Otto Rehhagel

Otto Rehhagel is a German former defender and professional football coach born on 9 August 1938 in Essen, Germany.

Otto is a product of TuS Helene Altenessen youth syatem. He turned professional with the club in 1957 and played for them for three years. After that, Rehhagel featured for Rot-Weiss Essen and Hertha BSC and since 1965 till 1972 he was a part of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

Rehhagel established himself as pivotal defender during his playing career. But he achieved his major success as a coach. He took up coaching in 1972 but the first years brought little success. Rehhagel even got notoriety after Borussia Dortmund historic 0-12 loss. His fortunes promised to take a turn for the better when Rehhagel took charge over Werder Bremen in 1981. He gradually made the club one of the major force in the Bundesliga equal to Bayern Munich. They were crowned the German champions in 1988 and 1993. Rehhagel has also led them to three German Cup and two German Super Cup trophies and in the 1991/92 season Werder won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup due to his impact.

Rehhagel was at the helm of the team for 15 years. After that he had an unremarkable season-long tenure at Bayern Munich and in 1996 Rehhagel signed a contract with 1. FC Kaiserslautern who then competed in the second division. The coach made a greatest impact to the team as in the 1996/97 season they topped the 2. Bundesliga winning promotion to the top flight and in the next campaign tremendously clinched the Bundesliga title.

In between 2001 and 2010, Otto Rehhagel was the Greece national team supremo. He led the Greeks to the UEFA European Championship triumph in 2004 beating hosting Portugal in the final.