Otto Rehhagel facts for kids
Rehhagel in 2010
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 9 August 1938 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Essen, Germany | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing 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) | |||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1960 | West Germany Amateur | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Otto Rehhagel (born August 9, 1938) is a famous German football coach and former player. He is known for his long career and for leading teams to unexpected victories.
Rehhagel is one of only two people to have been involved in over 1,000 matches in the Bundesliga, Germany's top football league. This includes time as both a player and a manager. He holds many Bundesliga records, like the most wins, draws, and losses for a manager. His teams have also scored and conceded the most goals.
He managed Werder Bremen for 14 years, from 1981 to 1995. During this time, he led them to win the Bundesliga twice and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1992. Later, he achieved a stunning victory with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, winning the Bundesliga title right after they were promoted from a lower league. This was a huge surprise!
Internationally, Rehhagel coached the Greek national team from 2001 to 2010. This was Greece's most successful period in football. They famously won the 2004 European Championship when no one expected them to. They also qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was only their second time at the World Cup finals. A film about his success with Greece, called King Otto, was released in 2022.
Contents
Playing Career
Otto Rehhagel was born in Altenessen, Germany. He started playing football with his local club, TuS Helene Altenessen, in 1948. He later played for Rot-Weiss Essen from 1960 to 1963.
When the Bundesliga started, he joined Hertha BSC (1963–1965). After that, he played for Kaiserslautern until 1972. He played in 201 Bundesliga games. As a player, Rehhagel was known as a very strong and tough defender.
Managerial Career
Early Challenges
In 1974, Rehhagel became a manager for Kickers Offenbach. He didn't have immediate success. One famous moment was a huge 12–0 loss while he was coaching Borussia Dortmund in 1978. After this, newspapers jokingly called him Otto Torhagel, which means "Otto Goal-Hailstorm."
However, Rehhagel won his first trophy as a manager in 1980. His team, Fortuna Düsseldorf, won the DFB-Pokal, which is Germany's main cup competition.
Werder Bremen: A Golden Era
Rehhagel managed Werder Bremen for 14 years, from 1981 to 1995. These were very successful years for the club. He turned Werder Bremen from a smaller team into a powerful one. They played exciting, fast-paced football and had a very strong defense.
During this time, Werder Bremen became one of the top teams in the Bundesliga. They even became the best club in northern Germany, taking over from their rivals, Hamburg. Rehhagel's team also had a big rivalry with Bayern Munich.
In the mid-1980s, Werder Bremen often came close to winning but finished second or lost in cup finals. This earned Rehhagel the nickname Otto II or Vizeadmiral ("Vice Admiral"). But he eventually led Werder Bremen to two German championships in 1988 and 1993. They also won the DFB-Pokal twice (1991, 1994) and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1992.
Many international football stars developed under Rehhagel at Werder Bremen. These included players like Rudi Völler and Mario Basler. His 1987–88 Werder Bremen team set a record for conceding the fewest goals in the Bundesliga, with only 22 goals against them. Rehhagel's 14-year time at Werder Bremen is one of the longest continuous coaching periods in Bundesliga history.
Time at Bayern Munich
After his successful time at Werder Bremen, Rehhagel moved to manage their rivals, Bayern Munich, in 1995. Bayern had spent a lot of money on new players, and everyone expected them to win easily.
However, Rehhagel's coaching style didn't fit well with the team and the club's environment. His old-school tactics and way of talking to the players caused problems. Especially, star player Jürgen Klinsmann often disagreed with Rehhagel.
Even though Bayern reached the UEFA Cup final under Rehhagel, their results in the Bundesliga got worse. Rehhagel was fired just four days before the UEFA Cup final in 1996. Franz Beckenbauer took over and led Bayern to win the UEFA Cup.
Kaiserslautern: The Unbelievable Win
After leaving Bayern Munich, Rehhagel became the manager of Kaiserslautern in 1996. The club had just been relegated from the top league. Rehhagel's team quickly won the 1996–97 2. Bundesliga (the second division) by a large margin, earning promotion back to the Bundesliga.
In his second season, Kaiserslautern did something amazing. They won the Bundesliga title in 1998! This was the first and only time a team has won the German championship right after being promoted. No one expected them to win; their goal was just to avoid relegation.
They started the season with a 1–0 win against the reigning champions, Bayern Munich. Kaiserslautern stayed in first place and secured the title before the last game of the season. This championship is seen as one of the greatest achievements in German football history. Both Rehhagel and Rudi Völler said it was "something that will never happen again."
Rehhagel was even offered the job to manage the German national team in 1998, but he turned it down. He left Kaiserslautern in October 2000 after a difficult start to the new season.
Greece National Team: European Champions!
In August 2001, Otto Rehhagel became the new manager of the Greek national team. His first match was a tough 5–1 loss. But he quickly rebuilt the team.
In October 2003, Greece qualified for Euro 2004. They were considered huge underdogs, with very low chances of winning. But they surprised everyone! They defeated the host nation Portugal, the defending champions France, and the strong Czech Republic. In the final, they beat Portugal again, 1–0.
Rehhagel was seen as the main reason for Greece's success. He became the first foreign manager to win a European Championship. The Greek team won without many famous players and conceded very few goals in the knockout stage.
Rehhagel used a defensive style of play for Greece. His teams had energetic midfielders who worked hard to wear down opponents. They defended with many players to stop attacks. When people said his team played boring football, he replied that a coach must use tactics that fit the players he has. This was different from his time at Werder Bremen, where his teams played exciting attacking football.
After Euro 2004, Rehhagel was considered a strong candidate to coach the German national team. He had public support, but he turned down the offer.
Greece did not qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, they qualified for Euro 2008 with the most points of any team in the qualifying stage. But Euro 2008 was disappointing, as Greece lost all three of their group stage matches.
For the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Greece finished second in their group. They then won a play-off match against Ukraine to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. This win made Otto Rehhagel one of the most important figures in Greek sports history. At 71 years old, he also became the oldest national team manager to coach in a FIFA World Cup.
At the 2010 World Cup, Greece lost to South Korea and Argentina but defeated Nigeria 2–1. Dimitris Salpingidis scored Greece's first-ever World Cup goal against Nigeria. Greece did not make it past the group stage. Rehhagel announced his resignation from Greece on June 23, 2010.
A 2021 documentary called King Otto tells the story of Rehhagel's success in Greece.
Hertha BSC: A Short Return
Rehhagel returned to coaching in 2012, managing Hertha BSC, a struggling Bundesliga club. He tried to save Hertha from being relegated, but they lost in a play-off match. Rehhagel's time at Hertha BSC ended in June 2012.
How He Coached His Teams
Rehhagel was known for a style of play he called kontrollierte Offensive (controlled offense). He liked to have at least two strong players in central defense. His defensive plans often used a dominant player called a libero. He preferred strong and tall players in defense.
His teams often attacked strongly from the sides of the field. They also had at least one tall, strong player as the main striker. Examples include Rudi Völler and Angelos Charisteas.
Rehhagel usually relied on older, more experienced players. Younger talents rarely got big responsibilities early on. However, he was also excellent at finding new talent. He discovered many future stars like Rudi Völler, Miroslav Klose, and Angelos Charisteas.
With Greece, he used a tactic called man-marking, where each player was assigned to guard a specific opponent. This was unusual at the time, and it surprised their opponents.
Rehhagel was also a great motivator. His teams had a strong team spirit, especially the Greek national team. He also helped older players restart their careers.
He was also known for being a very strong leader within the clubs he managed. He liked to have a lot of control, a style sometimes called ottocracy, a play on his name and the word "autocracy" (meaning rule by one person).
In Germany, Rehhagel is seen as a bit of an unusual or independent coach. He has a reputation for being eccentric in interviews. But his impressive success shows that his methods worked.
Some famous players who played under Rehhagel include Klaus Allofs, Mario Basler, Rudi Völler, Miroslav Klose, and Theodoros Zagorakis.
Personal Life
Otto Rehhagel has been married to Beate Rehhagel since 1963. They have one child, Jens Rehhagel, who played football at a lower professional level.
Rehhagel often calls himself Kind der Bundesliga ("Child of the Bundesliga"). This is because he played in the very first Bundesliga game and spent his entire club career there. In Greece, he is sometimes called King Otto (βασιλιάς Όθων), which is a nickname he also had in Germany. He is also sometimes called "Rehakles," a fun mix of his name and the Greek hero Herakles. Rehhagel is an honorary citizen of Athens.
Achievements
Managerial Achievements
- Fortuna Düsseldorf
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup): 1979–80
- Werder Bremen
- Bundesliga (German League): 1987–88, 1992–93
- DFB-Pokal (German Cup): 1990–91, 1993–94
- DFL-Supercup (German Supercup): 1988, 1993, 1994
- European Cup Winners' Cup: 1991–92
- 1. FC Kaiserslautern
- Bundesliga (German League): 1997–98
- 2. Bundesliga (German Second League): 1996–97
- Greece
Individual Awards
- Order of the Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic: 2005 (a special award from Greece)
- Laureus World Sports Awards with the Greece: 2005
- "Greece's Coach of the Year": 2004, 2007 (first foreign coach to win this)
- IFFHS World's Best National Coach: 2004
See also
In Spanish: Otto Rehhagel para niños
- National team managers with 100 or more games
- List of football managers with the most games
