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Celebrating World Champions: What are you doing today?

Photo:

Herbert Rudel / Sportfoto Rudel / IMAGO

The recently deceased former national player Andreas Brehme was part of the team that won the German national football team's third World Cup title. After his career, Brehme worked as a coach at 1. FC Kaiserslautern and in Unterhaching and was assistant coach to Giovanni Trapattoni at VfB Stuttgart.

And how did the other legends of the 1990 World Cup fare after their active football careers? Many remained loyal to football - some with more success, some with less. An overview:

Bodo Illgner

Bodo Illgner was the regular goalkeeper of the World Cup team and later also played for Real Madrid. Together with his wife he wrote the book “Everything. A fictional factual novel” and occasionally worked as a TV expert. Today he lives in Florida in the USA and has largely withdrawn from football.

Raimond Aumann

Raimond Aumann did not play a game as a substitute goalkeeper in 1990. He won a total of six titles with FC Bayern and later worked as a fan representative for a long time. After 27 years in this position, he became part of the FC Bayern legends and now represents the club.

Andreas Köpke

Andreas Köpke also became world champion without playing. After his active career, he worked for a long time as a goalkeeping coach for the DFB and the national team (under Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw). He was most recently active in this role for South Korea under Klinsmann, but after the final defeat in the Asian Cup, the association parted ways with Klinsmann and Köpke.

Klaus Augenthaler

Klaus Augenthaler should have been awarded a penalty in the final - but the referee's whistle remained silent. After his active career he made the jump from the pitch to the coaching chair. He was active for the first teams of Grazer AK, 1. FC Nürnberg, Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Unterhaching, among others. His press conference in Wolfsburg, when he asked himself the questions for 42 seconds, will never be forgotten. From 2017 to 2020 he worked again at FC Bayern as a youth coach and is still active for the club today. He regularly comments on football events.

Thomas Berthold

After his professional career, defender Thomas Berthold was briefly a manager at Fortuna Düsseldorf. He organized fan trips to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, worked as a football columnist and presenter, and advertised organic coconut products. During the corona pandemic, he gave a speech at a demonstration by the “Querdenken711” group in Stuttgart and made headlines.

Guido Buchwald

Guido Buchwald took Argentina's star Diego Maradona out of the game in the 1990 final. After his active career, he tried his hand at coaching at Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan and at Alemannia Aachen, where he was released after four months. From 2010 to 2013 he was a board member of the Stuttgarter Kickers. From 2015 to 2019 he worked as a scout and “internationalization employee” in the Asian market for VfB Stuttgart. He is VfB's honorary captain and regularly speaks publicly about the club's concerns.

Jürgen Kohler

After his career, Jürgen Kohler initially worked as a U21 national coach and sports director at Bayer Leverkusen. He then became a coach at MSV Duisburg, but only for a few months. This was followed by positions as a coach and sports director in Aalen, as a junior coach at Grafschafter SV and in Bonn and at various smaller clubs. A conscious decision, as he himself said in an interview. He had to slow down due to illness and had open heart surgery in 2015. Kohler also worked as a company representative, financial advisor and as a TV co-commentator. In 2021 he was inducted into the German football “Hall of Fame”.

Hansi Pflügler

Hansi Pflügler made his only appearance at the 1990 World Cup against Colombia. He continued to play football in lower leagues for a long time and completed a degree in steel construction engineering during his active career. He worked as head of the “Outlets” department at FC Bayern, organized the traditional team “FC Bayern Legends” and runs the “Pflügler” guesthouse in his hometown of Freising.

Stefan Reuter

After his active football career, Stefan Reuter began his time as a management assistant at Borussia Dortmund. He then worked as managing director - initially for three years at 1860 Munich, then with much more success at FC Augsburg from 2012 to September 2023. He now fills an advisory role at the club.

Paul Steiner

At 33, Paul Steiner was the oldest German player at the World Cup, but did not play and ended his career shortly afterwards. He then worked in video analysis at Bayer Leverkusen for eleven years, and then in the same position at 1. FC Köln for another three years. He lives in Spain to retire.

Uwe Bein

After the end of his career, Uwe Bein tried his hand at managing Kickers Offenbach for six months. He then became an ambassador for Eintracht Frankfurt and worked in the nationwide football school run by Frank Mill, who also became world champion in 1990.

Günter Hermann

Like Steiner and Mill, Günter Hermann became world champion without playing. After his career, he took over a sports store in Osterholz-Scharmbeck and led the local football club as a coach from the district to the top league from 2001 to 2014. He then coached the regional league team FC Oberneuland.

Thomas Häßler

Thomas “Icke” Häßler stayed in the football business after his career. He worked as a technical trainer at 1. FC Köln and then assisted Berti Vogts in Nigeria and worked as an assistant coach at Padideh Maschad in Iran. He took on his first position as head coach at the Berlin district league club Club Italia 80, and later worked for the regional league team BFC Preussen until he had to give up his coaching position due to health problems. Today he is still active as a sports advisor at the BFC. He also had a small TV career, taking part in “Lets Dance” and the “Jungle Camp” on the TV station RTL.

Pierre Littbarski

Pierre Littbarski sought his fortune after his career in Japan. There he worked as a coach for Yokohama FC, with the club he won the championship twice. He then became assistant coach to Berti Voigts in Leverkusen before becoming head coach of the second division team MSV Duisburg. Then he moved abroad again: in 2006 he won the Australian championship title with Sydney FC. This was followed by stations in Japan, Iran and Switzerland. Until July last year he worked in various functions for VfL Wolfsburg. He was also seen on TV: in the telenovela “Rote Rosen” he played a footballer.

Lothar Matthäus

Lothar Matthäus actually never became a greenkeeper at FC Bayern Munich - Uli Hoeneß kept his word. He worked as a national coach for Hungary and Bulgaria - in Germany he can be seen primarily as a TV commentator and expert for Sky. As a businessman he is also active in the football business; he recently bought the Ghanaian first division club Accra Lions with two partners.

Andreas Möller

After his career, Andreas Möller became coach of upper division club Viktoria Aschaffenburg and manager of Kickers Offenbach in the third division. In 2015 he worked as an assistant coach for the Hungarian national team until the failed World Cup qualification in 2018. From 2019 to 2022 he was head of Eintracht Frankfurt's youth performance center.

Olaf Thon

Olaf Thon, who caused a sensation after the World Cup as part of the Schalke Eurofighters, was on the supervisory board of FC Schalke from 2005 to 2008 and later worked for a year and a half as coach of the fifth division club VfB Hüls. Other tasks: Member of the supervisory board of an IT company, football columnist and regular TV expert. He also leads the traditional team at Schalke.

Jürgen Klinsmann

Jürgen Klinsmann has been busy as a coach since the end of his active career. The summer fairy tale of the 2006 World Cup with Germany was followed by positions at FC Bayern, the USA national team, as supervisory board and head coach of Hertha BSC and most recently as national coach of South Korea until his expulsion.

Frank Mill

Frank Mill did not play at the 1990 World Cup. After his active career, he briefly tried his hand as a manager at Fortuna Düsseldorf - but he was more successful with his football school, which has more than 80 branches throughout Germany and employs numerous ex-professionals.

Karl Heinz Riedle

Karl-Heinz Riedle celebrated winning the Champions League in 1997, scoring two goals in the final. After his active career, he was head of sports at Grashopper Zurich in Switzerland. He is also a businessman and runs a hotel in the Allgäu and is the manager of a football camp and a sports and events agency. He also regularly drew tickets for the UEFA Champions League. Riedle ended his engagement as an RTL football expert in 2023.

Rudi Völler

Like Klinsmann, Rudi Völler was also DFB team boss after retiring and became runner-up in the 2002 World Cup. From 1996 to 2022 he was sports director and later also managing director of sports (and interim coach) at Bayer Leverkusen. He has been director of the German national team since February 2023 and also looked after the national team after Hansi Flick was released for a game against France.

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