Thomas Strunz

Thomas Strunz (born 25 April 1968 in Duisburg) is a former German footballer, who played mostly as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Strunz started his career playing for hometown club MSV Duisburg, but moved still in his teens to FC Bayern Munich, first representing its junior side. He made his German first division debut on 31 August 1989, in a 4–0 home smashing of Hamburger SV, and proceeded to score five in 20 matches in his debut season.

After two more seasons, he joined VfB Stuttgart in 1992–93, scoring five goals in his first season, before returning to Bayern after three years. In his two spells with the Bavarian outfit, Strunz won five championship medals and two German cups, adding the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, in which he scored two goals in nine games. In his final two seasons, he barely played due to recurrent injuries, and retired during the 2000–01 season, as Bayern won back-to-back league titles.

After retiring, Strunz served as general manager at VfL Wolfsburg for nearly a year, being fired on 19 December 2005. Together with head coach Holger Fach, who was also fired the same day, he was awarded €2.750.000 as compensation.^[1] In April 2008, he enrolled in the same capacity at lowly Rot-Weiss Essen, being fired on 12 September of the following year.^[2]

International career

Strunz made his debut for Germany on 10 October 1990, in a 3–1 friendly win in Sweden. He went on to represent the nation at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the victorious UEFA Euro 1996.

During the latter competition, he appeared in five matches, being sent off against Italy, converting his penalty shootout attempt in the semifinals and playing the entire final, against Czech Republic.

Personal

• Strunz's wife, Claudia, left him for fellow German international Stefan Effenberg.^[3]

• On 10 March 1998, he was one of the main targets in a furious press conference held by then Bayern manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who addressed the media in (broken) German.^[4][5]

Honours

Club

• German League: 1989–90, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01
• UEFA Cup: 1995–96
• German Cup: 1997–98, 1999–2000; Runner-up 1998–99
• German League Cup: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
• UEFA Champions League: Runner-up 1998–99

Country

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1996

References

External links

• Career stats at Fussballdaten (German)

v • d • e Germany squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Illgner • 2 Strunz • 3 Brehme • 4 Kohler • 5 Helmer • 6 Buchwald • 7 Möller • 8 Häßler • 9 Riedle • 10 Matthäus • 11 Kuntz • 12 Köpke • 13 Völler • 14 Berthold • 15 Gaudino • 16 Sammer • 17 Wagner • 18 Klinsmann • 19 Kirsten • 20 Effenberg • 21 Basler • 22 Kahn • Coach: Vogts

v • d • e Germany squad – UEFA Euro 1996 Winners (3rd title) 1 Köpke • 2 Reuter • 3 Bode • 4 Freund • 5 Helmer • 6 Sammer • 7 Möller • 8 Scholl • 9 Bobic • 10 Häßler • 11 Kuntz • 12 Kahn • 13 Basler • 14 Babbel • 15 Kohler • 16 Schneider • 17 Ziege • 18 Klinsmann • 19 Strunz • 20 Bierhoff • 21 Eilts • 22 Reck • 23 Todt • Coach: Vogts