Sandro Wagner (; born 29 November 1987) is a German football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker. He is the head coach of

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tie ...

side

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

. He began his career at Bayern Munich but made only eight appearances in his first spell at the club. He subsequently represented

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

and SV Werder Bremen, Hertha BSC, SV Darmstadt 98 and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

before returning to Bayern in January 2018. Wagner was part of the German side that won the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

. He earned eight caps and scored five goals for the senior team, winning the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

Club career

Early career

left, 140px, Wagner with Werder Bremen in 2011 Wagner scored his first goal for Bayern Munich in a 2–0 victory over

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

in the

2007 DFL-Ligapokal The 2007 DFL-Ligapokal was the 11th and final edition of the DFL-Ligapokal. The competition could not be scheduled in 2008, due to fixture congestion caused by UEFA Euro 2008, and did not return in 2009. An unofficial Super Cup ran in these years, ...

, a six team pre-season tournament composing of the top four

teams, the winners of the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

and the first-place team from the

. Wagner started the match in place of the ill

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, pl, Mirosław Józef Klose; born 9 June 1978 as Mirosław Marian Klose) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Austrian Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach. A striker, Klose ...

. He assisted the first goal of the match for

Franck Ribéry Franck Henry Pierre Ribéry (; born 7 April 1983) is a French former professional footballer who primarily played as a winger, preferably on the left side, and was known for his pace, energy, skill, and precise passing. Ribéry has been des ...

and scored himself in the 66th minute. He also made appearances for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

during the 2005–06, 2006–07, and 2007–08 seasons. On 10 June 2008, Wagner moved to

before signing for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

on 31 January 2010. During the 2008–09 season, Wagner scored nine goals in 32 matches. During the 2009–10 season, Wagner scored five goals in seven matches. On 19 January 2012, Wagner was loaned to

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

Hertha BSC and Darmstadt

He then played for Hertha BSC and

Hertha BSC II Hertha BSC II is the reserve team of Hertha BSC that is based in Berlin, Germany. Historically, during the time the senior team played in professional football the team has played as Hertha BSC Amateure. Since 2005 it permanently plays under its ...

from 2012 to 2015. He scored six goals in 32 matches for Hertha and one goal in one match for the reserve team during the 2012–13 season. He scored two goals in 25 matches for Hertha in the 2013–14 season. He also played a match for the reserve team without scoring a goal. In his final season with Hertha, he played 16 matches for the first team and one match for the reserve team without scoring a goal for either team. On 8 August 2015, Wagner signed for SV Darmstadt 98. During the 2015–16 season, Wagner scored 15 goals in 34 matches played.

1899 Hoffenheim

On 30 June 2016, Wagner joined fellow

club

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 189 ...

by signing a contract until June 2019. He was presented the same day, and took squad number 14, stating: “Hoffenheim are a great club and their ambition impressed me straight away.” He made his competitive debut with the team on 28 August 2016 in the opening

matchday against newcomers of

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

which ended in a 2–2 home draw. He opened his scoring account in the second matchday against

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

, netting his team's first goal as Hoffenheim came from three goals down to earn a 4–4 away draw. On 31 March 2017, he had his finger dislocated after a clash with Hertha captain

Vedad Ibišević Vedad Ibišević (; born 6 August 1984) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently assistant head coach of Hertha BSC. Ibišević started his professional career at Paris Saint-Germain. He had a two-yea ...

, nevertheless he went on to play until the end of the match, also assisting

Andrej Kramarić Andrej Kramarić (; born 19 June 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim and the Croatia national team. Kramarić started his football career in his hometo ...

for the third goal in an eventual 1–3 away win. Wagner finished his first Hoffenheim season by netting 11 league goals in 31 appearances, 30 of them as starter, adding two cup appearances and one goal, being important for

Julian Nagelsmann Julian Nagelsmann (born 23 July 1987) is a German professional Association football manager, football manager and former Association football player, football player who is the head coach of FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. Prior to managing Baye ...

's side that finished the league undefeated at home, securing a spot in Champions League play-off round for next season. On 9 July 2017, Wagner agreed a contract extension, adding one more year to his current contract. During the 2017–18 season, before transferring to Bayern, Wagner scored six goals in 17 matches.

Return to Bayern Munich

Wagner training with Bayern Munich in 2018 On 21 December 2017, it was announced that Wagner would transfer to Bayern Munich on 1 January 2018. He signed a contract until 2020. Wagner's first match since his return was when he came on as a substitute against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

on 12 January 2018. He opened his scoring account on 27 January by netting the last goal of a 5–2 home win over his former side 1899 Hoffenheim. He played his first match as starter the next week in the 2–0 away win against

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. Wagner scored his second ever UEFA Champions League goal, the first in Bayern colours, on 14 March in the second leg of

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

versus Beşiktaş as Bayern won 3–1 at

Vodafone Park Vodafone Park is an all-seater An all-seater stadium is a sports stadium in which every spectator has a seat. This is commonplace in professional association football stadiums in nations such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Nethe ...

and progressed 8–1 on aggregate. Wagner started the 2018–19 season by coming in as a substitute in a 5–0 win in the

2018 DFL-Supercup The 2018 DFL-Supercup was the ninth edition of the German super cup under the name DFL-Supercup, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal competitions. The match was played on 12 August ...

. During the 2018–19 season with Bayern, he scored one goal in 12 appearances in all competitions.

Tianjin TEDA

Although his contract with Bayern was supposed to expire in 2020, he asked for it to be terminated due to his growing frustrations with his playing time on the pitch. On 30 January 2019, Wagner transferred to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

club

Tianjin TEDA Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

for €5 million. Bayern sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, said that he "has a very attractive offer from China and we have met his request" and he thanked Wagner for "spending time with FC Bayern" and wished him "all the best and much success for his future in China". In his first season, he scored 12 goals in 26 matches played. On 24 July 2020, Wagner terminated his contract with Tianjin TEDA.

Retirement

Wagner announced his retirement on 2 August 2020. Overall he scored more than 60 goals in the two top divisions of German pro football.

International career

Youth

Wagner earned eight caps for Germany at under-21 level, scoring four goals, including two in the final of the

in Sweden where Germany beat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

4–0.

Senior

120px, Wagner with Germany in 2017 In June 2017, Wagner received his first call-up to the senior national team for a friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. He made his competitive debut on 6 June in the 1–1 away draw against Denmark, playing for more than 60 minutes. Four days later, he scored a hat-trick as Germany thrashed San Marino 7–0. His performance was praised by national team manager

Joachim Löw Joachim Löw (born 3 February 1960) is a German football coach and former player. He was the manager of the Germany national team from 2006 until 2021. During his tenure as manager, he led Germany to victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil ...

. Wagner was also part of the

squad that won the tournament. His first and only appearance came on 19 June in the opening

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

match against Australia, missing several good chances to score as Germany won 3–2. After that, he was benched in favour of

Timo Werner Timo Werner (; born 6 March 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Germany national team. Werner began his senior club career in 2013 playing for VfB Stuttgart, becoming the clu ...

and Lars Stindl as Germany defeated

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

1–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Wagner finished 2017 by scoring against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

. On 16 May 2018, after being left out from Germany's World Cup squad, Wagner announced his retirement from international football.

Coaching career

SpVgg Unterhaching

In March 2021, Wagner was first announced as new head coach of the youth (Under-19) team. However, on 25 June 2021, he was presented as head coach of the first team starting on 1 July 2021.

Style of play

Wagner was known for aerial power and strength, and was distinguished as a hard-working player. He was also physically imposing and direct, and praised as a striker who could "wreak havoc" in defences. Speaking in June 2017, Germany manager Joachim Löw stated that Wagner had "maturity and personality and one who stands by his own opinion".

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Germany score listed first, score column indicates score after each Wagner goal.''

Honours

Bayern Munich *

: 2007–08, 2017–18 *

DFL-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous B ...

: 2007 * DFL-Supercup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

Germany U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: 2009 Germany * FIFA Confederations Cup:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Sandro 1987 births Living people Footballers from Munich German footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Germany international footballers Association football forwards FC Bayern Munich II players FC Bayern Munich footballers MSV Duisburg players SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Hertha BSC II players Hertha BSC players SV Darmstadt 98 players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Chinese Super League players 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players SpVgg Unterhaching managers German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China German expatriate sportspeople in China