Matthias Sammer is a German football official and former player and coach.
28 Facts About Matthias Sammer
2.
Matthias Sammer played as a defensive midfielder and later in his career as a sweeper.
3.
Matthias Sammer retired with 74 total caps, 23 for East Germany and 51 for the unified side.
4.
Matthias Sammer started his career at Dynamo Dresden when he joined the club's youth team as a nine-year-old in 1976.
5.
Matthias Sammer was formally an officer of the Volkspolizei, as a player of Dynamo Dresden.
6.
Matthias Sammer enrolled into the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment as a 19-year-old.
7.
Matthias Sammer then served as a non-commissioned officer in the Guards Regiment for three years from 1987, holding the rank of sergeant in the Stasi.
8.
Matthias Sammer has explained that he would not have been able to continue to play football for Dynamo Dresden if he had refused to serve with the Guards Regiment and that he never saw any weapon or took part in any military exercise.
9.
Matthias Sammer has described his employment with the Guard Regiment as an alibi to play football to Dynamo Dresden.
10.
Matthias Sammer scored 11 times in his debut season as Stuttgart finished sixth in the Bundesliga.
11.
Matthias Sammer made 17 Bundesliga appearances in the second half of the season, scoring ten times.
12.
Matthias Sammer made only three further Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund before suffering a serious knee injury which he failed to recover from and retired in 1998.
13.
Matthias Sammer himself was named Footballer of the Year in both 1995 and 1996 and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1996, making him the first defender to win the Ballon d'Or since Franz Beckenbauer in 1976.
14.
Matthias Sammer was part of the East German squads which won the 1986 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship and finished third at the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship.
15.
On 12 September 1990, Matthias Sammer captained East Germany in its final match.
16.
On 19 December 1990, Matthias Sammer debuted for the newly formed unified Germany national football team, which was mostly made up of the West Germany team that had won the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
17.
Matthias Sammer was a member of the German squad for UEFA Euro 1992, where the team was beaten in the final by Denmark.
18.
Matthias Sammer was selected for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as Germany was surprisingly knocked out by the underdog Bulgaria at the quarter-final stage.
19.
In UEFA Euro 1996, Matthias Sammer played in the libero role he had been converted to at Borussia Dortmund.
20.
Matthias Sammer scored the opening goal in Germany's second group match against Russia and the winning goal against Croatia in the quarter-final.
21.
On 7 June 1997, Matthias Sammer played his final match for Germany in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in Kyiv.
22.
Matthias Sammer did not take part at the 1998 FIFA World Cup due to injury.
23.
Matthias Sammer usually played as a sweeper during the height of his career, and in particular in later years, although he was capable of playing in several midfield and offensive roles; indeed, he was often deployed further up the pitch earlier in his career, including in a holding role, as an attacking midfielder, as a central midfielder, as a left winger, as a deep-lying playmaker, or even as a striker on occasion, courtesy of his technique, stamina, passing ability, and vision.
24.
Matthias Sammer led Borussia Dortmund to another Bundesliga title in 2002.
25.
Matthias Sammer was expected to work on a tactical system for all of Germany's national sides in close co-operation with national coach Joachim Low.
26.
Matthias Sammer is credited of having led the declining quality of German football from its worst era at the beginning of the 2000s to new success through several talented players developed in the restructured youth system.
27.
Matthias Sammer is married and has three children, Sarah, Marvin, and Leon.
28.
Matthias Sammer is the son of Klaus Sammer, a former player and manager of Dynamo Dresden.