Dirk Schuster

Dirk Schuster

Personal information
Date of birth	(1967-12-29) 29 December 1967
Place of birth	Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany
Height
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	SV Darmstadt 98 (Manager)
Youth career
1985–1986	FC Karl-Marx-Stadt
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1988	Sachsenring Zwickau	12	(1)
1988–1990	1. FC Magdeburg	40	(0)
1990–1991	Eintracht Braunschweig	35	(4)
1991–1997	Karlsruher SC	167	(3)
1997–1999	1. FC Köln	62	(5)
1999–2000	Antalyaspor	29	(0)
2000	VfB Admira Wacker Mödling	10	(0)
2001–2002	LR Ahlen	50	(6)
2002–2004	SV Wilhelmshaven	36	(4)
2004–2006	SV Waldhof Mannheim	66	(4)
2006	ASV Durlach
2007	Alemannia Wilferdingen
International career
1990	East Germany	4	(0)
1994–1995	Germany	3	(0)
Managerial career
2007	ASV Durlach
2009–2012	Stuttgarter Kickers
2012–	SV Darmstadt 98
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dirk Schuster (born 29 December 1967) is a retired German football player who played as a defender; he is now manager of SV Darmstadt 98.

Career

Dirk Schuster in 1990

Schuster, who lived his youth in the East Germany, was one of the first East German players to make the move into the West, starting in Eintracht Braunschweig and soon moving on to Karlsruher SC in 1991, where he established himself as a respected center-back.

A move to 1. FC Köln in 1997 proved less successful, and in the following journeyman years he played in Turkey and Austria. He then played for newly promoted Second Bundesliga club LR Ahlen in 2000, where he has a good stint, before he returned to Austria and then played in the Oberliga, the fourth-highest league with Waldhof.

International career

He was capped three times in the German national team and before that four times in the East German national team. He made his debut for East Germany against the United States in East Berlin in March 1990.

Managerial career

ASV Durlach

Schusters first coaching job was as interim coach for ASV Durlach between 16 October 2006 and 10 January 2007.

Stuttgarter Kickers

On 30 May 2009 he was named as the new head coach of the Stuttgarter Kickers, where he signed a two-year contract until 30 June 2011, which was prematurely extended on 1 April 2010 until 20 June 2012. He guided Kickers to the Regionalliga Süd title in 2011–12, and promotion to the 3. Liga, but was sacked in November 2012 after going five games without scoring a goal. He was appointed manager of 3. liga side SV Darmstadt 98 a month later.

SV Darmstadt 98

Despite Schuster helping Darmstadt 98 off the bottom of the league, they finished among the relegation places in the 2012–13 season, Schuster's Darmstadt avoided dropping into Germany's fourth tier, the Regionalliga Südwest, thanks to the failure of fierce local rival Kickers Offenbach in obtaining the licence for the new season due to going into administration.

In the following season, to the surprise of all experts, Darmstadt managed to get third in the league which meant a relegation-promotion play-off spot for the 2. Bundesliga. Darmstadt faced Arminia Bielefeld in the play-off and won promotion in dramatic fashion after losing 1-3 at home in the first leg but turning the deficit around in the second leg and scoring the winning 4-2 in the 122nd minute which meant promotion on away goals.

In the following season Schuster managed to surprise everyone for a second time by finishing 2nd in the league and achieving back-to-back promotion to the Bundesliga after a 33-year absence.

Managerial statistics

As of 7 February 2016

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %	Ref.
Stuttgarter Kickers	5 June 2009	19 November 2011	116	55	35	26	47.41
SV Darmstadt 98	28 December 2012	Present	117	51	36	30	43.59
Total			233	106	71	56	45.49	—

Honours

• DFB-Pokal finalist: 1996.

External links

• Dirk Schuster profile at Fussballdaten
• Dirk Schuster at weltfussball.de (German)
• Dirk Schuster at National-Football-Teams.com