Pierre Littbarski
Encyclopedia : P : PI : PIE : Pierre Littbarski
Pierre Littbarski (born April 16, 1960) is a German football manager and former player, and was a FIFA World Cup winner with West Germany in 1990. He was also runner up twice in 1982 and 1986 with West Germany. He was born in Berlin.
Littbarski spent most of his playing career at 1. FC Köln, winning the German Cup once, in 1983, and was three times runner up in the Bundesliga (1982, 1989 and 1990). He has also played for Racing Club de Paris in Ligue 1 as well as for JEF United and Brummel Sendai in Japan. In his career, he was initially used as a striker before being utilised as an attacking midfielder.
He was manager of Australian A-League side Sydney FC, and lead them to the FIFA Club World Championship in 2005, and a win in the inaugural A-League Championship. He was famous amongst Sydney FC supporters for his lack of tactical knowledge and his stylish brown suits [link][link], which are said to be a reflection of his dull tactical style. Pierre won the respect of many fans, however, when he arranged an amazing tribute for them at the end of the 2005-06 season. Before the semi-final second leg at Aussie Stadium, Pierre sat in a chair in front of the club's main supporter group, The Cove. After chants of 'Pierre Littbarski's Sydney Army' from the bemused supporters, Pierre was joined by the team, and they unveiled a large banner saying "To the best fans - Thankyou." The banner was taken on a lap of the stadium. Sydney FC went on to win the game and eventually claim the Championship. Littbarski and Sydney FC severed ties on Wednesday, May 5, 2006, with Littbarski announcing he would not re-sign for the club following disputes over training locations and a cut-price contract offer.
As of June, 2006 Pierre Littbarski has been in talks with the Albanian Football (soccer) Association working on a deal that would make him manager of the Albanian National Side. Littbarski has sounded very excited at the possibility of working in Tirana, Albania.
Previously, he has been the manager of Yokohama FC (twice), as well as assistant manager of Bayer 04 Leverkusen and manager of MSV Duisburg.
Club Career
- July 1978 - June 1986: 1. FC Köln
- July 1986 - June 1987: Racing Club de Paris
- July 1987 - June 1993: 1. FC Köln
- July 1993 - June 1995: JEF United Ichihara
- 1996 - 1997: Brummel Sendai
International playing career
73 internationals for West Germany - 18 goals.- 1982 World Cup: Runners Up
- 1984 European Championship: First Round
- 1986 World Cup: Runners Up
- 1988 European Championship: Semi Finalists
- 1990 World Cup: Champions
Managerial Career
- 1999 - 2000: Yokohama FC
- 2001: Bayer Leverkusen (Assistant Manager)
- June 2001 - November 2002: MSV Duisburg
- July 2003 - June 2004: Yokohama FC
- February 2005 - May 2006: Sydney FC
- May 2006 - ... : Ankaragücü
External links
- Sydney FC signs Pierre Littbarski as Head Coach [link].
- [Leverkusen who's who]
- [Facts about the amazing player]
- [Sydney FC fans' Littbarski banner]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.