decision. On 14 August 2013, Daum took over as head coach of Bursaspor. He was sacked on 24 March 2014.

2016–17: Romania national team

On 7 July 2016, after two years of pause from coaching, Daum started his first experience at a national team after agreeing terms with Romania. He became the third foreign manager in the history to coach the Romanian team. It was reported that he signed a two-year contract which would automatically extend until 2020 if he managed to qualify the team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was sacked in September 2017, after yet another disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign where Romania failed to qualify. He received €135,000 in compensation for his termination.

Death

In October 2022, Daum announced that he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died from the disease on 24 August 2024 in Cologne at the age of 70.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

1. FC Köln II

• German amateur football championship: 1980–81

Manager

1. FC Köln

• Bundesliga: runner up 1988–89, 1989–90

VfB Stuttgart

• Bundesliga: 1991–92
• DFL-Supercup: 1992

Beşiktaş

• Süper Lig: 1994–95
• Turkish Cup: 1993–94, runner up 2001–02
• Turkish Super Cup: 1993–94, runner up 1994–95

Bayer Leverkusen

• Bundesliga: runner up 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000

Austria Wien

• Austrian Football Bundesliga: 2002–03
• Austrian Cup: 2002–03

Fenerbahçe

• Süper Lig: 2003–04, 2004–05, runner up 2005–06, 2009–10
• Turkish Super Cup: 2009
• Turkish Cup: runner up 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10

Club Brugge

• Belgian Pro League: runner up 2011–12

See also

In Spanish: Christoph Daum para niños