Rudi Völler

Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (pronounced [ˈfœlɐ]; born 13 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player, who is currently the director of the Germany national team. During his active years as a player he was sometimes nicknamed "Tante Käthe" ("Aunt Kathy"), a name bestowed upon him by Thomas Berthold in reference to his permed hairstyle, and in Italy, he is nicknamed "Il tedesco volante" ("The flying German") by supporters of Roma.

A forward, Völler began his professional career at Kickers Offenbach, before joining 1860 Munich, and he was top scorer of the 2. Bundesliga in the 1981–82 season. He went on to play for Werder Bremen, where he was noted for his consistent goalscoring, becoming the top scorer of the Bundesliga in the 1982–83 season. Völler moved abroad, firstly transferring to Serie A club Roma and then to Ligue 1 club Marseille. At Roma, he won the Coppa Italia and was runner-up in the UEFA Cup during the 1990–91 season; he was also top scorer of both these tournaments. At Marseille, he won the French title and the Champions League in the 1992–93 season, but following a match fixing scandal, the club were stripped of their league title and were relegated in 1994. The same year, Völler returned to his native country, ending his career at Bayer Leverkusen.

Völler made his debut for the Germany national team, then known as West Germany, in 1982. He represented his country at three FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships each, during a successful period for Die Nationalmannschaft. Völler played in two consecutive World Cup finals, both of which were against Argentina, and he won the trophy in 1990. At the time of his retirement in 1994, he was Germany's second highest goalscorer behind Gerd Müller; he is now joint-fourth with Jürgen Klinsmann, having been surpassed by Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.

After retiring as a player with Bayer Leverkusen, he became the sporting director of the club until 2000, where he was the interim manager for twelve matches, before being succeeded by Berti Vogts. He was then appointed caretaker manager of the Germany national team, despite his lack of coaching experience. In the wake of the drug scandal that involved the preferred choice of the DFB, Christoph Daum, Völler was ultimately kept on, and was able to lead Germany to the 2002 FIFA World Cup final, where they lost to Brazil. Along with Mário Zagallo, Franz Beckenbauer and Didier Deschamps, Völler has the distinction of reaching a World Cup final as both a player (1986 and 1990) and as a manager (2002). Following a group-stage exit at UEFA Euro 2004, Völler resigned as manager, after which he had a short-lived spell as manager of his former club Roma. He later returned to Leverkusen, where he was briefly interim manager again, and became the club's sporting director for the second time, a position he held until 2022. In February 2023, he was appointed director of the Germany national team.

Club career

Völler started his career with 1860 Hanau, then played for second division sides Kickers Offenbach and 1860 Munich, before joining Bundesliga club Werder Bremen in 1982, winning his first cap for West Germany that same year. Following a successful season in which he was the Bundesliga's top scorer, foreign clubs became interested in the striker, and in 1987 he was transferred to Roma, where he became a mainstay of the team and earned the nickname "er tedesco" ("the German") and also "il tedesco volante" ("the flying German"). He won the Coppa Italia in 1991 and was the club's top scorer on several occasions.

In 1992, Roma decided to sell Völler to Marseille, where he was intended as replacement for superstar striker Jean-Pierre Papin. That also allowed Roma to add Claudio Caniggia as its third foreigner to the squad, so both parties were happy to let the deal go through. There, he won his biggest club honour in a very successful first season, thanks to the UEFA Champions League won with Marseille against AC Milan coached by Fabio Capello, in 1993 (1–0, goal scored by Basile Boli). Völler started the match, playing 78 minutes. Marseille was then caught in a bribery scandal, however, and was stripped of its 1993 league title, and were relegated despite a second-place finish in 1994. Völler scored 24 league goals for the club but departed after its relegation. 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.

International career

Völler was capped 90 times for the Germany national team, scoring 47 goals, including eight in World Cup final rounds.

In 1982, Völler represented West Germany at the 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where he was named the tournament's Golden Player. He scored four goals from three appearances at the tournament finals as the German team finished as runner-up to England.

He made his debut for the senior West Germany team in a UEFA Euro 1984 qualifier against Northern Ireland. He scored his first goal for the national team in the following qualifying match against Albania. He went on to score doubles against both Austria and Turkey to end the qualifying campaign with five goals. At the tournament finals in France, he scored both of West Germany's goals in their 2–1 win over Romania in their second group match. A 90th minute defeat against Spain in their next match, however, saw West Germany eliminated.

At the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Völler scored the West Germans' equalizer in a 2–1 win over Scotland in the group stage. He scored an 89th-minute goal against France in the semi-final to seal a 2–0 win and, in the final itself, his 80th-minute goal made it 2–2 against Argentina. Germany had recovered from 2–0 down but eventually lost the match 3–2. Völler became the third player to score as a substitute in the World Cup final, after Dick Nanninga in 1978 and Alessandro Altobelli achieved this feat in 1982.

West Germany hosted Euro 1988, and Völler scored twice in a 2–0 win over Spain but the hosts lost to eventual winners the Netherlands in the semi-final.

Völler was a member of the team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He scored three times in the tournament, including one goal in a 4–1 win over Yugoslavia, and then found the net twice against the United Arab Emirates in a 5–1 win. During the second-round match against the Netherlands, Völler and Dutch player Frank Rijkaard were sent off the field after the Dutchman spat on Völler twice. In the semi-final against England, Völler limped off injured in the first half and was replaced by Karl-Heinz Riedle. However, Völler recovered to start the final against Argentina, which West Germany won 1–0 to claim their third World Cup title.

The unsavoury incident that took place during the second-round match with the Netherlands started when Rijkaard was booked for a bad tackle on Völler. As Rijkaard took up position for the free kick, he spat in Völler's hair. Völler complained to the referee and was booked as well. From the resulting free kick, a furious Völler then jumped up and punched the ball with his hand (although it looked like he had used his head) and then dived to avoid a collision with Dutch goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen, although it also looked as if he had dived for a penalty. Van Breukelen was angry at this, but Rijkaard again confronted Völler by twisting his ear and stamping on his foot. The temperamental and tough Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau finally had enough of Völler's and Rijkaard's antics and he sent both players off. Rijkaard then again spat in Völler's hair as they left the pitch and was rumoured to have repeated this on the touchline. 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).

Völler was again selected for Euro 1992 in Sweden but was sent home when he suffered an injury in the opening game with CIS.

At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Völler made just one sub appearance in the group stages as he was kept out of the starting line-up for all three group games by Jürgen Klinsmann and Karl-Heinz Riedle who scored five goals between them. He did start the second round tie with Belgium and scored twice in a 3–2 win. His final appearance for the national team came in the 2–1 quarter-final loss to Bulgaria on 10 July 1994.

Managerial career

After a disappointing Euro 2000 for Germany under manager Erich Ribbeck, the German Football Association (DFB) appointed Völler as new manager, accepting his lack of coaching qualifications at the time. Initially, he only planned to take interimistic responsibility for one year, following the decision by Bayer Leverkusen and Völler himself (as sporting director of the club) not to make Christoph Daum step down from the national team before 2001. However, Völler extended his contract due to good results, after Daum became involved in a controversial drug scandal. Despite losing to England 5–1 at home, and two disappointing draws against Finland during qualification, he managed to lead the team to a surprising appearance in the final of the 2002 World Cup against Brazil.

After a group-stage exit from Euro 2004, he resigned from his post. Following his resignation from the German national job, Völler briefly made a comeback at Roma in 2004 as manager. Hired in late August as a last-minute appointment after the shock resignation of Cesare Prandelli, he left the club only one month later after a series of poor results and high-profile disagreements with players, notably Antonio Cassano. He only signed a one-year contract to allow a return of Prandelli the next year, but presided over only one draw and two defeats in the league.

Moving back to the support ranks at Bayer Leverkusen, Völler was named as caretaker manager of Leverkusen on 16 September 2005 after the club sacked coach Klaus Augenthaler. Völler served in that role until Michael Skibbe was named as the club's new permanent coach that October. After the arrival of Skibbe, Völler was promoted to become for the second time to being sports director at Leverkusen.

Völler was (and still is) very popular in Germany. 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 criticised, even during periods of success with a far more talented German squad. The public even forgave Völler when – during a TV interview after a 0–0 draw against Iceland in September 2003 – he lost his temper and yelled at the presenter Waldemar Hartmann in order to defend his team against, what he thought was, unfair press statements.

On 1 February 2023, Völler became the director of the Germany national team. On 10 September 2023, following the sacking of Hansi Flick, Völler was named as interim manager of the national team for their friendly against France, which Germany won 2–1.

Personal life

He has two children from German ex wife Angela; one of them is Marco, a basketball executive and professional player. Later on in 1995, he married a local woman from Rome during his stay in Italy, adopting her daughter from a previous relationship and having one more son with her.

Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Völler goal.

Managerial statistics

As of 22 September 2023

Honours

Player

Roma

• Coppa Italia: 1990–91
• UEFA Cup runner-up: 1990–91

Marseille

• UEFA Champions League: 1992–93

Germany

• FIFA World Cup: 1990; runner-up: 1986
• UEFA European Championship runner-up: 1992

Individual

• UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Golden Player: 1982
• 2. Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 1981–82
• Bundesliga Top Goalscorer: 1982–83
• kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1994–95
• Footballer of the Year (Germany): 1983
• UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 1984
• UEFA Cup Top Goalscorer: 1990–91
• AS Roma Hall of Fame: 2014

Manager

Germany

• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 2002

External links

• at leverkusen.com
• German Documentary
• at DFB (also available )
• at fussballdaten.de (in German)