Pierre Littbarski is a true legend of Cologne and the German national team of the eighties. This footballer played the position of an attacking midfielder and spent almost his entire career as a member of the “goats”. Unfortunately, he could not win a large number of top trophies, but at the same time he was remembered for all his incredible playing style. How was the career of this player? What clubs did Pierre Littbarski play in and what does he do after his career ends?
Career start and prosperity at Cologne
Already at the age of seven, a little boy Pierre Littbarski was in the academy of the German club Schoneberg, where he spent almost a decade before moving to the more impressive Hertha academy from Celendorf. He spent three years there, but when it came time to sign a professional contract, the eighteen-year-old boy received an offer from Cologne, which he could not refuse. So in 1978, Pierre was in a club with which he connected almost his entire career. In the first season, he spent only half of the possible matches, that is, sixteen, scoring four goals. But as early as next year, Pierre Littbarski became the main player in Cologne, its leader, heart and motor. He spent eight years with the “goats”, and only in 1986, when he was 26 years old, the midfielder decided to move to another club, not in Germany, but abroad. At that time, Littbarski had 234 matches for Cologne and 89 goals, which was an impressive indicator.
Going to Racing
In those days, incredible amounts were not yet paid for players, so the equivalent of the modern 1.4 million euros was so impressive that the Littbarski transfer was included in the top ten most expensive transfers of that year. And the player was worth the money - so incredible he showed football. Pierre Littbarski, however, spent only one year at Racing, playing in 34 matches and scoring 4 goals. What happened then? The thing is that Cologne decided to return its legend by paying a little more to the French club than was spent a year ago. As a result, Pierre returned to Germany, to the camp of the "goats", with whom in 1983 he won the German Cup.
Return to Cologne
In Cologne, the midfielder, of course, immediately got a seat at the base and spent another six years without ever winning a single trophy. However, he won the status of a real hero, which is still considered Pierre Littbarski. The statistics of this football player in this club are simply incredible - 406 games and 116 goals. At the moment he is the third player in the number of matches spent for the team - he is only ahead of Tony Schumacher and Wolfgang Overath. The same goes for the number of goals scored - Pierre, again, was in third place in history, losing to Hannes Lor and Dieter Müller. Why, then, six years after returning from France, Littbarski scored so few goals? The fact is that he initially played as a drawn forward, but eventually became an attacking midfielder, and his task was not to complete the attacks, but to build them.
Japanese period
However, Littbarski did not finish his career at Cologne. In 1993, at the age of 33, he moved to the Japanese club United Itihara, where he played two seasons, having played 74 matches and scoring 12 goals. After this, Pierre thought about ending his career and even took over the duties of the youth club's Japanese club coach, but in 1996 decided to play one more year - he spent 37 games for the Vegalta Sendai club and scored 6 goals. Then, in 1997, at the age of 37, Pierre Littbarski announced the completion of a professional career.
Coaching
To date, Littbarski works in the Wolfsburg FC system, but before that he has replaced more than one club. Until December 2000, he coached Japanese clubs, after which he returned to Germany, to Leverkusen Bayer as assistant coach to Bertie Vogts. He then coached Duisburg from 2001 to 2002, returned to Japan for three years to head the Yokohama again, from there he moved to the Australian Sydney for a year, and from 2007 to 2008 he coached another Japanese club, Avsipu Fukuoku ". Then he was at the helm of the Saipa Iranian club, and even managed to train the Vaduz club from Liechsteinstein for two years. And already in 2010, Littbarski returned to Germany, to the Wolfsburg FC, where he became an assistant to Steve McClaren. He worked in this position until the Scot was fired, after which he served as head coach for a month - until the arrival of Felix Magath, from whom he again became an assistant. And when Magat was fired at the beginning of 2012, Littbarski decided to change the direction of his activities - he got the position of the main scout in the club and still holds it.