Michael Schulz

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Olympic medal record
Competitor for  West Germany
Men's Football
Bronze	1988 Seoul	Team Competition

Michael Schulz (born September 3, 1961 in Witten) is a retired German soccer player. He played 243 matches in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen and 1. FC Kaiserslautern and scored eight goals.

Schulz played centre-back and had the reputation of being one of the hardest defenders in the Bundesliga. He collected 48 yellow and 2 red cards. He was a great crowd favourite in Bremen, his fans regularly chanting "Schuuuuuuuuuulz" whenever he had the ball. Fellow Bremen player Christian Schulz, who bears no relationship to him, is regularly celebrated like this because of him.

He played seven times for the German national team from 1992 to 1993.

[edit] Curse of Michael Schulz

Although Schulz was one of the best defenders of his generation, success eluded him. The special sting in his case was the fact that each team he played for was highly successful after he was transferred away, leading to speculation he was cursed.

• 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1987-1989): in this period, FCK was a scrub team which constantly flirted with relegation. After Schulz was shipped away, FCK won the German Cup in 1990 and and the German Championship in 1991.
• Borussia Dortmund (1990-1994): BVB was a midfield team when Schulz was there. But then, Schulz feuded with Matthias Sammer and was sent away, just before BVB won two German Championships in 1994 and 1995 and the UEFA Champions League in 1997.
• Werder Bremen (1995-1997): Schulz joined Bremen just after Werder had won two German Championships and the German Cup. During his period, Werder suffered a drought and won nothing. However, in 1999, Werder won the German Cup again.

In a 1997 issue of the German soccer magazine kicker, published when Schulz announced his retirement, he was asked in the column Mal ehrlich (Now, seriously), whether Bremen, now that Schulz was stopping, would finally win something. He answered "this is a sure-fire tip! I'd d bet on it anytime", acknowledging the existence of his jinx.