Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...

(1980–1987) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and was nicknamed "der Blonde Engel" (the Blond Angel). After retiring as a player, he managed a number of European clubs, including Real Madrid, taking them to the league title in the 2007–08 season.

Club career

Schuster started his professional career with

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

at age 18 in 1978 after a number of promising performances with the West German Under-18 National team. Schuster left Köln after the 1980 European campaign to sign with Spain's

, where he flourished. During his career, he played for clubs Real Madrid,

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

and Bayer Leverkusen. At his final team, the Mexican side

Pumas de la UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Found ...

he appeared in ten matches in spring 1997.

Barcelona

Schuster was an important part of the FC Barcelona team during the 1980s, leading the game from midfield and scoring many goals. His club president Josep Lluís Núñez and some trainers like Helenio Herrera, Udo Lattek,

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Qu ...

and Luis Aragonés had difficult relations with him. He won, however, the European Silver Ball in 1980 and Bronze Ball in 1981 and 1985. At age 21, in 1981, he received a bad injury on his right knee by Athletic Bilbao defender

Andoni Goikoetxea Andoni Goikoetxea Olaskoaga (born 23 August 1956), Goiko for short, is a Spanish former football centre-back and manager. He was known for his aggressive play and was nicknamed "The Butcher of Bilbao". He mainly played for Athletic Bilbao; amo ...

Real Madrid

Schuster's move to Real Madrid was controversial due to the strong rivalry between Barcelona and Madrid. His style complemented the group of home-grown Madrid players known as la Quinta del Buitre who led the team to a dominance of the Spanish Championship through the 1980s.

Atlético Madrid

Schuster signed with

in autumn 1990 and helped improve the performance of Atletico's traditional games based on backpasses. His long precise passes helped restore Atlético Madrid as a prominent club.

Bayer Leverkusen

In 1993, Schuster returned home to Germany to play for three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen. Despite his contributions, the club was unable to capture

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

and German Cup titles but his performances inspired much of the country to push for a place for him in the 1994 World Cup squad. In the national TV-Station ARD "Goal of the year" election Schuster won the first three places in 1994. In the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll to name the finest European players of the last five decades, Schuster finished 40th.

International career

Schuster was part of the West Germany national team that won the

1980 UEFA European Football Championship The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

in Italy, appearing in two of Germany's four matches. His performances there helped him earn the Silver Ball Trophy honour as the Europe's second best player in 1980 behind

Golden Ball Golden Ball may refer to: Awards * Golden Ball Award, FIFA competition award for best player of tournament ** FIFA World Cup awards#Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, FIFA World Cup award for best player of tournament ** FIFA U-20 World Cup#A ...

winner, and Germany team-mate

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Karl-Heinz "Kalle" Rummenigge (; born 25 September 1955) is a German football executive and former professional player. He was the longtime Chairman of Executive Board of FC Bayern München AG, a daughter company of German Bundesliga team Bayer ...

. His refusal to take part in a match against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

to be home for the birth of his second son David caused a sporting scandal at the time. Schuster retired from the German national team at the age of 24, due to his repeated disagreements with the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...

, then national team manager

Jupp Derwall Josef "Jupp" Derwall (10 March 1927 – 26 June 2007) was a German professional football manager and player. He was head coach of the West Germany national team between 1978 and 1984, winning the UEFA Euro 1980 and reaching the final of the 19 ...

, and teammates including Paul Breitner. According to Schuster, it was due to a major disagreement with the managements of both Barcelona and the German national team on either side of a friendly match against Brazil. Overall Schuster won 21 caps for the West German national team

Coaching career

Fortuna Köln

Schuster was the coach of Fortuna Köln between 1 July 1997 and 30 June 1998.

1. FC Köln

Schuster was coach of

from 1 July 1998 to 30 June 1999. Schuster was unable to get the club promoted. In 2000, he applied for the manager job at Scottish club

Dundee FC Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park. The club was formed after a merg ...

, but the Dundee chairman rejected his application.

Xerez

Schuster became coach of

Xerez Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

on 26 June 2001. Schuster coached the team successfully for two seasons. The second and third best seasons in the history of the club. However, he could not get the club promoted to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

Shakhtar Donetsk

In June 2003, he accepted a deal to coach Shakhtar Donetsk starting on 1 July 2003. Schuster established a club record number of consecutive victories. However, the team did not win the championship and did not reach the final round of the Champions League with a match against Lokomotiv Moscow. Schuster was sacked on 5 May 2004, one week before his team played and won the Ukrainian Cup final in 2004.

Levante

Schuster returned to Spain in summer 2004 to coach Levante. Schuster was sacked on 1 May 2005. The sacking came with a 5-point advantage over the relegation zone with five matches remaining. However, Levante could not win a game and fell to the Segunda División again.

Getafe

Schuster moved to Getafe in the summer of 2005. Schuster led them to their best season in team history under his guidance. Schuster coached Getafe in their second successful season and the team did even better, seventh in

. Getafe also secured entry to the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint Pet ...

as a result of reaching the final of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

after overcoming a 5–2 first leg semi-final defeat against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

, beating them 4–0 in the second leg.

Real Madrid

Schuster was appointed coach of Real Madrid on 9 July 2007. As manager, he made a successful start with Real Madrid, taking them to top of the La Liga standings. Attacking football returned again to the

Santiago Bernabéu stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid C.F., Real Madrid since its c ...

with Madrid having the strongest offence, not beaten at home from the start of the league and defeating their arch rival

at their home ground

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barc ...

, increasing their lead to seven points between them and second place (Barcelona). The team qualified to the second round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

leading their group which contained Olympiacos, Werder Bremen and

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. He changed Real Madrid's style of play, switching from the defensive football during the reign of Fabio Capello to fast paced, attacking football. After losing 2–1 to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League which meant the elimination of Real Madrid, many doubted that Schuster would continue to be Madrid's coach, but the club denied the allegations. On 4 May 2008, Schuster guided Real Madrid to their 31st title with three games to spare. On 18 May 2008, Schuster's Real Madrid achieved the highest point total (85 points) a record that was set by rivals Barcelona. He went on to win the

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

. Although enjoying a successful season with Madrid, Schuster had frequent confrontations with the media. Sometimes refusing to answer questions, making controversial or sarcastic statements and walking out of press conferences. On 9 December 2008, Schuster stepped down as coach after a 4–3 defeat to

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Eu ...

, and speaking out publicly about his team standing no chance of beating Barcelona (Coached by Pep Guardiola at the time) in the El Clásico derby match. He was replaced by Juande Ramos.

Beşiktaş

On 10 June 2010, Turkish club

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

announced that Schuster had agreed to become the club's new coach on a two-year contract. Among his first signings for the club were Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma,

Roberto Hilbert Roberto Jan Hilbert (born 16 October 1984) is a German former professional footballer. At international level, he earned eight caps with the Germany national team and twelve caps with the U21 team. Club career Born in Forchheim, West Germa ...

and former Real midfielder Guti, who was coached by Schuster at Madrid. Later he bolstered the squad with three additional Portuguese stars

Simão Sabrosa Simão Pedro da Fonseca Sabrosa (born 31 October 1979), known mononymously as Simão (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger, with dribbling and set piece skills as primary attributes. Having ...

, Hugo Almeida and Manuel Fernandes. Schuster resigned on 15 March 2011 from

after the bad results, having frequent confrontations with the media, making controversial statements and walking out of press conferences. He was criticised by the Turkish media for trying to implement a reckless attacking style of play.

Málaga

Schuster became head coach at Málaga on 12 June 2013. In May 2014 his contract was terminated after he failed to achieve a top-half position in the league.

Dalian Yifang

On 19 March 2018, Chinese Super League team

Dalian Yifang Dalian Professional Football Club () is a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning, that participates in the China Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). Their home stadium is Dalian Sport ...

officially appointed Schuster as the coach. He was replaced by Choi Kang-hee in 2019.

Personal life

During his time as a player, Schuster and his wife Gaby were celebrities in Germany. Gaby had a controversial reputation, which worsened when she took over the job as her husband's manager. During the Schusters' stay in Spain, she was also notorious for her often public comments directed towards FC Barcelona coach Udo Lattek and national coach

when her husband played for them. The couple have four children. In 2008, Schuster separated from Gaby Schuster. In 2012, after his divorce, he married Elena Blasco, a Spanish lawyer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial

Honours

Player

Barcelona *

: 1984–85 *

: 1980–81, 1982–83, 1987–88 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

: 1981–82 * Copa de la Liga: 1983 Real Madrid *

: 1988–89, 1989–90 *

: 1988–89 *

: 1989 Atlético Madrid *

: 1990–91, 1991–92 West Germany *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

: 1980 Individual * UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1980 * Ballon d'Or runner-up: 1980; third place: 1981, 1985 *

: Don Balón Award for Best Foreign Player: 1985, 1991 * '' kicker''

Team of the Season: 1993–94 * Goal of the Year (Germany): 1994

Manager

Getafe *

runner-up: 2006–07 Real Madrid *

: 2007–08 *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

Individual *

: Miguel Muñoz Trophy for Best Coach of the Year: 2006

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Bernd 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Augsburg Footballers from Bavaria West German footballers German footballers Association football midfielders FC Augsburg players 1. FC Köln players FC Barcelona players Real Madrid CF players Atlético Madrid footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Club Universidad Nacional footballers Bundesliga players La Liga players Liga MX players Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA European Championship-winning players German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Spain German expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Mexico German football managers SC Fortuna Köln managers 1. FC Köln managers Xerez CD managers FC Shakhtar Donetsk managers Levante UD managers Getafe CF managers Real Madrid CF managers Beşiktaş J.K. managers Málaga CF managers Dalian Professional F.C. managers 2. Bundesliga managers Segunda División managers Ukrainian Premier League managers La Liga managers Süper Lig managers Chinese Super League managers German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Expatriate football managers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in China