Top facts about Matthias Sammer, The Iron Matthias

Matthias Sammer who opened his eyes to this world on September 5, 1967, in Dresden, is a former German football player. As an active soccer player, Sammer was a national player from 1986 to 1997, initially in the GDR, after German reunification in the German national team. Matthias played for the teams SG Dynamo Dresden , VfB Stuttgart ,

and Borussia Dortmund . In 1996 he was crowned as “ European Footballer of the Year ” and received the

.

In Sammer's playing career in the 1990s, he won practically every major championship in European football. He was a Champions League winner and three times German champion. Of course, that's not all! With the German national team, he became the European champion in 1996.

As a football coach, he won the German title with Borussia Dortmund in 2002 as the youngest coach ever. Sammer is also one of seven players in the history of the Bundesliga who became German football champions both as a player and as a coach.

Matthias Sammer was the sports manager of the German Football Association from 2006 to 2012. From July 2, 2012, to July 10, 2016, he was director of sports at

and was responsible for, organizing young talent and promoting potential. As you can see he is one of few who managed to play the role of a legend in football history so, without further ado, let's start Sportmob's

top facts about Matthias Sammer

.

Here we go, Top facts about Matthias Sammer

Before we start our article to find everything about Matthias Sammer, we will check out some quick facts that will help us through the

Top facts about Matthias Sammer.

• Known As:

  Iron Matthias

• Occupation:

  Footballer

• Age:

  54 years old

• Zodiac Sign:

  Virgo

• Born:

  5 September 1967

• Birthplace:

  Dresden, Germany

• Nationality:

  Germany

• Height:

  5′ 11″

• Weight:

  165 lb

• Eye Color:

  Light green

• Hair Color:

  Light brown

• Wife:

  Karin Sammer (m. 1993)

• Children:

  Sarah Sammer, Leon Sammer, Marvin Sammer

Now that we got our base knowledge, we will dive into the Top facts about Matthias Sammer to find all interesting top facts we can find!

The start of everything

The beginning of every story is important and this is the beginning of Sportmob's Top facts about Matthias Sammer. Matthias Sammer began playing soccer in the SG Dynamo Dresden children's squad in 1976 when he was nine years old. He maintained the heritage of his father Klaus Sammer, who had previously played for

from 1965 until 1975.

By 1985, Matthias Sammer participated in all of the Dresden youth teams, he even played for Dynamo Dresden in the junior division. In 1985 he was GDR champion and cup winner with the Dynamo youth squad. He made his debut in the men's league squad when he was barely 18 in the 1985/86 season.

On the 2nd game day of the season of the top division of the GDR football association, August 24, 1985, Matthias was deployed under his father as a coach in match FC Magdeburg - Dynamo Dresden in the last eight minutes. During this season he was featured in 18 league point games but only finished six games throughout the full 90 minutes. Nevertheless, he usually played as a striker, and with his eight goals, he became the second-best goalscorer of his club after Ralf Minge.

In 1986, Matthias joined the "Feliks Dzierzynski" guard unit of the Ministry for State Security, whose chief Erich Mielke was head of the Dynamo sports organization. The actual duty provided was restricted to the day of dressing and that of the lining, which allowed Sammer to continue his playing career, although this would not have been feasible for him if he had conducted military service in the National Army.

As part of his service, he was never called in for normal MfS espionage services, but was, to a minor extent, the subject of surveillance. In 1986/87 season, Sammer who was now under coach Eduard Geyer, already contended for a regular position as a left-winger with 20 league appearances, this time seven goals were enough for Dresden's top scorer.

In the course of the 1987/88 season, Sammer was ordered back by coach Geyer in midfield, which did not prevent him from continuing to belong among Dynamo's top scorers with eight goals. With 25 appearances, Sammer completed the most league games of his career in the 1988/89 season and earned his first men's title with the GDR championship. Now let's get into the sucsess part in our Top facts about Matthias Sammer.

The Success

His most successful GDR league season and his last in GDR gaming operations concluded Sammer 1989/90. He won the double, title, and cup with Dynamo Dresden. During his five seasons in the GDR league, he arrived there on 102 missions and scored 39 goals.

 His biggest international triumph with Dynamo was the passage into the UEFA Cup semi-finals of the 1988/89 season. Sammer played a total of 20 European Cup games for SG Dynamo Dresden, in which he scored two goals.

As part of the political transition, Sammer departed the now renamed 1. FC Dynamo Dresden in the summer of 1990 and transferred to VfB Stuttgart . He previously had a tentative deal with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, but it was canceled. At VfB, he played 63 Bundesliga matches (20 goals), three European matches (one goal), and in 1992 with the side of coach Christoph Daum German champions.

Sammer played for a few months in the 1992/93 season for the Italian club Inter Milan. In eleven games he scored four goals in Serie A, but was not pleased there and consequently accepted an offer from Borussia Dortmund that took him back to the German Bundesliga during the winter break of this season.

There he started in his normal playing position as a midfielder. He played his debut game for Borussia Dortmund on February 20, 1993, against VfL Bochum, in which he scored the winning goal to make it 1-0. In the next season, 1993/94 Sammer was more deployed by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld in the role of libero.

This variation, which first looked to be an emergency solution, turned out to be quite effective because of the Sammers' power in duels and anticipation. The Brazilian Julio Cesar, who was committed to the position of Libero for the 1994/95 season was employed after a few disappointing games in this position from now on as a left defender, and Sammer reverted to the libero position, on which he also ran up in the national team from 1996.

His tenure at Borussia Dortmund (115 first division games / 21 goals and 27 European Cup games without a goal) was quite successful. Under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld, he won two additional titles (1995 and 1996), in 1997 after a 3-1 final triumph over Juventus Turin at the Munich Olympic Stadium, the UEFA Champions League, and in the same year after a victory over Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte, the World Cup.

Scoring for the country

Even as a youth player, Sammer was part of the GDR youth squad and progressed through all age categories from the U16 to the U23 national team. With the U-18 squad, he became European champion in 1986 following a 3-1 victory against Italy.

He brought his team in the 42nd minute with 2-1 for the first time in the lead. A year later he earned 3rd place with the U-20 selection in the Junior World Cup in Chile in 1987 after a 3-1 triumph over the hosts.

In the senior national team of the GDR, he made his debut on November 19, 1986, in the central stadium in the European Championship qualifier against France (0-0), in which he was substituted in the 77th minute

. Sammer remained a substitute in the national squad until 1988, and only then did he contend for a permanent berth. In addition to the 1986 European Championship qualifier, he also played seven of the eight World Cup qualifiers contested in 1988 and 1989.

By 1990 he participated in the GDR national team 23 times and was successful with six goals. He was one of the few regulars that on 12 September 1990, the last international match of the East German National Teamdisputed. As team captain, he scored both goals in a 2-0 friendly against Belgium in Brussels.

In 1988 Sammer played two qualification games against Portugal (3-0) and Iceland (3-0) with the GDR's Olympic squad after the GDR had already thrown away qualifying for Seoul in 1988.

As the first player from the GDR, Matthias was chosen to the all-German national team under Berti Vogts. His debut game was on December 19, 1990, against

in Stuttgart, his last game was on June 7, 1997, in Kyiv against Ukraine as part of the World Cup qualifying.

Sammer scored eight goals in 51 appearances for the DFB, his greatest triumphs being winning the 1996 European title in England and the 1992 European runner-up in

. For his sports exploits, he won the Silver Laurel Leaf from Federal President Herzog in 1996. However, every story comes to an end and the end of Matthias' career as a professional footballer will be told in the next part of top facts about Matthias Sammer.

The end of the road

Outstanding achievements at

and the 1996 European Championship won Sammer the 1996 Ballon d'Or as “ Europe's Footballer of the Year ”. Since 1956, he has been one of just three defenders to have been awarded the Ballon d'Or alongside Franz Beckenbauer and Fabio Cannavaro.

Matthias other personal accomplishments include being elected Germany's Footballer of the Year twice in 1995 and 1996. in 2018 he became the first eleven of the " Hall of Fame of German Football " at the German Football Museum.

Due to a bacterial illness with MRSA germs, which he received after a knee operation on October 13, 1997, and which lost his participation in the 1998 World Cup in France, Matthias Sammer finished his career as a player in 1999.

He has played his final Bundesliga game on October 4 1997th Sammers record extends to 291 top division games in the GDR, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Italy as well as 50 European Cup games. The amount of his international matches - combined DFV and DFB - is 74. Thanks for reading Sportmob's 

Top facts about Matthias Sammer

.

READ MORE: