Ottmar Hitzfeld

Forward Ottmar Hitzfeld was born in Germany (Lörrach), but lived and played his football mainly in Switzerland. He was a member of the West German football team beaten 3-2 by East Germany in their deciding second group stage game at the 1972 München home Olympics, and scored the second goal to level the scores at 2-2, before East Germany scored a late winner,

Hitzfeld won eight West German amateur caps and played domestically in Switzerland with FC Basel from 1971-75, winning Swiss national titles in 1972 and 1973, and the Swiss Cup in 1975. He also was the top scorer in 1973. From 1978-80, Hitzfeld played with FC Lugano, and finally with FC Luzern from 1980-83. In between he had a short stint with West Germany’s VfB Stuttgart from 1975-78, and scored 38 goals in 77 matches.

Hitzfeld later became one of the most successful coaches in Switzerland and Germany. As a coach he won the Swiss Championship with Grasshoppers Zürich in 1990 and 1991, and the Cup in 1989 and 1990. He also won the Cup with FC Aarau, in 1985. He subsequently moved to the German Bundesliga, and won the Championship in 1995 and 1996 with Borussia Dortmund. Under Hitzfeld, they beat Juventus of Turin 3-1 in the final of the 1997 Champions League, at München, to become the first German winner of the Champions League, and the first German side since Hamburger SV in 1983 to win Intercontinental Cup. Dortmund also won the World Cup in 1997, but Hitzfeld was now Dortmund’s sports director, not coach anymore.

The following year, Hitzfeld took over at the leading German club, FC Bayern München, and won the German Championship another five times, 1999-2001, 2003 and 2008, the German Cup three times, 2000, 2003 and 2008, the Champions League in 2001 and the Intercontinental Cup in the same year. Between 2004-07 he moved away from coaching and worked as a TV commentator. After the UEFA European Championship in 2008, Hitzfeld became coach of the Swiss national team, and led them to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In 1997 and 2001 he was the World Football Coach of the Year, the Swiss Coach of the Year in 1985 and 2014, and German Coach of the Year in 1993, 1996, 1999-2001 and 2008. He retired from coaching in 2014.