Eberhard Dirk Schuster (born 29 December 1967) is a German professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, currently in charge of Georgian

Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა; ) is the top Division (sport), division of professional top tier Association football, football in Georgia (Country), Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional ...

club

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi ( Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი ტორპედო ქუთაისი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. The team competes in the Erovnuli ...

Club career

Schuster, who lived his youth in the

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, was one of the first East German players to make the move into the West, starting in

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. They compete in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier o ...

and soon moving on to

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

in 1991, where he established himself as a respected center-back. A move to

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in 1997 proved less successful, and in the following

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

years he played in Turkey and Austria. He then played for newly promoted Second Bundesliga club

LR Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a football in Germany, German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after th ...

in 2000, where he had a good stint, before he returned to Austria and then played in the Oberliga, the fourth-highest league with Waldhof.

International career

He was capped three times in the Germany national team and before that four times in the East Germany national team. He made his debut for

against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

in March 1990.

Managerial career

ASV Durlach

Schuster's first coaching job was as interim coach for ASV Durlach between 16 October 2006 and 10 January 2007.

Stuttgarter Kickers

On 30 May 2009, Schuster was named as the new head coach of the

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. The club currently plays in the Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German footb ...

, where he signed a two-year contract until 30 June 2011, which was prematurely extended on 1 April 2010 until 20 June 2012. He guided Kickers to the Regionalliga Süd title in 2011–12, and promotion to the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

, but was sacked in November 2012 after going five games without scoring a goal. He was appointed manager of 3. liga side SV Darmstadt 98 a month later. He finished with a record of 55 wins, 35 draws, and 26 losses.

Darmstadt 98

Schuster took over as

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

head coach on 28 December 2012. Despite Schuster helping Darmstadt 98 off the bottom of the league, they finished among the relegation places in the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, Schuster's Darmstadt avoided dropping into Germany's fourth tier, the Regionalliga Südwest, thanks to the failure of fierce local rival Kickers Offenbach in obtaining the licence for the new season due to going into administration. In the following season, to the surprise of all experts, Darmstadt managed to get third in the league which meant a relegation-promotion play-off spot for the 2. Bundesliga. Darmstadt faced

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia is most well known as ...

in the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

and won promotion in dramatic fashion after losing 1–3 at home in the first leg but turning the deficit around in the second leg and scoring the winning 4–2 in the 122nd minute which meant promotion on away goals. In the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, Schuster managed to surprise everyone for a second time by finishing 2nd in the league and achieving back-to-back promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

after a 33-year absence. He finished with a record of 53 wins, 43 draws, and 35 losses. He was later voted German Coach of the Year for his performance in the 2015–16 Bundesliga season.

Augsburg

Schuster took over as manager of

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

on 2 June 2016; he replaced

Markus Weinzierl Markus Weinzierl (born 28 December 1974) is a German football coach, who last managed 1. FC Nürnberg. As the manager of Jahn Regensburg, a position he held from 2008 to 2012, Weinzierl achieved promotion into the 2. Bundesliga. On 17 May 201 ...

who left for

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

. Schuster was sacked on 14 December 2016.

Return to Darmstadt

On 11 December 2017, Schuster was once again appointed manager of Darmstadt 98, replacing

Torsten Frings Torsten Klaus Frings (born 22 November 1976) is a German former Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who last managed SV Meppen. A former midfielder, throughout his career he played for several German clu ...

. He was sacked on 18 February 2019.

Erzgebirge Aue

Schuster was appointed as the new manager of

Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

on 26 August 2019. He left Aue after the 2020–21 season.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

He was named head coach of

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

on 10 May 2022. In November 2023, he was sacked.

Torpedo Kutaisi

In February 2025, Schuster took charge of

club

on a three-year deal.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Karlsruhe *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 1995–96

As a manager

Individual * German Football Manager of the Year: 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Dirk Living people 1967 births Footballers from Chemnitz East German men's footballers German men's footballers East Germany men's international footballers Germany men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) Men's association football defenders DDR-Oberliga players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Chemnitzer FC players FSV Zwickau players 1. FC Magdeburg players Eintracht Braunschweig players Karlsruher SC players 1. FC Köln players Antalyaspor footballers Admira Wacker players Rot Weiss Ahlen players SV Wilhelmshaven players SV Waldhof Mannheim players ASV Durlach players German football managers Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers 3. Liga managers Stuttgarter Kickers managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers FC Augsburg managers FC Erzgebirge Aue managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers FC Torpedo Kutaisi managers German expatriate men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Footballers from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt