Thomas Jürgen "Icke" Häßler (; born 30 May 1966) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

throughout his career. At club level, he made a century of appearances for four teams: 1. FC Köln,

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

and 1860 Munich in Germany and Roma in Italy, and spent a season apiece with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

and SV Salzburg. Häßler also appeared over 100 times for the Germany national team. He was a member of the teams which won the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

(as

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) and

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

. He also appeared at the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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 ...

s, the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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 ...

s, and the 1988 Olympic Games.

Club career

1. FC Köln (1984–1990)

Born in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, Häßler spent his early playing days in the youth team of Reinickendorfer Füchse. He began his professional career in 1984 with 1. FC Köln of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, for whom he played six successful years, helping the club to become Bundesliga runners-up in 1989 and 1990.

Juventus (1990–1991), Roma (1991–1994)

Soon after winning the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

with the Germany national team in Italy, Häßler transferred to

for a sum of DM15 million. He spent only one year in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

before he decided to join another Italian club, A.S. Roma, for a fee of DM14 million. This time he stayed for three years, making 88 appearances and scoring 11 goals.

Karlsruher SC (1994–1998)

In 1994, however, Häßler wanted to return to the

. Despite offers from some of the biggest German clubs, he decided to sign with

in a DM7 million deal, the highest transfer sum the club has ever spent. In the following three years, Karlsruhe and its new key player achieved positions in the upper third of the table which resulted in

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

participations in 1996–97 and 1997–98. By winning the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

in 1996, Karlsruhe not only qualified for the

but also accomplished to throw out Häßler's former club AS Roma in the second round of the tournament. In the first leg of the third round, Häßler scored twice in his team's 3–1 win over Brøndby IF in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. However, shortly after this win Häßler received the first big injury in his career when he broke his leg in a league match against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

. Without its captain, Karlsruhe played a catastrophic second leg and was eliminated from the tournament after a 0–5 home defeat. Following his recovery, Häßler returned for the last two games of the season and helped his team to finish in sixth place in the 1996–97 season, securing another year of international football competition. In the end, once again the club failed to survive the third round. At the end of the 1997–98 season, the club's situation had worsened significantly. For the first time in his career, Häßler was confronted with a possible relegation. Feeling the pressure he once more showed his extraordinary skills and scored four goals in the last three games of the season. Despite Häßler's performances, Karlsruhe lost its last match in a dramatic season final and was relegated from the Bundesliga.

Borussia Dortmund (1998–1999)

Due to a contract clause, Häßler could leave Karlsruhe immediately on a free transfer. He decided to join

, which had won the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

in 1997. There he met the later assistant of the Germany national team, Michael Skibbe, then with 32 years the youngest head coach in the history of the Bundesliga. In the course of the season, there were some serious disputes between Häßler and Skibbe because the latter entrusted the midfield leadership to Andreas Möller. In the end, Häßler made only 18 appearances and never played over the full 90 minutes.

1860 Munich (1999–2003)

Disappointed about his season in Dortmund, Häßler left the club towards Bavaria and signed a contract with

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

. He spent four very successful years in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and became an important part of the team. Already in his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

the club reached a sensational fourth place in the Bundesliga. After they failed to win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in the qualification for the

, Häßler and his team participated in the UEFA Cup. But also with 1860 Munich he failed to overcome the competition's third round. In the following two years, the club took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup but didn't manage to succeed. After the 2002–03 season, Häßler left Munich to finish his career in

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 ...

SV Salzburg (2003–2004)

In 2003, Häßler signed a one-year contract with the Austrian club SV Salzburg. He made 19 appearances and reached a seventh place in the 2003–04 season before he announced his retirement. Overall, Häßler chalked up an entertaining 539 games and a total of 81 goals throughout a

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 ...

career in which he was voted Footballer of the Year (Germany) in 1989 and 1992. Although he is considered one of the best German footballers of all time, he did not win a single major club title, having lost the UEFA Cup final with 1. FC Köln in 1986, the Coppa Italia final with

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

in 1993 and the DFB-Pokal final with

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

in 1996.

International career

For

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Häßler was capped 101 times, scoring 11 goals. Other than the two major tournament wins at the

and the 1996 UEFA European Championship, he also played for his country at the

and

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

s, Euro 92, and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. He also won a bronze medal for West Germany at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. He was the dominant figure of the Euro 92, displaying performances that were reminiscent of

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

's 1986 World Cup exploits. He displayed a specialty for scoring spectacular free kicks, tireless stamina and dazzling dribbling sprees, as Germany went on to reach the final of the tournament.

Style of play

A world-class playmaker, who was considered to be one of the best German players of the 1990s, Häßler was a talented, dynamic, and creative midfielder, with quick feet and a good right foot, who stood out for his speed, energy, and constant movement across the pitch. A diminutive player, despite not being particularly physically gifted, he was known for his technique and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills, as well as his ability to score goals or provide assists for teammates; he was also a free kick specialist, and stood out for his leadership throughout his career. He usually played as an offensive-minded

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

– known as the '' mezzala'' position, in Italy, although he was also capable of playing as a right winger, or even as a number 10, in either an attacking midfield role behind the forwards or as a second striker, a position in which he was tasked with playing between the lines and linking up the midfield with the attack; he was also used in a creative, holding midfield role on occasion. During his time in Italy, he was nicknamed "Tommasino" and "Pollicino" (

Hop-o'-My-Thumb Hop-o'-My-Thumb (or Hop-on-My-Thumb and similar spellings) also known as Little Thumbling, Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault in '' Histoires ou Contes du temps passé'' (1697), now wo ...

, in Italian), due to his short stature, while he was instead nicknamed "Icke" in Germany for his pronunciation of "Ich" (German for "I") in typical Berlin dialect.

Coaching career

upHäßler as an assistant coach for Köln, 2008 Häßler was an assistant coach at 1. FC Köln. He previously served as an assistant coach to

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 ...

when he was

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

but both were later sacked by the Nigerian FA. Häßler interviewed for the managerial position at

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club Kilmarnock in June 2010. On 24 May 2014, he was named as the assistant coach of newly Iran Pro League promoted club, Padideh. He will work with his long-time friend, Alireza Marzban. In February 2016 Häßler joined eighth division '' Bezirksliga'' side

Club Italia Berlin Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album '' kelsea'' Brands and enterpris ...

as their new coach with the self-declared aim of eventual promotion to the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

Trivia

Häßler founded the music label ''MTM Music'' in March 1996. He participated in the 2016 season of German dance show ''Let's Dance''. In 2017, Häßler participated in German television show ''Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!''.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Häßler goal.''

Honours

1. FC Köln *

runner-up: 1988–89, 1989–90 *

runner-up: 1985–86 Juventus *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

runner-up:

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Roma *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

runner-up: 1992–93 * Supercoppa Italiana runner-up:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Karlsruher SC *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 1995–96 Germany *

; runner-up:

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

bronze medal: 1988 Individual * '' kicker'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1995–96 * Footballer of the Year in Germany: 1989, 1992 * Onze Mondial: 1990, 1992 * UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament:

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

bronze award:

* FIFA World Cup top assist provider: 1994 * DFB-Pokal top scorer: 1996 * FIFA XI: 1999FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info
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References

External links

Official website of Thomas Häßler in German
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassler, Thomas 1966 births Living people 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players 1. FC Köln players AS Roma players Men's association football midfielders Austrian Football Bundesliga players Borussia Dortmund players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Italy FC Red Bull Salzburg players FIFA Men's Century Club Bundesliga players Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Italy German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Juventus FC players Karlsruher SC players Olympic bronze medalists for West Germany Olympic footballers for West Germany Footballers from Berlin Serie A players TSV 1860 Munich players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Olympic medalists in football People from Reinickendorf Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics West German men's footballers BFC Meteor 06 players