Hennes Weisweiler

From player to coach in Cologne

The team 1. FC Köln was founded in 1948, and Weisweiler was in the first ever line-up for the club. After the club was promoted in 1949 into the western division of the then five ways split West German first division (Oberliga), he was given the role of player-manager. In this position, which he held until 1952 he played himself 62 times in the league. In 1955, he returned to the club for another three years as head coach, but left in 1958 to join local rivals Viktoria Köln, which also played in the Oberliga, but the club remained in the shadow of 1. FC. After the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Viktoria played in the second German division. The team achieved its best ever ranking in the last year of Weisweiler's rule of the club.

Years in Mönchengladbach

Weisweiler took over as manager of Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1964. The club's most recent major title had been its win in the German cup in 1960, and it had found itself in the second division after the inception of the Bundesliga, finishing eighth in the year before he arrived. Weisweiler found a team with young local talent, such as the 19-year-old Günter Netzer and Jupp Heynckes, as well as Bernd Rupp and Herbert Laumen, who later played for the national team. The next year Borussia, the average age of the players a mere 21.5, finished first in its division and gained promotion to the Bundesliga.

With the beginning of the new season another 19-year-old, Berti…

Manager

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Bundesliga: 1969–70, 1970–71, 1974–75; runner-up: 1973–74 DFB-Pokal: 1972–73 DFB-Ligapokal: runner-up 1972–73 UEFA Cup: 1974–75, runner-up: 1972–73 FC Köln

Bundesliga: 1977–78 DFB-Pokal: 1976–77, 1977–78; runner-up: 1953–54 New York Cosmos

North American Soccer League: 1980 Grasshopper

Swiss Nationalliga A: 1982–83 Swiss Cup: 1982–83

Individual

FourFourTwo 69th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2020 France Football 38th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019