David Wagner (soccer)

David Wagner
Personal information
Date of birth (1971-10-19) October 19, 1971
Place of birth Geinsheim am Rhein, West Germany
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Huddersfield Town (head coach)
Youth career
SV Geinsheim
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1991 Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (0)
1991–1995 Mainz 05 94 (19)
1995–1997 Schalke 04 29 (2)
1997–1999 FC Gütersloh 49 (7)
1999 SV Waldhof Mannheim 5 (0)
1999–2002 SV Darmstadt 98 76 (21)
2002–2004 TSG Weinheim
2004–2005 Germania Pfungstadt
National team
1996–1998 United States 8 (0)
Teams managed
2011–2015 Borussia Dortmund II
2015– Huddersfield Town

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


David Wagner (born October 19, 1971) is a German-American football manager and former professional player, who is the current manager of Football League Championship side Huddersfield Town in England.

Wagner grew up in Germany and made his professional debut with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1990 and played as a forward for several clubs in the first and second divisions of German football. The son of an American father and German mother, Wagner played for the United States national team, earning 8 caps between 1996 and 1998.

Playing career

On the recommendation of Wagner's Schalke 04 teammate Thomas Dooley, also a German of American descent playing for the US national program, Steve Sampson brought Wagner into the US national team in 1996 despite never having seen him play. Wagner had a U.S. passport, but had played for Germany’s U-18 and U-21 teams. This gave him additional credibility with Sampson but posed a problem as he could be considered ineligible to play for the United States.

In April 1997, after Canada lost to the U.S. in a World Cup qualifying match in which Wagner played, the Canadian Soccer Federation complained to FIFA that Wagner should be ineligible to play for the U.S. based on his appearances for Germany's youth teams. On May 2, 1997, FIFA announced that Wagner was eligible to play for the U.S. because his games with the German teams were exhibitions, not official matches.[1]

Managerial career

Wagner was appointed as Borussia Dortmund II manager with effect from July 1, 2011.[2] He left the role on November 1, 2015, amidst rumours that he was going to join Jürgen Klopp's backroom staff at Liverpool.[3][4] However, on November 5, 2015, he was appointed head coach of Huddersfield Town following the departure of Chris Powell.[5] Wagner brought Christoph Bühler, who also left Borussia Dortmund on November 1, 2015, with him as his assistant.[3][6]

In the summer of 2016, Wagner brought in 13 players from across the continent - with Danny Ward, Chris Löwe and Aaron Mooy amongst these. Wagner took his players on a bonding tour of Sweden, where they had to survive with only basic equipment for a few days.[7] The team's success in the early 2016/17 season was largely accredited to the squad's tight bond, something that Wagner claimed was a direct result of this Sweden trip. A few weeks later, they visited Austria and kept two clean sheets for matches against Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and FC Ingolstadt 04.[8]

After an unbeaten start to the 2016/17 season, Huddersfield Town were top of the table at the start of September,[9] including a win at St James' Park against Newcastle United,[10] and Wagner was awarded the Sky Bet Championship manager of the month.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 3 December 2016
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Huddersfield Town 9 November 2015 Present 52 19 10 23 36.5 [11]
Total 52 19 10 23 36.5 —

Honors

FC Schalke 04
Huddersfield Town

References

  1. ↑ Wagner Gets Approval for U.S. Team – New York Times
  2. ↑ "David Wagner coacht ab Juli die BVB-U23". kicker (in German). March 2, 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Borussia Dortmund und David Wagner beenden Zusammenarbeit" (in German). Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. October 31, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  4. ↑ "David Wagner leaves Dortmund U23 post amid Liverpool links". ESPN.com. November 3, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "David Wagner: Huddersfield name ex-Borussia Dortmund man as boss". BBC. November 5, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Press Association (November 5, 2015). "Huddersfield appoint former Dortmund reserves manager David Wagner". The Guardian. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ "Managers: David Wagner". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  12. ↑ Threlfall-Sykes, David (November 5, 2015). "Learn more about the new arrival". Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
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