Rudi Assauer

{{short description|German football player and executive (1944–2019)}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Rudi Assauer

| fullname = Rudolf Assauer

| image = Schalke Assauer0.jpg

| caption = Assauer in 2002

| birth_date = {{birth date|1944|04|30|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Sulzbach-Altenwald, Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|02|06|1944|04|30|df=y}}

| death_place = Herten, Germany

| height = 1.80 m

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 = 1952–1963

| youthclubs1 = SpVgg Herten

| years1 = 1963–1964

| clubs1 = SpVgg Herten

| caps1 = 35

| goals1 = 7

| years2 = 1964–1970

| clubs2 = Borussia Dortmund

| caps2 = 121

| goals2 = 8

| years3 = 1970–1976

| clubs3 = Werder Bremen

| caps3 = 186

| goals3 = 4

| totalcaps = 342

| totalgoals = 19

| manageryears1 = 1976–1981

| managerclubs1 = Werder Bremen (general manager)

| manageryears2 = 1977

| managerclubs2 = → Werder Bremen (joint interim)

| manageryears3 = 1980

| managerclubs3 = → Werder Bremen (joint interim)

| manageryears4 = 1981–1986

| managerclubs4 = Schalke 04 (general manager)

| manageryears5 = 1981

| managerclubs5 = → Schalke 04 (joint interim)

| manageryears6 = 1983

| managerclubs6 = → Schalke 04 (interim)

| manageryears7 = 1990–1993

| managerclubs7 = VfB Oldenburg (general manager)

| manageryears8 = 1993–2006

| managerclubs8 = Schalke 04 (general manager)

}}

Rudolf "Rudi" Assauer (30 April 1944 – 6 February 2019) was a German football player and executive.{{cite web | url = http://www.fussballdaten.de/spieler/assauerrudolf/ | title = Rudolf Assauer | language = de | publisher = fussballdaten.de | access-date = 14 March 2010}} After his professional career for Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen, Assauer served as the general manager of FC Schalke 04 for many years.

Career

File:Rudi Assauer - West Germany vs. Netherlands, 9 June 1965.jpg

Born in Saarland, Assauer played in 307 matches for Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen between 1964 and 1976. From 1976 to 1981, he remained the general manager of Werder Bremen, before leaving to work as a general manager for Schalke 04 for the first time between 1981 and 1986 (he was the interim head coach in 1981 on two occasions; firstly with Heinz Redepenning, and secondly, on his own). This first tenure ended with his dismissal, and Assauer spent four years out of football and went into real estate. He re-entered management in 1990, and in 1993, he once again became the general manager (not a coaching position) at Schalke.

Since taking over for the second time, Schalke have seen much success, including a 1997 UEFA Cup win, and victory in the DFB-Pokal finals of 2001 and 2002. Schalke narrowly lost the Bundesliga title race in 2001 in the very last minute to Bayern Munich, which was described as the most bitter moment in his career.{{cite web | url=https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-502641.html | title=Aktuelle Videos }} Assauer also oversaw the development of a brand new stadium for the club. In May 2006, Assauer was suspected of giving away secret information concerning the financial problems of Schalke, so the club and Assauer parted company.

As of February 2009, he had been a player agent. His agency Assauer Sportmanagement AG represents, among others, Marc-André Kruska, Stefan Wächter, Sun Xiang and Pekka Lagerblom.

Image and personality

File:Schalke Assauer01.jpg victory celebrations]]

Assauer was one of the best-known German football executives, also because of his distinctive image and appearance. He was very outspoken with his opinions and had the image of a "macho with heart".{{cite web |url=https://www1.wdr.de/sport/fussball/schalke-rudi-assauer-nachruf-100.html |title = Schalker Managerlegende Rudi Assauer ist tot - Fußball - Sport - WDR| date=6 February 2019 }} Due to his habit of smoking a great number of cigars, he was given the nickname Stumpen-Rudi or Cheroot Rudi. He was described by Michael Meier, former chairman of Borussia Dortmund, as a Kashmir Hooligan.

In 2010, he was quoted as saying openly gay footballers should find another job. "If a player came to me and said he was gay I would say to him: 'You have shown courage'. But then I would tell him to find something else to do. That's because those who out themselves always end up busted by it, ridiculed by their fellow players and by people in the stands. We should spare them these witch hunts."{{cite web|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/03/12/german-football-boss-says-gay-players-should-find-another-job/|title=German football boss says gay players should find another job|date=12 March 2010|work=Pink News|access-date=8 August 2010}}{{cite web |title=German former player causes outrage with anti-gay comments |url=https://archive.kickitout.org/news/german-former-player-causes-outrage-with-anti-gay-comments/ |website=Kick It Out |access-date=27 October 2020 |date=16 March 2010}}

Personal life

Assauer lived with the actress Simone Thomalla until January 2009.

On 31 January 2012, Assauer confirmed media reports that he, still only 67, was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.{{cite web | url = http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/rudi-assauer-macht-alzheimer-erkrankung-oeffentlich-der-kopf-die-birne-schlimmer-gehts-nicht-1.1271888 | title = "Der Kopf, die Birne – schlimmer geht's nicht" | language = de | publisher = sueddeutsche.de | date = 31 January 2012 | access-date = 4 June 2012}} Aussauer spoke openly about his disease in a number of interviews afterwards, which started a public discussion about Alzheimer's,{{cite web | url=https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-502641.html | title=Aktuelle Videos }} but withdrew from the public during his last years. On 6 February 2019, his life partner Beata Schneider announced that he had died.{{cite news |title=Rudi Assauer ist tot |url=http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/rudi-assauer-ist-tot-a-1251960.html |access-date=6 February 2019 |work=Der Spiegel |date=6 February 2019 |language=de}}

Managerial statistics

File:Schalker Pokaljubel02.jpg

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
rowspan="2"\| Team !rowspan="2"\| From !rowspan="2"\| To !colspan="6"\| Record
{{Tooltip\|G\|Games managed}} !{{Tooltip\|W\|Games won}} !{{Tooltip\|D\|Games drawn}} !{{Tooltip\|L\|Games lost}} !{{Tooltip\|Win %\|Winning percentage}} !{{Tooltip\|Ref.\|Reference}}
Werder Bremen \| 20 December 1977 \| 31 December 1977 {{WDL\|1\|1\|0\|0}} \| {{cite web\|title=Werder Bremen\|url=https://www.kicker.de/werder-bremen/team-trainer/bundesliga/2013-14\|publisher=kicker\|access-date=27 April 2014\|language=de}}
Werder Bremen \| 29 January 1980 \| 20 February 1980 {{WDL\|1\|0\|0\|1}} \|
Schalke 04 \| 26 May 1981 \| 30 June 1981 {{WDL\|2\|0\|1\|1}} \| {{cite web\|title=FC Schalke 04\|url=https://www.kicker.de/fc-schalke-04/team-trainer/bundesliga/2013-14\|publisher=kicker\|access-date=27 April 2014\|language=de}}
Schalke 04 \| 20 January 1983 \| 24 January 1983 {{WDL\|1\|0\|1\|0}} \|
colspan="3"\| Total {{WDLtot\|5\|1\|2\|2}} ! —

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

rowspan="2"| Team

!rowspan="2"| From

!rowspan="2"| To

!colspan="6"| Record

!{{Tooltip|W|Games won}}

!{{Tooltip|D|Games drawn}}

!{{Tooltip|L|Games lost}}

!{{Tooltip|Win %|Winning percentage}}

!{{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference}}

Werder Bremen

| 20 December 1977

| 31 December 1977

| {{cite web|title=Werder Bremen|url=https://www.kicker.de/werder-bremen/team-trainer/bundesliga/2013-14|publisher=kicker|access-date=27 April 2014|language=de}}

Werder Bremen

| 29 January 1980

| 20 February 1980

Schalke 04

| 26 May 1981

| 30 June 1981

| {{cite web|title=FC Schalke 04|url=https://www.kicker.de/fc-schalke-04/team-trainer/bundesliga/2013-14|publisher=kicker|access-date=27 April 2014|language=de}}

Schalke 04

| 20 January 1983

| 24 January 1983

colspan="3"| Total

! —