Biography

His sporting career began as a child when he became a member of "TSV 1860 Hanau" in 1968. In 1976 Völler moved to the "Kickers Offenbach" club, which he was a member of until 1980. From 1982 he played for "Werder Bremen", where he received his first contract as a professional player and became top scorer in the Bundesliga in his first year. At the same time, Völler made his debut in the German national team. In 1987 the footballer moved to the Italian first division club "AS Roma". Here the elegant dribbling artist became a star player. With Völler, the German national team, led by Franz Beckenbauer, became world champions in Italy in 1990. Rudi Völler led "AS Roma" to the Italian championship title in 1991. In 1992 he moved to "Olympic Marseille", with whom he won the European Cup in 1993.

In 1994, Rudi Völler returned to Germany to sign for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Here he ended his active professional career in 1996 after scoring 47 goals in 90 international matches for the German national team. Völler then served as sporting director at Bayer Leverkusen until 2001. After the German national team's weak start to the 2000 European Championship, Völler was appointed as temporary team boss of the German national team, succeeding Erich Ribbeck. When Christoph Daum resigned from his position as coach at Bayer Leverkusen due to allegations of drug abuse, Völler temporarily replaced him in this role. After the national team successfully qualified for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Völler's contract was extended until 2006. A highlight in Völler's coaching career was the German runner-up in the World Cup in 2002. In the World Cup final, his team lost 2-0 to Brazil.

In the same year Völler was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. He was also awarded the Capo Cicero Prize. Following the German national team's game against Iceland on September 6, 2003, which ended 0-0, Völler lost control in an ARD interview: In a steadily escalating outburst of anger, he attacked the ARD commentators Gerhard Delling and Günter Netzer their football coverage sharply. After the 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic in the preliminary round game of the 2004 European Championship in Portugal, Rudi Völler announced his resignation as coach of the national team on June 24th. Jürgen Klinsmann was appointed as his successor. Rudi Völler then signed on as coach of "AS Roma" in the Italian Serie A. However, after 25 days as "Roma coach", he surprisingly resigned from his position on September 26, 2004. Völler announced his decision immediately after AS Roma lost 3-1 to Bologna.

Following this, Völler became sports director of the Bundesliga club "Bayer Leverkusen" from January 18, 2005. He also announced in spring 2005 that he would act as RTL team boss for the broadcast of the 2006 World Cup. From November 2005 he will appear as a football presenter on the Cologne private broadcaster.

Rudi Völler is married to Sabrina for the second time. He is the father of three sons and two daughters.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth