Normally you can’t find famous people in the phone book, but Dietrich Weise is an exception to the rule. He can be found in the directories of Hesse and in Heilbronn; he splits his time between the two areas. As a consequence of this, many football supporters will take time out to call Weise and wish him a happy 80th birthday today. The German Football Association (DFB) would like to take this opportunity to do the same.
Globetrotter and two times DFB Cup winner
Weise was born on the 21st November 1934 in Gröben (Saxony-Anhalt). Having played for a selection of teams (Teuchern, Fortschritt Weißenfels, SpVgg Neckarsulm, VfR Heilbronn), he embarked on a successful and varied coaching career. He coached Egypt in the 1990 World Cup, having won the domestic league the year before with Al-Ahly, and was Liechtenstein’s first ever national team manager.
In a 16 year Bundesliga coaching career Weise took charge of 371 matches. He managed 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Düsseldorf and guided them all to the DFB Cup final, which he won in 1874 and 1975 with Frankfurt. He was not afraid to blood young players during his time in Germany, which proved instrumental when guiding Frankfurt to safety in the 1983/84 season. He gave debuts to Thomas Berthold and Ralf Falkenmayer, both of whom went on to represent Germany at senior level.
1981: Success with Germany’s youth teams
Weise took charge of Germany’s youth sides between 1978 and 1983 and was hugely successful, with 1981 being a particular highlight. In four months he guided the U18s to European Championship success and the U20s to a World Cup title despite selecting similar squads for both tournaments.
“I had a few problems because the clubs didn’t want to make their players available for the U20 World Cup in Australia,” explained the Coach later. “I wanted to take one of Thomas von Heesen, Reinhold Mathy or Uwe Rahn with me, but the Bundesliga came first. Consequently, I took my U18 squad with me, even though that made us the youngest team out there.”
The expectations for the World Cup were low. In the U18 European Championship Germany beat Poland 1-0 in the final and it wasn’t expected that the team would make a big impression in the U20 World Cup. Weise: “We hoped to make it out of the group stage. The camaraderie in the team helped us win the title; it wasn’t a fluke.”
Normally you can’t find famous people in the phone book, but Dietrich Weise is an exception to the rule. He can be found in the directories of Hesse and in Heilbronn; he splits his time between the two areas. As a consequence of this, many football supporters will take time out to call Weise and wish him a happy 80th birthday today. The German Football Association (DFB) would like to take this opportunity to do the same.
Globetrotter and two times DFB Cup winner
Weise was born on the 21st November 1934 in Gröben (Saxony-Anhalt). Having played for a selection of teams (Teuchern, Fortschritt Weißenfels, SpVgg Neckarsulm, VfR Heilbronn), he embarked on a successful and varied coaching career. He coached Egypt in the 1990 World Cup, having won the domestic league the year before with Al-Ahly, and was Liechtenstein’s first ever national team manager.
In a 16 year Bundesliga coaching career Weise took charge of 371 matches. He managed 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt and Fortuna Düsseldorf and guided them all to the DFB Cup final, which he won in 1874 and 1975 with Frankfurt. He was not afraid to blood young players during his time in Germany, which proved instrumental when guiding Frankfurt to safety in the 1983/84 season. He gave debuts to Thomas Berthold and Ralf Falkenmayer, both of whom went on to represent Germany at senior level.
1981: Success with Germany’s youth teams
Weise took charge of Germany’s youth sides between 1978 and 1983 and was hugely successful, with 1981 being a particular highlight. In four months he guided the U18s to European Championship success and the U20s to a World Cup title despite selecting similar squads for both tournaments.
“I had a few problems because the clubs didn’t want to make their players available for the U20 World Cup in Australia,” explained the Coach later. “I wanted to take one of Thomas von Heesen, Reinhold Mathy or Uwe Rahn with me, but the Bundesliga came first. Consequently, I took my U18 squad with me, even though that made us the youngest team out there.”
The expectations for the World Cup were low. In the U18 European Championship Germany beat Poland 1-0 in the final and it wasn’t expected that the team would make a big impression in the U20 World Cup. Weise: “We hoped to make it out of the group stage. The camaraderie in the team helped us win the title; it wasn’t a fluke.”
Weise: "Matthäus, Klinsmann and Thon passed through my hands"
Germany beat Qatar 4-0 in the final, which was on 4th October 1981. Despite the success, only two of the squad went on to represent the Germany senior squad and neither of them played in a major tournament for them. Weise felt that this wasn’t out of the ordinary as often the career paths of young players are influenced by minute details. “Matthäus, Klinsmann, Berthold and Thon passed through my hands. They didn’t win anything with the youth teams but became World Champions in 1990.”
Whilst with the DFB, he tried to ensure that a golden generation of players didn’t stagnate. Weise remembers well the numerous phone calls he made to then Dortmund manager Branko Zebec aimed at getting him to select Ralf Loose and Michael Zorc more often.
Strange dismissal: Fired on the team bus
Weise was involved in a curious event in 1976 when managing Fortuna Düsseldorf. He wasn’t on the bench for a game in Berlin; having watched a different game earlier in the day his attempts to fly to the capital were thwarted by fog. As a result of this he found himself in the local TV studios keeping up with the game via the radio.
Weise was dismissed in two of the strangest ways in Bundesliga history. In 1973 he was removed from his position as Kaiserslautern manager on the team bus after an argument with the club’s board about the commitment of some of his players. Eintracht fired him in 1986 because he didn’t want to work with Wolfgang Kraus anymore. His position was deemed untenable by the board.
First Liechtenstein manager
Weise’s journey continued: He coached Al Ahly in Egypt for two years, as well as a spell in charge of the national team. He was then appointed Liechtenstein’s first ever national team manager. He couldn’t guide the principality to a victory; drawing 0-0 with Ireland was an on-pitch highlight. He did, however, oversee the construction of a national stadium in Vaduz, which he views as his greatest success: “We struggled five years for that.” He retired from football in 1996. Today is likely to be his busiest day in a long time.
