Rudi Völler

Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (pronounced [ˈfœlɐ]; born 13 April 1960) is a German football executive and former player and coach who is the sporting director of the Germany national team. During his active years as a player, he was sometimes nicknamed "Tante Käthe" ("Aunt Kathy"), a name bestowed upon him by Thomas Berthold in reference to his permed hairstyle, and in Italy, he is nicknamed "Il tedesco volante" ("The flying German") by supporters of Roma.

A forward, Völler began his professional career at Kickers Offenbach, before joining 1860 Munich, and he was top scorer of the 2. Bundesliga in the 1981–82 season. He went on to play for Werder Bremen, where he was noted for his consistent goalscoring, becoming the top scorer of the Bundesliga in the 1982–83 season. Völler moved abroad, firstly transferring to Serie A club Roma and then to Ligue 1 club Marseille. At Roma, he won the Coppa Italia and was runner-up in the UEFA Cup during the 1990–91 season; he was also top scorer of both these tournaments. At Marseille, he won the French title and the Champions League in the 1992–93 season, but following a match fixing scandal, the club were stripped of their league title and were relegated in 1994. The same year, Völler returned to his native country, ending his career at Bayer Leverkusen.

Völler made his debut for the Germany national team, then known as West Germany, in 1982. He represented his country at three FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships each, during a successful period for Die Nationalmannschaft. Völler played in two consecutive World Cup finals, both of which were against Argentina, and he won the trophy in 1990. At the time of his retirement in 1994, he was Germany's second highest goalscorer behind Gerd Müller; he is now joint-fourth with Jürgen Klinsmann, having been surpassed by Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.