Lothar Matthäus Biography
Lothar Matthäus has played 150 games for Germany and is one of the best players in the history of German soccer. Since his retirement, Matthäus has managed soccer teams like the Hungarian and Bulgarian national teams, Rapid Wien, and Belgrade.
Childhood
Lothar was born on March 21st, 1961, in Erlangen, Germany. He is the son of Katharina and Heinz Matthäus.
He started his soccer career playing for 1. FC Herzogenaurach when he was 9 years old and played his entire youth for this team. In 1979, Matthäus was signed by German Bundesliga team, Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Because Gladbach's coach, Jupp Heynkes, was a big fan of the 18-year-old, Matthäus immediately became part of the starting squad. Gladbach reached the final of the UEFA Cup that season, but lost against Frankfurt in the final.
He made his debut for the German national team on June 14th, 1980 when he was substituted in the 73th minute in Germany's European Championship opener against the Netherlands.
He would go on to improve his performances in the following years and caught the interest of several big European teams. He moved to German record champion Bayern Munich in the summer of 1984. Munich paid about $2 million for him.
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Bayern Munich
Since Bayern Munich had lost Rummenigge and Breitner (their best players from the previous season), the expectations from Matthäus were huge.
He really became an international top player during his time in Munich. He won the German national championship three times in his first three seasons, but lost the European Cup final against Porto.
After four successful years with Bayern Munich, Lothar moved to Inter Milan in 1988 for a $5 million fee.
Inter Milan
At this time, the Italian league was the best soccer league in the world. Lothar Matthäus became an important player for Inter as well one of the best players ever to play soccer.
He won the Italian national championship in his first year with Inter.
The year 1990 was the highpoint of his career. Matthäus was the captain of the German national team that won the FIFA World Cup in 1990.
Bayern Munich and retirement
After a knee injury in 1992, He left Italy and returned to Bayern Munich. He struggled with several more injuries in the following years as well as problems with Berti Vogts, the coach of Germany's national team. These struggles cost him his European Championship participation in 1996.
Matthäus ended his career playing for the New York Metro Stars from March to September, 2000.
