Klaus Schlappner (born 22 May 1940) is a German

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

. He is predominantly remembered for his first spell with

SV Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ov ...

, when he led them to the 2. Bundesliga title and several seasons 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 ...

as well as being the first foreign coach to manage the China national team.

Early career

Born in

Lampertheim Lampertheim () is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany. In 1984, the town hosted the 24th '' Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Location Lampertheim lies in the southwest corner of Hesse in the Rhine rift at the Biedensand Co ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Schlappner's early career in football was not particularly eventful. He played for his local football team in Lampertheim in his youth and only progressed up to amateur football or lower league regional football. He moved instead into coaching before he retired playing and achieved the necessary coaching certificates in 1976 before carrying on with his studies in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

to achieve a certificate in teaching football management.

Managerial career

Schlappner's career as a manager rose to prominence when he was able to lead

to win the 2. Bundesliga in the 1982–83 league season. During his time with them, he helped establish them within the

for the next several seasons and oversaw them through some of their most successful periods in the club's history until he left in 1987. at abseits-soccer.com Retrieved 13 January 2013 He rejoined his former club

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 ...

in the second tier to help them fight for promotion during the 1987–88 league season where they narrowly missed out on a position to the Bundesliga by losing a play-off position. The following seasons saw other second tier clubs

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...

and

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena () is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Founded in 1903, it was initially associated with the optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was one of the top-ranked clubs in East Germany, won ...

call for his services in their push for promotion, however, Schlappner was unable to achieve this with either team. In 1992, he led the China national team to the semi-finals of the

1992 AFC Asian Cup The 1992 AFC Asian Cup was the 10th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan between 29 October a ...

, but he was dismissed after the team failed to qualify for the

1994 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 1994 FIFA World Cup featured 24 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, United States, and one place for the defending cham ...

. He would nevertheless stay within China as a technical adviser for the football federation until he returned to Germany to manage SV Waldhof Mannheim again in 1996 to help them for their promotion bid to return to the Bundesliga, however his return was disappointing and he left before the season ended. He moved away from senior management but returned to Asia to help Iran to establish the newly re-branded

Iran Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

during 2000 as well as acting as an adviser for the

Mongolian Football Federation The Mongolian Football Federation () is the governing body of football in Mongolia. It was founded in 1959, and gained both FIFA and AFC affiliation in 1998. Its top league is the National Mongolian Premier League, Premier League. Association st ...

in 2006.

Honours

Waldhof Mannheim * 2. Bundesliga: 1982–83

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlappner, Klaus 1940 births Living people People from Lampertheim Sportspeople from Darmstadt (region) People from the People's State of Hesse German football managers China national football team managers 1992 AFC Asian Cup managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers SV Waldhof Mannheim managers 1. FC Saarbrücken managers FC Carl Zeiss Jena managers Chongqing Liangjiang Athletic F.C. managers Paykan F.C. managers German expatriate football managers German expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China German expatriate sportspeople in Iran Expatriate football managers in Iran