Wolfgang Frank (21 February 1951 – 7 September 2013) 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and player. Frank was born in

Reichenbach an der Fils Reichenbach an der Fils is a town in the Esslingen (district), Esslingen district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Geography Geographical Location The municipality of Reichenbach an der Fils is approximately 12 km (as the crow flies) ea ...

, and made 215 appearances in 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 ...

during his playing career, scoring 89 goals. For the

Germany national football B team Germany B (or Germany A2) is a secondary team of the Germany national football team, used to try out and develop players for potential inclusion in the first team. The team, which has not been active since 2006, can play against other nations' B- ...

, he scored three goals in six games. As a manager, Frank was at the helm of 16 clubs and led

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

to the 1994 DFB-Pokal final, only to lose 3–1 to

SV 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. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

at Berlin's

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

. In his final year as a player, Frank trained as a teacher in sport and religion. He was inspired by

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach, best known for having twice managed AC Milan. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded ...

's A.C.Milan and introduced the 4-4-2 system to Germany at a time when German teams played with a sweeper. Inspired by how Sacchi had got his team to press, marking space rather than individual players, Frank introduced this advanced tactical thinking into German football. He is credited with inspiring a renaissance in the Bundesliga which has inspired a new generation of managers such as

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German football executive and former Manager (association football), manager and Football player, player. He is widely regarded as one of the best football managers in the world. Klopp has been ...

and

Joachim Löw Joachim "Jogi" Löw (; born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup i ...

. Frank died in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, aged 62.

References

External links

* 1951 births 2013 deaths People from Esslingen (district) Footballers from Stuttgart (region) German men's footballers Men's association football forwards West German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Germany men's B international footballers Bundesliga players Eredivisie players VfL Kirchheim/Teck players VfB Stuttgart players AZ Alkmaar players Eintracht Braunschweig players Borussia Dortmund players 1. FC Nürnberg players German football managers FC Aarau managers FK Austria Wien managers MSV Duisburg managers SpVgg Unterhaching managers FCV Farul Constanța managers Kickers Offenbach managers Wuppertaler SV managers FC Carl Zeiss Jena managers 1. FSV Mainz 05 managers Rot-Weiss Essen managers 2. Bundesliga managers FC Winterthur managers Deaths from cancer in Germany 3. Liga managers West German expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands FC Wettingen managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland FC Sachsen Leipzig managers Expatriate football managers in Romania German expatriate sportspeople in Romania SV Wehen Wiesbaden managers K.A.S. Eupen managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium German expatriate sportspeople in Belgium West German men's footballers West German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland West German football managers West German expatriate football managers {{Germany-footy-forward-1950s-stub