Felix Magath

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Personal information
Felix Magath

Full name	Wolfgang-Felix Magath
Date of birth	July 26, 1953
Place of birth	Aschaffenburg, Germany
Height	172 cm
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bayern Munich
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1976-1986	Hamburger SV	306 (46)[1]
National team**
	Germany
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:18, 7 August 2006 (GMT+1:00). ** National team caps and goals correct as of 11:18, 7 August 2006 (GMT+1:00).

Wolfgang-Felix Magath (born July 26, 1953 near Aschaffenburg) is a German-Puerto Rican manager of football (soccer), who currently leads the Bayern Munich team. Magath was born in a military base in Germany, the son of a Puerto Rican soldier in the United States Army and a German mother. His father decided to return to Puerto Rico after his duty in Germany was over in 1954. He started his career playing for local club Aschaffenburg, in the second professional league at that time, before moving to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga, in 1976. He would play all his professional years 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.

Magath grew into one of Germany's best football players in history. In 1983, he lifted Hamburger SV to the European Cup triumph with the single goal in the 1-0 win in the final against Juventus F.C., and he 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 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 landed a job as director of FC Bayern, 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, together known as "the Double". FC Bayern München repeated "the Double" in the 2005-06 season, a first in the history of the Bundesliga. His contract with Bayern Munich was recently extended through 2008. [2]

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 being Puerto Rican as well as German.

[edit] Managing reputation

As a manager, Magath quickly became notorious for his hard, grinding training methods, laying heavy emphasis on 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.

[edit] See also

List of famous Puerto Ricans

[edit] References

Career stats
Puerto Rican ancestry (in Spanish)

Preceded by: Jörg Berger	Eintracht Frankfurt Manager 1999-2001	Succeeded by: Rolf Dohmen

	West Germany squad - 1982 World Cup Runner-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

	West Germany squad - 1986 World Cup Runner-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

FC Bayern Munich - Current Squad
1 Kahn \| 2 Sagnol \| 3 Lúcio \| 5 Van Buyten \| 6 Demichelis \| 7 Scholl \| 8 Karimi \| 10 Makaay \| 11 Podolski \| 14 Pizarro \| 17 van Bommel \| 18 Görlitz \| 19 dos Santos \| 20 Salihamidžić \| 21 Lahm \| 22 Rensing \| 23 Hargreaves \| 24 Santa Cruz \| 25 Ismaël \| 26 Deisler \| 29 Dreher \| 30 Lell \| 31 Schweinsteiger \| 36 Fürstner \| 37 Saba \| 39 Ottl \| Coach: Magath