Eberhard Dirk Schuster (born 29 December 1967) is a German professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

he is the currently head coach of 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Kaiserslautern and former player who played as a defender.

Club career

Schuster, who lived his youth in the

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, was one of the first East German players to make the move into the West, starting in

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

and soon moving on to

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the D ...

in 1991, where he established himself as a respected center-back. A move to 1. FC Köln in 1997 proved less successful, and in the following

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

years he played in Turkey and Austria. He then played for newly promoted Second Bundesliga club

LR Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegated ...

in 2000, where he had a good stint, before he returned to Austria and then played in the Oberliga, the fourth-highest league with Waldhof.

International career

He was capped three times in the German national team and before that four times in the East German national team. He made his debut for

against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

in March 1990.

Managerial career

ASV Durlach

Schuster's first coaching job was as interim coach for ASV Durlach between 16 October 2006 and 10 January 2007.

Stuttgarter Kickers

On 30 May 2009, Schuster was named as the new head coach of the

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. History In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...

, where he signed a two-year contract until 30 June 2011, which was prematurely extended on 1 April 2010 until 20 June 2012. He guided Kickers to the Regionalliga Süd title in 2011–12, and promotion to the 3. Liga, but was sacked in November 2012 after going five games without scoring a goal. He was appointed manager of 3. liga side SV Darmstadt 98 a month later. He finished with a record of 55 wins, 35 draws, and 26 losses.

Darmstadt 98

Schuster took over as SV Darmstadt 98 head coach on 28 December 2012. Despite Schuster helping Darmstadt 98 off the bottom of the league, they finished among the relegation places in the 2012–13 season, Schuster's Darmstadt avoided dropping into Germany's fourth tier, the Regionalliga Südwest, thanks to the failure of fierce local rival Kickers Offenbach in obtaining the licence for the new season due to going into administration. In the following season, to the surprise of all experts, Darmstadt managed to get third in the league which meant a relegation-promotion play-off spot for the 2. Bundesliga. Darmstadt faced

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

in the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

and won promotion in dramatic fashion after losing 1–3 at home in the first leg but turning the deficit around in the second leg and scoring the winning 4–2 in the 122nd minute which meant promotion on away goals. In the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

Schuster managed to surprise everyone for a second time by finishing 2nd in the league and achieving back-to-back promotion to the

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 footba ...

after a 33-year absence. He finished with a record of 53 wins, 43 draws, and 35 losses. He was later voted German Coach of the Year for his performance in the 2015–16 Bundesliga season.

Augsburg

Schuster took over as manager of

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

on 2 June 2016; he replaced

Markus Weinzierl Markus Weinzierl (born 28 December 1974) is a German football coach and current manager of 1. FC Nürnberg. As the manager of Jahn Regensburg, a position he held from 2008 to 2012, Weinzierl achieved promotion into the 2. Bundesliga. On 17 May ...

who left for

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

. Schuster was sacked on 14 December 2016.

Return to Darmstadt

On 11 December 2017, Schuster was once again appointed manager of Darmstadt 98, replacing

Torsten Frings Torsten Klaus Frings (born 22 November 1976) is a German former footballer and manager, who last managed SV Meppen. A former midfielder, throughout his career he played for several German clubs, namely Alemannia Aachen, Werder Bremen, Borussia D ...

. He was sacked on 18 February 2019.

Erzgebirge Aue

Schuster was appointed as the new manager of

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

on 26 August 2019. He left Aue after the 2020–21 season.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

He was named head coach of 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 10 May 2022.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Karlsruhe *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

: 1996 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

runner-up: 1995–96

As a manager

Individual *

German Football Manager of the Year The title Football Manager of the Year (''Trainer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 2002. The award is determined by a poll of German football journalists from the Association of German Sports Journalists (''Verband der Deutschen Spo ...

: 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Dirk Living people 1967 births Sportspeople from Chemnitz East German footballers German footballers East Germany international footballers Germany international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Association football defenders DDR-Oberliga players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Chemnitzer FC players FSV Zwickau players 1. FC Magdeburg players Eintracht Braunschweig players Karlsruher SC players 1. FC Köln players Antalyaspor footballers FC Admira Wacker Mödling players Rot Weiss Ahlen players SV Wilhelmshaven players SV Waldhof Mannheim players ASV Durlach players German football managers Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers 3. Liga managers Stuttgarter Kickers managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers FC Augsburg managers FC Erzgebirge Aue managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers Footballers from Saxony German expatriate footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria