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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of the West Germany national team in four consecutive World Cup tournaments, including winning the title in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, losing in the final in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, and coming in third in

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

. 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, winning the

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

hip in 1943 and 1944 as well as the

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

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, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, then part of Soviet-occupied

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. 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 association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

even during his Friedrichstadt spell, he now was appointed player-coach with Hertha BSC Berlin 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 Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest 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 the smallest in ...

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 Germany 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 Germany 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 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 Franz Anton Beckenbauer (; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and is one of nine p ...

to play his preferred role as a sweeper, and appointing him team captain; introducing young fullbacks

Berti Vogts Hans-Hubert "Berti" Vogts (; born 30 December 1946) is a German former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga his whole professional club career and won the FIFA World Cup wi ...

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 full-backs and midfielders of all time, and one of the best players of his era, Breitner was n ...

into the team; building the midfield around Günter Netzer and switching the team's formation to better accommodate his skills; then replacing Netzer with Wolfgang Overath 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 r ...

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, to be replaced by his assistant Jupp Derwall. He was unable to go out on a high note as his team was knocked out of the competition by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, 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 called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

; runner-up:

; third-place:

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

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, ...

; runner-up:

1976 Events January * January 2 – 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 18 – Full diplomatic ...

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schon, Helmut 1915 births 1996 deaths German men's footballers Dresdner SC players Hertha BSC players Germany men's 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 Men's association football forwards East German emigrants to West Germany East German men's footballers