Rudi Voller Biography

Rudi Voller, born 13 April 1960 in Hanau, is a German former footballer and coach. He started his professional career with Kickers Offenbach in 1977, where he played for three years and later joined TSV 1860 Munich in 1980. His stint there lasted for only two seasons as he joined Werder Bremen in 1982, where he spent the next five years for the club.

He later played for

and Olympique Marseille. At AS Roma, he spent another five years and was one of the best players of the club. It was with the French side Olympique Marseille that he went on to win the UEFA Champions League in 1993. He concluded his playing career with Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1996.

With the West Germany football team, Voller managed to win the 1990 World Cup. In the round of 16 against the Netherlands, he and Frank Rijkaard were both sent off. In addition, Voller took part in the World Cups of 1986 (where Germany came second) and 1994 and the European Championships of 1984, 1988 and 1992. He scored 47 goals in ninety international matches for his country.

After finishing his active career Voller became a coach, first working for Leverkusen. He was appointed manager of the German team in 2000. He managed to lead Germany to a place in the finals at the 2002 World Cup, where they lost to Brazil.

At the 2004 European Championships, Voller resigned after Germany was knocked out in the first round following a defeat against a glorified B team from the Czech Republic. After that, he served as coach of AS Roma and

. At the latter club, he was appointed sporting director in October 2005.

All You Need to Know About Rudi Voller Biography

In Germany, Voller is very popular. When the Dutch national team did not perform as well and Voller lost his temper in a television interview, he was not blamed by the Germans for that. Since 2002 Voller is an honorary citizen of the municipality of Hanau.

Rudi Voller Information

Now that we know the German coach much better, in this section of

Rudi Voller biography

we will share more general information about him such as

Rudi Voller nationality

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Rudi Voller Bio

• Full Name: Rudolf Voller

• Nickname: Tante Käthe

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Rudi Voller Physical Stats

• Weight: 74 Kg

• Height: 1.8 m

• Eye Color: Blue

• Hair Color: Blonde

Rudi Voller Football Information

• Position: Striker

• Jersey Number: 9

• Professional Debut: 1977

Rudi Voller Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 13 April 1960

• Birth Place: Hanau, West Germany

• Zodiac Sign: Aries

• Nationality: German

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Rudi Voller biography

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Rudi Voller childhood

.

Rudi Voller Early Life

Rudi Voller started out with

in the Bundesliga Süd, a German regional division, in 1977. He played in the Bundesliga Süd from 1977 to 1980 before switching to TSV Munich 1860 in the Bundesliga 1.

At the end of the season, however, the club was relegated and the following season he was playing in the Bundesliga 2, where he managed to score 37 goals in 37 games. Rudi Voller signed for

in 1982 and became one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga. In 1983, he was the top scorer in the German league and helped his club finish runner-up in the Bundesliga three times in 1983, 1985 and 1986.

He was so well known that he was sought after by the big clubs in the Italian league. In 1987, Voller moved to Roma, where he followed in the footsteps of his compatriot Karl-Heinz Rumennige, who spent 1984-87 with Inter Milan.

While his first season in Italy was difficult with only three goals, the following ones were much more prolific. In the summer of 1992, Voller departed the Roman club having scored 45 league goals, including 42 in the 1988-1992 seasons.

Olympique de Marseille

Rudi Voller arrived in France in 1992. He had responded favourably to Bernard Tapie, who was president of

at the time, and who wanted to find an experienced and effective successor to Jean-Pierre Papin, a French centre-forward who had just been transferred to AC Milan.

His mission was accomplished as he, along with the young and promising Croatian striker Alen Bokšić, managed to score 18 goals in the 1992-1993 French First Division Championship, which combined with his Croatian teammate's 22 goals, made this attacking duo one of the most prolific in Europe that season with 40 goals between them.

The season ended on a high note for Voller, as Olympique de Marseille went on to win the Champions League on 26 May 1993, defeating Fabio Capello's

, the defending Italian champions, in the final (Basile Boli scored 1-0), and then three days later the French First Division Championship following a 3-1 home victory over direct rivals Paris-Saint-Germain. However, following the VA-OM affair which erupted a month later, this title was not confirmed by the Ligue Nationale de Football.

OM was in legal and sporting turmoil in the 1993-1994 season and was only allowed to play in domestic competitions (league and French Cup), and was forced to part with several key players in order to pay off a financial deficit caused by its absence from European competition.

As a result, Voller's attacking partner Boksic was sold to Lazio in the autumn, replaced by a young Brazilian from Servette Geneva, Sonny Anderson. While not as effective as the previous season (6 goals), Rudi Voller put his new and promising attacking partner at his disposal, allowing him to benefit from his experience and his passing game, to which the Brazilian put to good use, scoring goal after goal until the end of the season (16 goals in 20 league matches in 1993-1994 for Sonny Anderson).

When Olympique de Marseille was administratively relegated by the Ligue Nationale at the end of the season (following the VA-OM affair), and Voller's contract expired, he returned to Germany in the summer of 1994, where he ended his career with Bayer Leverkusen, who signed him up for two seasons.

Now stay tuned to this section of

Rudi Voller biography

as we want to share some info about his international career.

National Team

He debuted with the jersey of West

on 17th November 1982, in the match against Northern Ireland valid for the qualification for the 1984 European Championship; he eventually played all the 3 matches, scoring a double in the only victory of the Germans, the one against Romania for 2-1.

Then he flew to Mexico to play in the 1986 World Cup, only missing the quarter-final match and scoring two goals, one in the 2-1 first round win over Scotland, and one in the 2-0 semi-final win over France. He also played against Argentina in the following final in Mexico City, which he brought back a temporary draw in the 81st minute, but just three minutes later the South Americans were able to score the decisive 3-2 goal that gave them the title.

He played in all the matches of the 1988 European Championship which took place in his homeland, scoring the two goals that defeated Spain in the group stage, and was also selected for the 1990 World Cup, which was played in Italy. There he scored three goals, all in the first two matches, one against Yugoslavia and the other two against the United Arab Emirates.

However, in the round of 16 against the

, Frank Rijkaard spat at him and they were both sent off, so he missed the quarter-finals again. He was however on the field in the following two matches, particularly in the final in Rome, once again against

; though, this time the Germans won (1-0) and Voller, at the time a Roma player, enjoyed the satisfaction of lifting the World Cup in "his" stadium, later declaring: "it was like a dream come true".

Afterwards, he took part in the 1992 European Championship, the first international event after German reunification, and played only against the Commonwealth of Independent States. He finally played his last match for the national team on 10 July 1994 during the 1994 World Cup, losing 2-1 to Bulgaria in the quarter-final; however, his brace in the 3-2 victory over Belgium was crucial for the previous round.

Within twelve years, he made a total of 90 appearances for the national team, scoring 47 goals and - at the time - placing second in the Mannschaft's top scorers' list: surpassed only by Gerd Müller with 68 goals and, when considering East Germany as well, Joachim Streich with 56 goals; he was later to be equalled by Jürgen Klinsmann and overtaken by Miroslav Klose.

Now stay tuned to this section of Rudi Voller biography as we want to share some info about his career as a coach and sports director.

Rudi Voller Profile

Shortly after the European Championships on 2 July 2000, when the defending champions, the German national team under Erich Ribbeck, had already been knocked out in the preliminary round at the bottom of the group, Voller was appointed team manager of the German national team.

Initially, Voller was supposed to be in charge for one year (until 2001) until Christoph Daum's contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen would expire and he could take over the position. However, when Daum was no longer deemed eligible for the post of the national coach due to proven drug use, Voller was made permanent. In autumn 2000, after Daum's dismissal, he simultaneously served as interim coach at Bayer 04 Leverkusen for just under a month.

His greatest success came in 2002 when, despite many experts' predictions of an early exit, Voller managed to take the German national team to the finals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. But Germany lost to

0:2.

On 6 September 2003, Voller made headlines: Following a disappointing 0-0 draw by the German national team in a European Championship qualifying match in Iceland, he declared his dissatisfaction in a live interview with ARD presenter Waldemar Hartmann after he was asked about his team's poor performance.

He attacked the presenter Delling and the expert Günter Netzer in particular in front of the camera for what he considered improper and negative reporting. But Hartmann, who would not accept this, was also rebuked by Voller for this.

Voller accused Hartmann of having "drunk three wheat beers" and therefore being able to "casually" report negatively on the German team. Later on, Voller made a public apology for his choice of words but held on to his fundamental criticism of what he saw as disavowing reporting.

On 24 June 2004, when the German national team was knocked out in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship, Voller stepped down as team manager of the German national team.

Later career

Voller became the new coach of the Italian football club AS Roma on 30 August 2004. However, he resigned again on 25 September 2004 on account of the lack of sporting success.

Starting on 18 January 2005, Voller was once again the sports director of Bayer 04 Leverkusen. He succeeded Klaus Augenthaler as interim coach for three Bundesliga matches on 16 September 2005. He gave up the coaching post to Michael Skibbe on 9 October 2005 and since then has been working as sports director again.

Voller was fined 8,000 euros in April 2014 for accusing referee Dankert of being biased after the 2-1 defeat against

saying: "HSV's 13th man was Mr Dankert. Should HSV apply for Mr Dankert to referee one of the last games, they will definitely avoid relegation."

With effect from 1 July 2018, Voller undertook the duties of managing director of sport at Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH to work alongside managing director Fernando Carro. After the expiry of his current contract in mid-2022, Voller will retire from the management.

Now stay tuned to this section of Rudi Voller biography as we want to share some info about his playing style.

Style of Play

A cunning, clever and surgically accurate striker, Rudi Voller was Germany's number one goalscorer of the 1980s. A true terror to goalkeepers, he was always on the lookout for the slightest mistake or opportunity to score a goal. Equally adept at dribbling and shooting, he was an absolute master of the penalty area. He was also very skilled in aerial play.

Reception

During his playing days, Rudi Voller was able to establish himself as one of the greatest strikers of his generation not only in Germany but also in the world of football, where he was able to decide matches on his own with the crucial goals that he was scoring.

However, after retiring from playing football and starting a career as a coach, Rudi Voller was not able to continue the success of his playing days and after trying his hand at the German national team and later Roma and Leverkusen, he was never offered a decent coaching job offer and for many years, he is working as sports director of Bayer Leverkusen.

Rudi Voller outside Football

There is a non-player character named Rhudy Voller in the German version of the video game The Lord of the Rings Online who supervises and guides the snowball fight of the annual Winter Yule Festival, presumably as a tribute to Rudi Voller's accomplishments as a coach.

Being a famous figure in Germany, Rudi Voller has advertised for many companies in the country during his career in football. In the press, Voller was criticised for having advertised for the controversial energy provider Teldafax. Voller has appeared as an advertising figure for savings banks since the summer of 2011.

Voller was nicknamed Auntie Käthe when he was an active player. His friend Thomas Berthold gave him the nickname Käthe, which was widely used in Hesse. The fact that it became Tante Käthe must, according to Berthold, have been "a matter of the media".

Other legendary references were the long-drawn-out shouts of Ruuuuuuuuudi in German football stadiums and the song by the band La Rocca (during and after the 2002 World Cup) with the title Es gibt nur ein' Rudi Voller to the tune of Guantanamera (There's Only One' Rudi Voller to the tune of Guantanamera), which was voted Sentence of the Year 2002.

The Cologne dialect band Höhner sang about him as the national coach in 2001 in the song Tante Käthe. In the 1980s, Christian Günther, then the stadium announcer at Bremen's Weser Stadium, recorded the single "Was ist bloß mit Rudi los?" about him.

Rudi Voller Personal Life

In this section of Rudi Voller biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information about things like

Rudi Voller life story and Rudi Voller religion

, stay tuned.

Family, Children and Relationships

Voller has been married to an Italian woman in his second marriage since 1995. From this relationship, he has two sons and another son and a daughter from his first marriage. Marco, his son, used to play in the national basketball league, and Kevin Voller-Adducci, his other son, plays for the football club FC Büderich in the Niederrhein district league until June 2020, but since then he has been without a club.

Philanthropy

Rudi Voller is one of the most active German football coaches in charity projects. In addition to many charity matches he has been part of for many years, he also participates in many charitable causes. For example, in 2002 when he was managing the German national team, he and the players donated a total of 500,000 Euros to the victims of the floods which had happened in the eastern part of Germany.

Legal Issues

There are not any reports of legal issues or disputes regarding the well-known German football coach either in the German or English media at the time of writing this article.

Rudi Voller Career Statistics

In this section of Rudi Voller biography, we will take a look at his career stats on the international and club level.

Club

During his 19-year playing career, Rudi Voller played a total of 673 matches in all competitions as a striker and scored 318 goals. He has spent the biggest part of his career playing for Werder Bremen and AS Roma, where he spent five seasons playing for each of the clubs.

International

For twelve years between 1982 and 1994, Rudi Voller was part of West Germany and later the German national team, where he played a total of 90 matches and scored 47 goals. He scored the last two goals of his international career in the 1994

match against Belgium.

Managerial

Rudi Voller has a win ratio of 52.11 percent with 37 wins, 15 draws and 19 defeats in a total of 71 matches he has coached his teams.

Rudi Voller Honors

He has won

, Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League and also finished as runner-up in the 1990-91 UEFA Cup with AS Roma.

On the international level, Rudi Voller went on to win the 1990 World Cup with West Germany and also finished as runner-up in the 1986 World Cup and the 1992 UEFA European Championship.

The list of his individual titles and awards include UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Golden Player, Bundesliga Top Goalscorer, kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season, Germany Footballer of the Year, UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament, UEFA Cup Top Goalscorer and others.

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