Bernd Stange
Encyclopedia
Bernd Stange is a German
football manager
currently managing Belarus
.
Stange was born in a Sorbian
town of Saxony
. He started playing at an early age and was called into the East German youth team. He continued to play for Chemie Gnaschwitz in the lower divisions until 1965 and later a year at Vorwärts Bautzen before joining HSD DHfK Leipzig, playing until retiring in 1970.
, winning the GDR league
title twice in 1972 & 1975 and the GDR Cup
in 1973 and 1974.
In 1982 he was appointed head coach of East Germany
after years working as assistant coach and head coach of the Under 21s
.
After a successful six-year spell with the national team
, Stange returned to FC Carl Zeiss Jena
, now in the unified German
Bundesliga
and later moved to coach Hertha BSC where his old ties as an informant for the East German police, the Stasi
, surfaced. He was an 'Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter', which translates as 'unofficial employee'. His code name was 'IM Kurt Wegner'. His tasks included informing the Stasi
about his players' views of the government and whether any of them were breaking the law by making contact with West Germans
. He was stepped down after these allegations surfaced.
In 1994, after losing his job at VfB Leipzig, he decided to travel abroad and in 1995 he joined FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
. After the 1995–96 season Stange joined CSKA Kiev
.
In 1998 he joined Perth Glory
in the Australia
n National Soccer League
. Glory
under Stange in 2000 won the NSL
league title however failed in the Grand Final, losing on penalties to the Wollongong Wolves
after leading 3–0 at half-time. Stange was very popular among supporters in Perth
to the point where a demonstration was held to prevent him from being sacked. However, his abrupt nature with players and other club officials made him a number of enemies, leading to his departure from the club at the completion of his contract.
In 2001, he was given the opportunity to guide Oman
to the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan but was fired after less than three months in the job, just enough time for the German
to attract the attentions of Iraq
i sports officials, after his team beat Iraq
1–0.
Amid threats from the US President George W. Bush
of a possible military conflict with Iraq
, he arrived in Baghdad
in October 2002 and put pen to paper to a 4-year contract that included two clauses allowing him to leave in the event of war and to refuse any political comment.
In 2005 Stange joined Apollon Limassol
in Cyprus
and helped them to avoid relegation. The following season Apollon won unbeaten the Cypriot Championship after 12 years. Also, Apollon won the Super Cup a few months later for the first time. Stange had indicated that he would not be continuing in Cyprus
after the end of the 2005–06 regardless of results. However, after the success he had with the club, he continued for the 2006–07 season but resigned in the middle of that season because team was not doing well and lost its chance to win the Championship again.
On 30 July 2007, Stange was appointed by the Belarus Football Federation
to coach the national team
after previous manager Yuri Puntus
resigned the month before due to a poor performance in the Euro 2008 qualifying. For his first game on 22 August, against Israel
, Stange, to the surprise of fans and media called up many young players from the domestic league
, leaving veterans such as Denis Kovba
out of the rosters for the game. His debut ended in a 2–1 impressive victory despite questionable positioning of players on the field (e.g. Dmitri Mozolevski, striker, playing as a defender). With Stange, Belarus achieved its highest FIFA rating in its history, currently being ranked at 55th.
On October 7 2011, Belarus coach Bernd Stange will step down from his post after the end of the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign, the head of the country's football federation Sergei Rumas has announced. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1523255.html
Bernd Stange has often commented on his desire to eventually settle in Perth with his wife Dorothea.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
football manager
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
currently managing Belarus
Belarus national football team
The Belarus national football team represents Belarus in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk...
.
Stange was born in a Sorbian
Sorbian
Sorbian may refer to more than one article:* Sorbs, a Slavic people in modern day Germany* Sorbian languages, a group of closely related West Slavic languages-See also:...
town of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. He started playing at an early age and was called into the East German youth team. He continued to play for Chemie Gnaschwitz in the lower divisions until 1965 and later a year at Vorwärts Bautzen before joining HSD DHfK Leipzig, playing until retiring in 1970.
Coaching career
Stange went into coaching with FC Carl Zeiss JenaFC Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German association football club based in Jena, Thuringia.-History:The club was founded in May 1903 by workers at the Carl Zeiss AG optics factory as the company-sponsored Fussball-Club der Firma Carl Zeiss. The club underwent name changes in 1911 to Fussball Club Carl Zeiss...
, winning the GDR league
DDR-Oberliga
The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...
title twice in 1972 & 1975 and the GDR Cup
FDGB Pokal
The FDGB-Pokal was an elimination football tournament held annually in the former East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football after the DDR-Oberliga championship...
in 1973 and 1974.
In 1982 he was appointed head coach of East Germany
East Germany national football team
The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany....
after years working as assistant coach and head coach of the Under 21s
East Germany national under-21 football team
The East Germany national football team was the national football team of the German Democratic Republic. Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, East Germany's Under-21 team was formed. The team played until 1990, until East Germany ceased to be a separate country after...
.
After a successful six-year spell with the national team
East Germany national football team
The East Germany national football team was from 1952 to 1990 the football team of East Germany, playing as one of three post-war German teams, along with Saarland and West Germany....
, Stange returned to FC Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German association football club based in Jena, Thuringia.-History:The club was founded in May 1903 by workers at the Carl Zeiss AG optics factory as the company-sponsored Fussball-Club der Firma Carl Zeiss. The club underwent name changes in 1911 to Fussball Club Carl Zeiss...
, now in the unified German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
and later moved to coach Hertha BSC where his old ties as an informant for the East German police, the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
, surfaced. He was an 'Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter', which translates as 'unofficial employee'. His code name was 'IM Kurt Wegner'. His tasks included informing the Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
about his players' views of the government and whether any of them were breaking the law by making contact with West Germans
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. He was stepped down after these allegations surfaced.
In 1994, after losing his job at VfB Leipzig, he decided to travel abroad and in 1995 he joined FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Football Club Dnipro is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Dnipropetrovsk.-BRIT:The club's franchise traces its history all the way back when the first team that was formed in 1918 by the Petrovsky factory and was called as BRIT . The team participated in the regional competition...
. After the 1995–96 season Stange joined CSKA Kiev
FC Arsenal Kyiv
FC Arsenal Kyiv is a professional football club from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.-History:In the 1950s, a different club under the same name Arsenal Kyiv won the 1958 Ukrainian SSR Championship. However in 1963 the club was renamed to "Temp Kyiv". In 1964 the club was replaced by FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv...
.
In 1998 he joined Perth Glory
Perth Glory FC
Perth Glory Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, competing in Australia's top football competition the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League...
in the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n National Soccer League
National Soccer League
The National Soccer League is the former national association football competition in Australasia, overseen by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977, until its demise in 2004...
. Glory
Perth Glory FC
Perth Glory Football Club is a professional football club in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, competing in Australia's top football competition the A-League. Perth Glory is one of only three clubs to survive from the now defunct National Soccer League...
under Stange in 2000 won the NSL
National Soccer League
The National Soccer League is the former national association football competition in Australasia, overseen by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977, until its demise in 2004...
league title however failed in the Grand Final, losing on penalties to the Wollongong Wolves
Wollongong Wolves
The South Coast Wolves Football Club is an Australian Association football club based in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia currently playing in the NSW Premier League.The club was formed in 2009 as a not for profit organisation, run and owned by the community since the financial...
after leading 3–0 at half-time. Stange was very popular among supporters in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
to the point where a demonstration was held to prevent him from being sacked. However, his abrupt nature with players and other club officials made him a number of enemies, leading to his departure from the club at the completion of his contract.
In 2001, he was given the opportunity to guide Oman
Oman national football team
The Oman national football team is the national team of Oman. Although the team was officially founded in 1978, the squad was formed long before, and has established a proper football association in only December, 2005...
to the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan but was fired after less than three months in the job, just enough time for the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to attract the attentions of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i sports officials, after his team beat Iraq
Iraq national football team
The Iraqi national football team represents Iraq in international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association. They won the 2007 Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup tournament.-The Golden Generation:...
1–0.
Amid threats from the US President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
of a possible military conflict with Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, he arrived in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in October 2002 and put pen to paper to a 4-year contract that included two clauses allowing him to leave in the event of war and to refuse any political comment.
In 2005 Stange joined Apollon Limassol
Apollon Limassol
Apollon Limassol is a Greek Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon F.C...
in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and helped them to avoid relegation. The following season Apollon won unbeaten the Cypriot Championship after 12 years. Also, Apollon won the Super Cup a few months later for the first time. Stange had indicated that he would not be continuing in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
after the end of the 2005–06 regardless of results. However, after the success he had with the club, he continued for the 2006–07 season but resigned in the middle of that season because team was not doing well and lost its chance to win the Championship again.
On 30 July 2007, Stange was appointed by the Belarus Football Federation
Football Federation of Belarus
The Football Federation of Belarus is the governing body of football in Belarus. It organizes Belarusian Premier League, Belarusian national football team and the Belarus women's national football team. It is based in Minsk.-External links:...
to coach the national team
Belarus national football team
The Belarus national football team represents Belarus in association football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belarus, the governing body for football in Belarus. Belarus' home ground is Dinamo Stadium in Minsk...
after previous manager Yuri Puntus
Yuri Puntus
Yuri Puntus is a Belarusian football player and football manager. He quit playing football in 1987 because of an injury. Graduated from two universities: Belarusian Technological Institute in 1983 and Belarusian State University of Physical Culture in 1996...
resigned the month before due to a poor performance in the Euro 2008 qualifying. For his first game on 22 August, against Israel
Israel national football team
The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association .Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate...
, Stange, to the surprise of fans and media called up many young players from the domestic league
Belarusian Premier League
-Soviet era champions:*1934 BVO *1935 BVO *1936 BVO *1937 Dinamo *1938 Dinamo *1939 Dinamo *1940 DKA *1941-44 unknown...
, leaving veterans such as Denis Kovba
Denis Kovba
Dzyanis Yur'evich Kowba is a Belarusian footballer. He plays in midfield for FC Krylia Sovetov Samara and also for the Belarus national side.-International goals:-External links:...
out of the rosters for the game. His debut ended in a 2–1 impressive victory despite questionable positioning of players on the field (e.g. Dmitri Mozolevski, striker, playing as a defender). With Stange, Belarus achieved its highest FIFA rating in its history, currently being ranked at 55th.
On October 7 2011, Belarus coach Bernd Stange will step down from his post after the end of the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign, the head of the country's football federation Sergei Rumas has announced. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1523255.html
Bernd Stange has often commented on his desire to eventually settle in Perth with his wife Dorothea.
External links
- "From bullets in Baghdad to Belarus", BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
profile of Bernd Stange, 14 October 2008