Helmut Schön (15 September 1915 – 23 February 1996) was a German

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 ...

player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of the West German national team in four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including winning the title in 1974, losing in the final in 1966, and coming in third in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. In addition, his teams won the European Championship in 1972 and lost in the final in 1976.

Biography

Schön played as a striker for

Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund) in 1900. Th ...

, winning the

German football champions The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of t ...

hip in 1943 and 1944 as well as the

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, ...

in 1941 and 1942. He appeared 16 times for his country between 1937 and 1941, scoring 17 goals. After World War II he began his career in football management in his native state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, then part of Soviet-occupied

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 ...

. He was in charge of coaching selections from Saxony and the Soviet occupation zone before political interference to the sport made him flee to Western Germany in 1950. Having played in Hamburg for

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

even during his Friedrichstadt spell, he now was appointed player-coach with

Hertha BSC Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charlo ...

where he had several former teammates in his squad but left before the end of the season. Schön became a licensed coach in Cologne before managing Wiesbaden. Between 1952 and 1956, he was in charge of the then-independent

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

side, who met West Germany in qualification for the 1954 World Cup. When the Saarland was reunified with West Germany in 1956, Schön joined the West German national side as assistant to

Sepp Herberger Josef "Sepp" Herberger (28 March 1897 – 28 April 1977) was a German football player and manager. He is most famous for being the manager of the West German national team that won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final, a match later dubbed '' The Mir ...

, whom he succeeded as manager in November 1964. Under Schön's leadership the West German teams were World Cup runners-up in 1966 (lost 4–2 to England in the final), third in the World Cup of 1970, European champions in 1972 (defeated the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final), World Cup winners in 1974 (defeated the Netherlands 2–1 in the final), and European Championship runners-up in 1976 (lost to Czechoslovakia in the final on penalty kicks, after extra-time). Among the moves Schön made that enabled West Germany's triumphs in 1972 and 1974 were: selecting

Sepp Maier Sepp may refer to: *Sepp (given name) *Sepp (surname) *Science & Environmental Policy Project * Sepp (publisher) *Substantially equal periodic payments, US tax-law provision *Single Edge Processor Package *State Enterprise for Pesticide Production ...

as his automatic first string goalkeeper, a decision that seems obvious in retrospect but was not a given at the time; easing many of the veterans of the 1970 team out of the subsequent squad; allowing Franz Beckenbauer to play his preferred role as a sweeper, and appointing him team captain; introducing young fullbacks Berti Vogts and

Paul Breitner Paul Breitner (born 5 September 1951) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and left-back. Considered one of the best players of his era, Breitner was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team, and was named by Pel ...

into the team; building the midfield around

Günter Netzer Günter Theodor Netzer (born 14 September 1944) is a German former professional football player, executive and pundit. He achieved great success in Germany with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the early 1970s and, after moving to Spain in 1973, w ...

and switching the team's formation to better accommodate his skills; then replacing Netzer with

Wolfgang Overath Wolfgang Overath (born 29 September 1943) is a former West German footballer. A true one-club man, Overath spent his entire professional career at 1. FC Köln. He represented his country three times in World Cup finals, culminating in 1974 wit ...

in the 1974 team. Schön holds World Cup records for both coaching the most matches (25) and the most wins (16), and was the first coach to win both a World Cup and a European Championship. He shares with England's

Walter Winterbottom Sir Walter Winterbottom (31 March 1913 – 16 February 2002) was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association (the FA). He ...

the distinction of managing the same national team at four consecutive World Cup tournaments. Schön gave notice that he would retire after the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

, to be replaced by his assistant

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 198 ...

. He was unable to go out on a high note as his team was knocked out of the competition by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, who had already been eliminated. During his 14-year tenure as national coach, his record was 87 victories, 30 draws and 22 defeats in 139 matches. For his contributions to association football as a coach, Schön became one of the inaugural recipients of the

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

in 1984.

Managerial honours

West Germany *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: 1974; runner-up: 1966; third-place:

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 ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

; runner-up:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Individual * World Soccer 22nd Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schon, Helmut 1915 births 1996 deaths German footballers Dresdner SC players Hertha BSC players Germany international footballers German football managers West German football managers 1966 FIFA World Cup managers 1970 FIFA World Cup managers 1974 FIFA World Cup managers 1978 FIFA World Cup managers FIFA World Cup-winning managers Saarland national football team managers Germany national football team managers UEFA Euro 1972 managers UEFA Euro 1976 managers UEFA European Championship-winning managers History of sport in East Germany Footballers from Dresden Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Association football forwards