Günther Schäfer (born 9 June 1962 in

Waiblingen Waiblingen (; Swabian: ''Woeblinge'') is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital and largest city of the Rems-Murr district. , Waib ...

) is a German football coach and a former player. In his sixteen years playing for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

, the defender gained the status of being one of the most popular players ever to play for the Swabian

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 ...

side and one of the few players to earn two German championship titles with them. The most spectacular and well-known play of Schäfer's career was to clear a ball from the goal line by a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

, risking injury, in the final match of the 1991–92 season against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

, which Stuttgart went on to win 2–1, thus gaining the German championship title that season. Today, Schäfer is the head coach of VfB's youth acamde.y

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

finalist: 1989 *

: 1984, 1992 *

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 considered ...

finalist: 1986 * DFL-Supercup: 1992

References

1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Waiblingen Footballers from Stuttgart (region) Men's association football defenders German men's footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers German football managers VfB Stuttgart players Arminia Bielefeld players Bundesliga players West German men's footballers VfB Stuttgart non-playing staff {{germany-footy-defender-1960s-stub