Helmut Schön

Who was Helmut Schön?

Helmut Schön was a German football player and manager. He is best remembered for his exceptional career as manager of West Germany.

He played for Dresdner SC, winning the German football championship in 1943 and 1944 as well as the cup in 1941 and 1942. He appeared 16 times for his country between 1937 and 1941, scoring 17 goals. After World War II he began his career in football management in his native state of Saxony, then part of Soviet-occupied East Germany. He was in charge of coaching selections from Saxony and the Soviet occupation zone before political interference to the sport made him flee to Western Germany in 1950. Having played in Hamburg even during his Friedrichstadt spell, he now was appointed player-coach with Hertha BSC Berlin where he had several former team-mates in his squad but left before the end of the season. Schön became a licensed coach in Cologne before managing Wiesbaden. Between 1952 and 1956, he was in charge of the then-independent Saarland side, who met West Germany in qualification for the 1954 World Cup.