Alexander Strehmel (born 20 March 1968) is a German

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 and a former professional player who played as a defender or

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He managed

Michigan Stars FC Michigan Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Metro Detroit area. The team currently competes in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). The Michigan Stars play their home games at the 5,000-capacity ...

Club career

Strehmel began his career with

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

, and broke into the first team during the 1986–87 season, in which he made sixteen appearances in 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 ...

. He continued to play steadily over the next few years, and helped the club to the

1989 UEFA Cup Final The 1989 UEFA Cup Final was an association football tie played on 3 May 1989 and 17 May 1989 between Napoli of Italy and Stuttgart of West Germany. Captained by Diego Maradona, Napoli won the two-legged final 5–4 on aggregate to win their first m ...

, although he missed the entire second half of the 1988–89 season, including final itself (a defeat against

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

). Three years later came the greatest success of Strehmel's career as Stuttgart won the Bundesliga title. He made 25 appearances during the season, as the club overhauled

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

with a 4–2 win over the latter on the last day of the season to become German champions. Strehmel played in the match as a late substitute for Andreas Buck, with the score at 3–1. By the 1993–94 season, Strehmel was used less frequently (only thirteen appearances), so he left Stuttgart in July 1994, after over 150 league appearances for the club. He signed for

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

of the 2. Bundesliga, where he spent two seasons, the second of which saw the club relegated in last place. Strehmel stayed in the second tier, though, signing for

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 ...

. In the 1998–99 season, Unterhaching finished in second place, earning promotion to the Bundesliga, where they would spend the next two seasons. The first season they finished a very respectable tenth, and were involved in another dramatic title race - their 2–0 win over

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

on the last day of the season handing the German championship to their neighbours

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. However, Unterhaching finished 16th the following season, and this relegation was followed by another - they finished 15th in the 2. Bundesliga and were relegated to the Regionalliga Süd. They immediately bounced back as champions, before Strehmel left the club midway through the 2003–04 season, returning to the Regionalliga Süd to join

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 ...

. He retired from football at the end of the 2004–05 season, after only eight appearances in eighteen months for Augsburg.

International career

Strehmel was part of the West Germany under-20 team that went to the

1987 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Chile from 10 to 25 October 1987. The 1987 championship was the 6th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship and won for the first time by Yugoslavia. Remarkably, in the course of the tourn ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. He played in all six matches as West Germany reached the final, scoring once in a group game against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. He also scored a penalty in the shoot-out in the final against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, but West Germany lost 5–4. Strehmel also won 8 caps for the under-21 team between 1988 and 1990.

Coaching career

Since retiring from football, Strehmel has been a coach, usually working as assistant to

Lorenz-Günther Köstner Lorenz-Günther Köstner (born 30 January 1952) is a retired German footballer who is now a football manager who last managed Fortuna Düsseldorf. Following the sacking of Armin Veh on 25 January 2010, he was named interim manager of VfL Wolfsbur ...

, who had been his manager at

. The pair have worked at

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional association football, football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into bei ...

, and

VfL Wolfsburg II VfL Wolfsburg II was a German association football team from the city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was the reserve team of VfL Wolfsburg. The team's greatest success was two league championships in the tier four Regionalliga Nord, in 2013–14 ...

. He became coach at

of the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

, the US third tier.

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

finalist: 1989 *

: 1992

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strehmel, Alexander 1968 births Living people People from Hann. Münden Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers VfB Stuttgart players SG Wattenscheid 09 players SpVgg Unterhaching players FC Augsburg players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players German football managers National Independent Soccer Association coaches German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Footballers from Lower Saxony 20th-century German sportsmen