Thomas Strunz

Thomas Strunz (born 25 April 1968) is a German retired footballer who played mostly as a defensive midfielder.

Thomas Strunz
Strunz signing autographs in 2010.
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-04-25) 25 April 1968
Place of birth Duisburg, West Germany
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1977–1981 TuRA 88 Duisburg
1981–1986 MSV Duisburg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1989 MSV Duisburg 94 (30)
1989–1992 Bayern Munich 59 (12)
1992–1995 VfB Stuttgart 79 (9)
1995–2000 Bayern Munich 97 (11)
Total 329 (62)
National team
1990 Germany U21 2 (0)
1990–1999 Germany 41 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Over the course of 12 seasons, he amassed Bundesliga totals of 235 games and 32 goals, representing in the competition Bayern Munich and Stuttgart. He won 12 major titles with the first club.

Strunz gained 41 caps for Germany, during nine years. He was part of the squad that won Euro 1996.[1]

Club career

Born in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Strunz started his career playing for hometown club MSV Duisburg, but moved to FC Bayern Munich aged 21. He made his Bundesliga debut on 31 August 1989 in a 4–0 home win against Hamburger SV, and proceeded to score five goals in 20 matches in his first season.

Strunz joined VfB Stuttgart for 1992–93, netting five times in his debut campaign before returning to Bayern after three years.[2] In his two spells with the Bavarian side he won five championship medals and two German cups, adding the 1995–96 UEFA Cup in which he scored two goals in nine games. In his final two seasons he played rarely due to recurrent injuries, and retired in late 2000 as his team went on to win back-to-back league titles.

After retiring, Strunz served as general manager at VfL Wolfsburg for nearly a year, being fired on 19 December 2005 – head coach Holger Fach was sacked on the same day, and the former was awarded €2.750.000 in compensation.[3] In April 2008 he enrolled in the same capacity at lowly Rot-Weiss Essen, being fired on 12 September of the following year.

International career

Strunz made his debut for Germany on 10 October 1990, in a 3–1 friendly win in Sweden. He went on to represent the nation at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the victorious UEFA Euro 1996.

During the latter competition, Strunz appeared in five of six matches (being sent off against Italy and subsequently suspended for the quarter-final), converting his penalty shootout attempt in the semi-finals and playing the entire final against the Czech Republic.

International goal
Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 June 1995Vasil Levski, Sofia, Bulgaria Bulgaria2–02–3Euro 1996 qualifying

Post-retirement

After retiring, Strunz worked as football pundit for German TV channel Sport1.

Personal life

Strunz's wife, Claudia, left him for fellow German international Stefan Effenberg.[4]

On 10 March 1998, he was one of the main targets in a furious press conference held by Bayern manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who addressed the media in broken German.[5][6] The Italian press was amused by his surname pronounced repeatedly and with great vigor by the coach, since in Italian "stronzo" is a swear word literally meaning "turd", but roughly equivalent to "asshole".[7]

Honours

Club
Bayern Munich

International
Germany

References
  1. "Thomas Strunz – International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  2. Arnhold, Matthias (14 January 2016). "Thomas Strunz – Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  3. "Fach fired by Wolfsburg". UEFA.com. 19 December 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  4. "Matthaeus is 'a real quitter,' says Effenberg". Sports Illustrated. 2 May 2003. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  5. "Short version of press conference" (in German and English). YouTube.
  6. "Long version" (in German). YouTube.
  7. "Trapattoni che parla tedesco..." [Trapattoni who speaks German...] (in Italian). Viaggio in Germania. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
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