Felix Magath Profile
Emergency Man, Doubles Winner, Wolfsburg Magician, Schalke Hope
Felix Magath is taking a big step by leaving Wolfsburg and heading to Schalke. His track record shows that Schalke fans could finally be in line for some Bundesliga celebrations.
European Champions Cup Title As Player
Wolfgang "Felix" Magath was born on July 26, 1953 in Aschaffenburg, Germany to his East Prussian mother and his Puerto Rican father who served as a U.S. Army soldier in Aschaffenburg.
During his playing days, Magath suited up for Hamburg from 1976 to 1986, playing 306 Bundesliga matches and scoring 46 goals as a midfielder. He helped Hamburg to three German league titles (1979, 1982, 1983) as well as the 1983 European Champions Cup crown and the 1977 European Cup Winners Cup trophy. Magath scored the only goal in Hamburg's 1-0 win over Juventus Turin in the 1983 European Champions Cup.
European Champion
Magath also played 43 times for Germany and scored three goals between April 1977 and June 1986. He helped Germany to the 1980 European championship and finished runner-up at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.
Player-Coach With Bremerhaven, Emergency Coach
After his playing career ended, Magath served as manager for Hamburg and Bayer Uerdingen before he began his coaching career with Bremerhaven in 1992 as a player-coach. In 1995 he was promoted to head coach at his former club Hamburg. Magath coached at Nuremberg in 1997, Werder Bremen in 1998 and Eintracht Frankfurt in 1999, gaining a reputation as an emergency coach brought on late in the season to stave off relegation.
Stuttgart, Bayern
Magath then moved onto Stuttgart where he served as manager and coach until June 30, 2004. He guided Stuttgart to second place in the Bundesliga in 2003 and with it a spot in the Champions League. In May 2004, Magath was presented as new coach at Bayern Munich starting the following season.
Back-To-Back German Double
Magath was an immediate success with Bayern Munich, winning the league and cup double for the 2004-05 season. He repeated the feat in the 2005-06 season, becoming the first coach to accomplish it. But after a poor start to the second half of the 2006-07 season, Magath was sacked on January 31, 2007.
Manager-Coach With Wolfsburg
Magath took over at Wolfsburg on June 15, 2007 as managing director and coach. Magath put together a tremendously successful team for the 2008-09 season and had them leading the Bundesliga by three points with four matches left. And Wolfsburg fans were readying to celebrate the first title in the club's history.
Signs With Schalke
But on May 6, 2009, Magath announced at a press conference that he would move to Schalke for the 2009-10 season on a contract until 2013. Just like with Wolfsburg, Magath also would be manager and coach with Schalke.
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