Rudolf "Rudi" Assauer (30 April 1944 – 6 February 2019) was a German football player and executive. After his professional career for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

and

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

, Assauer served as the general manager of FC Schalke 04 for many years.

Career

Born in

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 ...

, Assauer played in 307 matches for

and

between 1964 and 1976. From 1976 to 1981, he remained the general manager of Werder Bremen, before leaving to work as a general manager for

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 Rhine ...

for the first time between 1981 and 1986 (he was the interim head coach in 1981 on two occasions; firstly with Heinz Redepenning, and secondly, on his own). This first tenure ended with his dismissal, and Assauer spent four years out of football and went into real estate. He re-entered management in 1990, and in 1993, he once again became the general manager (not a coaching position) at Schalke. Since taking over for the second time, Schalke have seen much success, including a 1997 UEFA Cup win, and victory in the

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 ...

finals of 2001 and 2002. Schalke narrowly lost the Bundesliga title race in 2001 in the very last minute to Bayern Munich, which was described as the most bitter moment in his career. Assauer also oversaw the development of a brand new stadium for the club. In May 2006, Assauer was suspected of giving away secret information concerning the financial problems of Schalke, so the club and Assauer parted company. As of February 2009, he had been a player agent. His agency Assauer Sportmanagement AG represents, among others,

Marc-André Kruska Marc-André Kruska (born 29 June 1987) is a German professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He works as assistant manager of VfL Bochum's U19 squad. Career Born in Castrop-Rauxel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Kruska started his career at ...

, Stefan Wächter, Sun Xiang and Pekka Lagerblom.

Image and personality

Assauer was one of the best-known German football executives, also because of his distinctive image and appearance. He was very outspoken with his opinions and had the image of a "

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

with heart". Due to his habit of smoking a great number of cigars, he was given the nickname ''Stumpen-Rudi'' or ''Cheroot Rudi''. He was described by Michael Meier, former chairman of Borussia Dortmund, as a ''Kashmir Hooligan''. In 2010, he was quoted as saying openly gay footballers should find another job. "If a player came to me and said he was gay I would say to him: 'You have shown courage'. But then I would tell him to find something else to do. That's because those who out themselves always end up busted by it, ridiculed by their fellow players and by people in the stands. We should spare them these witch hunts."

Personal life

Assauer lived with the actress

Simone Thomalla Simone Thomalla (born 11 April 1965) is a German actress. Career As a child, Thomalla wanted to be a musician, but instead attended the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch acting school in Berlin. She began her career in 1982 in Ea ...

until January 2009. On 31 January 2012, Assauer confirmed media reports that he, still only 67, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Aussauer spoke openly about his disease in a number of interviews afterwards, which started a public discussion about Alzheimer's, but withdrew from public during his last years. On 6 February 2019, his life partner Beata Schneider announced that he had died.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Borussia Dortmund *

: 1964–65 *

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

: 1965–66

References

External links

Assauer Sportmanagement AG site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assauer, Rudi 1944 births 2019 deaths People from Saarbrücken (district) Association football defenders Borussia Dortmund players Bundesliga managers Bundesliga players Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in Germany FC Schalke 04 managers Footballers from Saarland German football managers German footballers SV Werder Bremen managers SV Werder Bremen players