Uli Stielike

Ulrich "Uli" Stielike (born 15 November 1954) is a German former footballer and manager.

Usually a central midfielder or sweeper, Stielike was well known for his stamina and footballing intelligence.

Stielike is one of a small handful of players (Rainer Bonhof and Manfred Kaltz are others) to have played in all three European club finals (the European Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup), the FIFA World Cup Final and the UEFA European Championship Final.

A central figure for the defence of Real Madrid in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, Stielike could only partially live up to those expectations in his duties for West Germany.

Early hopes had been that he could be the ideal successor of legendary sweeper Franz Beckenbauer, with whom he played in a few internationals in the 1970s, but Stielike's playing strengths did not lend itself to that role.

Stielike was a West Germany youth international for hometown club SpVgg Ketsch when he got signed by UEFA Cup runner-up Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1973, first coming to action as a full back for the then two-times German Bundesliga champion.

Playing in defensive midfield for his club, he was part of the Mönchengladbach team that won the Bundesliga titles in 1975, 1976 and 1977 and the UEFA Cup in 1975, and he gained a runner-up medal in the European Cup in 1977 following a 3–1 loss to Liverpool in the final.

In five seasons he amassed 109 Bundesliga matches.

Stielike was capped in 42 internationals with West Germany from 1975 to 1984 with whom he won 1980 UEFA European Football Championship and the runner-up medal at the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Ahead of the 1977–78 season, Stielike moved on to join Real Madrid to become a reliable fan-favourite in his eight years with Los merengues.

His first three seasons at Santiago Bernabéu all ended in Real winning La Liga.

Following representatives votes of Spanish paper Don Balón, Stielike was four times in a row selected 'Best Foreign Player' in La Liga between 1978 and 1981.

Stielike did not feature for his country in the 1978 FIFA World Cup after the German Football Association under Hermann Neuberger had decided to force their national coaches to not select players playing their club football outside the Bundesliga.

In 1980 and 1982, he was part of the side winning Copa del Rey, in 1985 he added the Copa de la Liga, and finished off his Madrid years with the UEFA Cup triumph of the same summer.

Stielike played in the now legendary semi-final match of the 1982 World Cup against France, which ended in a 3–3 draw after extra time.

A famous photograph from the resulting shootout showed Stielike being consoled by a young Pierre Littbarski after having just missed a penalty, his head buried in Littbarski's shirt.

West Germany eventually won 5–4 on penalties, and then went on to lose 3–1 to Italy in the final.

Stielike's final appearance for his country took place against Argentina (3–1 loss) in September 1984 in Beckenbauer's first match in charge of West Germany.

Over those years Stielike scored three goals, the last in a 3–2 win over Bulgaria in Varna in February 1984.

Shortly afterwards he was named in Jupp Derwall's squad for the 1984 UEFA European Football Championship.

Stielike usually played as a central midfielder, although he was also capable of playing as a sweeper.

A combative and imposing player, he was well known for his stamina, positioning, commitment, and footballing intelligence, as well as his personality and forcefulness in midfield.

In 1985, Stielike joined Neuchâtel Xamax and won two Swiss Super League trophies in 1987 and 1988 with the club.

Stielike retired from his playing career in 1988.

He appeared for Mönchengladbach, Real Madrid and Xamax in 83 matches in the European cup competitions.

After his retirement from his playing career, Stielike was the coach of the Switzerland national football team from 1989 to 1991 as successor of Daniel Jeandupeux and predecessor of Roy Hodgson.

From 1994 to 1996, Stielike also had managerial spells at club level with UD Almería in Spain and SV Waldhof Mannheim in the 2. Bundesliga in Germany.

In 1998, Stielike had been interviewed by Egidius Braun, the then chairman of the German Football Association, following a vacancy occurred through the resignation of Berti Vogts from the head coaching job of Germany in 1998.

He believed Braun would offer him the succession of Vogts, consequently heading into an interview with kicker (Sports magazine) in this (mistaken) belief.

After further talks with Braun had disclosed that Stielke would only be appointed assistant coach rather than head coach, Stielike had to retract some remarks (e.g. concerning Andreas Möller).

From 9 September 1998 to 7 May 2000, Stielike had been the assistant to then Germany coach Erich Ribbeck.

Shortly before 2000 UEFA European Championship, which ended in a disaster for the Germans, Stielike stepped down from his role as assistant due to differences in some respects with Ribbeck.

He was replaced by Horst Hrubesch for the tournament.

Stielike spent six years working with different youth teams (i.e. the U21 side until 2004) of Germany and manager of Germany national under-20 football team of 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship and 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.

On 14 September 2006, Stielike penned a contract with to take over the Ivory Coast national team in succession of Frenchman Henri Michel, subsequent to the elimination of the team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Stielike stepped down as Les Éléphants coach on 7 January 2008 due to his son's alarming ill health.

On 1 February, Michael Stielike, 23, died after failing to receive a lung transplant, with his health gradually deteriorating until he was eventually put on life support.

On 31 May 2008, he agreed to coach Swiss side FC Sion, but was fired on 3 November 2008.

On 5 January 2009 he then signed a contract with Al-Arabi Sports Club.

On 5 September 2014, Stielike was named manager of the South Korea national team, signing a four-year contract running through the 2018 World Cup.