Rudi Völler

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Rudi Völler
Personal information
Full name	Rudolf Völler
Date of birth	April 13, 1960
Place of birth	Hanau, Germany
Height	1.80 m
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	retired
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1980-1982 1982-1987 1987-1992 1992-1994 1994-1996	1860 Munich Werder Bremen AS Roma Olympique Marseille Bayer Leverkusen	70 (46) 137 (97) 142 (45) 58 (24) 62 (26)
National team
1982-1994	Germany	90 (47)
Teams managed
?	?
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Rudolf 'Rudi' Völler (born April 13, 1960 in Hanau, Hessen, Germany) is a German former international football striker, and a former manager of the German national team. He won the FIFA World Cup in 1990 as a player and coached the national team to second place at the 2002 World Cup. People of his hometown Hanau lovingly refer to him as "Tante Käthe" (Aunt Käthe).

Contents 1 Club career 2 National team 3 Coaching career 4 External links

[edit] Club career

Völler joined the Bundesliga team Werder Bremen in 1982, winning his first cap for Germany in the same year. In 1987 he was transferred to A.S. Roma, where he won the Italian Cup in 1991.

In 1992, Völler joined Olympique Marseille, winning the Champions League with this team in 1993. Returning to Germany, he joined Bayer Leverkusen in 1994, where he ended his career as a player in 1996 and started a career in the management of the club.

[edit] National team

Völler was capped 90 times for the national team, scoring 47 goals, including 8 in World Cup finals matches. He was a member of the team that won the 1990 World Cup. During the second-round game against Holland, Völler and Dutch player Frank Rijkaard were sent off the field after a spitting involvement. Rijkaard began spitting several times and continued as the players were leaving the pitch. Rijkaard later stated that it was his fault: "That day I was wrong. There was no insult. I always had much respect for Rudi Völler. But I went berserk when I saw that red card. I talked to him after the match and I apologized. I'm very happy that he accepted. I have no bad feeling about him now. We even posed for a very funny advert together, years after." (Rijkaard had family problems in this time)[1].

Völler also played in Euro 84, the 1986 World Cup, Euro 88, Euro 92, and the 1994 World Cup.

[edit] Coaching career

After a disappointing Euro 2000 for the national team under manager Erich Ribbeck, the DFB appointed Völler as new manager, even though he then did not have a coaching licence. At first only planning to manage the national team for one year, he extended his contract when his planned successor Christoph Daum was involved in a drug scandal. He led the team to a surprising appearance in the Final of the 2002 World Cup. During the tournament, Völler's fans took the song Guantanamera, altered the lyrics to "Es gibt nur ein' Rudi Völler!" (literally: "There's only one Rudi Völler!") and sang it on the football premises, on the streets and in bars to honour Germany's coach.

After a first-round exit from Euro 2004, he resigned from his post.

Following his resignation from the German national job, Völler briefly coached Italian side A.S. Roma in 2004. Hired as a last-minute appointment after the shock resignation of Cesare Prandelli, he resigned after a series of poor results and high-profile disagreements with players, notably Antonio Cassano.

Moving back to the support ranks at Bayer Leverkusen, Völler was named caretaker manager of Bayer Leverkusen on September 16, 2005 after the club sacked manager Klaus Augenthaler. Völler served in that role until Michael Skibbe was named as the club's new permanent manager that October.

Völler was (and still is) very popular in Germany. Whenever Germans spot Völler in public, they still break into cheerful "Ruuuudi"-shouts.^{[citation needed]} Even when the national squad achieved only modest results, Völler never lost his popularity as the German public knew he was achieving as much as possible with a relatively limited squad. His predecessor Berti Vogts by contrast was widely "slagged off" by everybody even during periods of success with an immensely talented German squad. The public even forgave Völler when - during a TV interview in September 2003 - he lost his temper, used dirty language, even attacked and yelled at the presenter Waldemar Hartmann in order to defend his team against unfair press statements.

Völler earned himself the affectionate nickname "Tante Käthe" ("Aunt Kathie") due to his curly grey "auntie" hairdo (see photograph).

[edit] External links

• Rudi Völler (in German)

	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

	West Germany squad - 1990 World Cup Champions (3rd Title)
1 Illgner | 2 Reuter | 3 Brehme | 4 Kohler | 5 Augenthaler | 6 Buchwald | 7 Littbarski | 8 Häßler | 9 Völler | 10 Matthäus | 11 Mill | 12 Aumann | 13 Riedle | 14 Berthold | 15 Bein | 16 Steiner | 17 Möller | 18 Klinsmann | 19 Pflügler | 20 Thon | 21 Hermann | 22 Köpke | Coach: Beckenbauer

	Germany squad - 1994 World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Illgner | 2 Strunz | 3 Brehme | 4 Kohler | 5 Helmer | 6 Buchwald | 7 Möller | 8 Häßler | 9 Riedle | 10 Matthäus | 11 Kuntz | 12 Köpke | 13 Völler | 14 Berthold | 15 Gaudino | 16 Sammer | 17 Wagner | 18 Klinsmann | 19 Kirsten | 20 Effenberg | 21 Basler | 22 Kahn | Coach: Vogts

	Germany squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Kahn | 2 Linke | 3 Rehmer | 4 Baumann | 5 Ramelow | 6 Ziege | 7 Neuville | 8 Hamann | 9 Jancker | 10 Ricken | 11 Klose | 12 Lehmann | 13 Ballack | 14 Asamoah | 15 Kehl | 16 Jeremies | 17 Bode | 18 Böhme | 19 Schneider | 20 Bierhoff | 21 Metzelder | 22 Frings | 23 Butt | Coach: Völler