Klaus-Dieter Pagels (born 1 September 1949 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) is a German football coach.

Career

On a Germany-Zimbabwe government project, Pagels went to Zimbabwe in 2009 to educate schoolchildren and develop grassroots as well as women's football. Nominated to take the position of Zimbabwe coach in 2009, Pagels was named as interim of the ''Warriors'' near the close of 2012 with his appointment seen as ludicrous to some. Tasked with bringing Zimbabwe to the

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, putting a confident mentality into the team and making most of the talent in the country, he planned on selecting a mainly local-based squad for the World Cup qualifying but only chose five for the 18-man roster for their qualifier away to Egypt amid work permit problems, Going down 1-2 to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, the German employed a technical style of play similar to

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's tiki-taka style, where possession is highlighted and the offensives build up from the back to the front line.FINAL WHISTLE: You are wrong Herr Dieter Pagels
The Standard (Zimbabwe) However, he was criticized for not calling up the most talented Zimbabwean footballers and crashed out to Egypt again 2-4 in their second leg a few months later, becoming the only African selection to go down on back-to-back home rounds. At the

2013 COSAFA Cup The 2013 COSAFA Cup, sponsored by South African Breweries and officially named the 2013 COSAFA Castle Cup, was the 14th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council o ...

, his last tournament, the then 63-year old aimed to defend the tournament title but let in goals in all three games and conceded 0-2 to Zambia in the final, with failing to read the opposition one of the causes for his poor run.Pagels was a blunder and the mere fact he was European didn't make him a better coach than Gishon Ntini
The Herald (Zimbabwe) His contract expiring on July 31 that year, the Stade local stated that low finances are one of the greatest problems with Zimbabwean football and that he regretted his departure since the new manager would have to start form scratch with the team.Pagels speaks on departure
NewsDay Zimbabwe

References

External links

We feel very safe: Pagels

Pagels gets down to work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagels, Klaus-Dieter Living people 1949 births People from Stade Zimbabwe national football team managers German football managers Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Emirates Club managers German expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Zimbabwe