Wolfgang Frank

{{Short description|German football player and manager (1951–2013)}}

{{distinguish|Wolfgang Franke|Wolfgang Frank Strauss|Wang Frank}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Wolfgang Frank

| fullname = Wolfgang Frank

| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|02|21|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Reichenbach an der Fils, West Germany

| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|9|07|1951|02|21|df=yes}}

| death_place = Mainz, Germany

| height = 1.72 m

| position = Striker

| youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = TSV Schlierbach

| years1 = {{0|0000}}–1971 | caps1 = | goals1 = | clubs1 = VfL Kirchheim/Teck

| years2 = 1971–1973 | caps2 = 55 | goals2 = 23 | clubs2 = VfB Stuttgart

| years3 = 1973–1974 | caps3 = 22 | goals3 = 4 | clubs3 = AZ Alkmaar

| years4 = 1974–1977 | caps4 = 106 | goals4 = 52 | clubs4 = Eintracht Braunschweig

| years5 = 1977–1980 | caps5 = 34 | goals5 = 10 | clubs5 = Borussia Dortmund

| years6 = 1980–1982 | caps6 = 20 | goals6 = 4 | clubs6 = 1. FC Nürnberg

| years7 = 1982–1984 | caps7 = | goals7 = | clubs7 = FSV Bad Windsheim

| totalcaps = 215 | totalgoals = 89

| nationalyears1 = 1972–1977 | nationalcaps1 = 6 | nationalgoals1 = 3 | nationalteam1 = West Germany B

| manageryears1 = 1984–1988 | managerclubs1 = FC Glarus

| manageryears2 = 1989–1990 | managerclubs2 = FC Aarau

| manageryears3 = 1991–1992 | managerclubs3 = FC Wettingen

| manageryears4 = 1992–1993 | managerclubs4 = FC Winterthur

| manageryears5 = 1994–1995 | managerclubs5 = Rot-Weiss Essen

| manageryears6 = 1995–1997 | managerclubs6 = Mainz 05

| manageryears7 = 1997–1998 | managerclubs7 = Austria Wien

| manageryears8 = 1998–2000 | managerclubs8 = Mainz 05

| manageryears9 = 2000 | managerclubs9 = MSV Duisburg

| manageryears10 = 2002–2004 | managerclubs10 = SpVgg Unterhaching

| manageryears11 = 2004–2005 | managerclubs11 = FC Sachsen Leipzig

| manageryears12 = 2006 | managerclubs12 = Farul Constanța

| manageryears13 = 2006–2007 | managerclubs13 = Kickers Offenbach

| manageryears14 = 2008 | managerclubs14 = Wuppertaler SV Borussia

| manageryears15 = 2008–2009 | managerclubs15 = SV Wehen Wiesbaden

| manageryears16 = 2010–2011 | managerclubs16 = Carl Zeiss Jena

| manageryears17 = 2011–2012 | managerclubs17 = Eupen

}}

Wolfgang Frank (21 February 1951 – 7 September 2013) was a German football manager and player.{{cite web|url=https://www.kicker.de/wolfgang-frank/spieler/bundesliga/1975-76/eintracht-braunschweig|title=Frank, Wolfgang|work=kicker.de|access-date=10 May 2011|language=de}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/wolfgang-frank/klopp-entdecker-erliegt-seinem-krebsleiden-32298076.bild.html |title= Klopp-Lehrmeister erliegt Krebsleiden | language = de | publisher = Bild.de | date = 7 September 2013 | access-date = 7 September 2013}}

Frank was born in Reichenbach an der Fils, and made 215 appearances in the Bundesliga during his playing career, scoring 89 goals. For the Germany national football B team, he scored three goals in six games.

As a manager, Frank was at the helm of 16 clubs and led Rot-Weiss Essen to the 1994 DFB-Pokal final, only to lose 3–1 to SV Werder Bremen at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

In his final year as a player, Frank trained as a teacher in sport and religion. He was inspired by Arrigo Sacchi's A.C.Milan and introduced the 4-4-2 system to Germany at a time when German teams played with a sweeper.{{cn|date=December 2019}} Inspired by how Sacchi had got his team to press, marking space rather than individual players, Frank introduced this advanced tactical thinking into German football. He is credited with inspiring a renaissance in the Bundesliga which has inspired a new generation of managers such as Jürgen Klopp and Joachim Löw.

Frank died in Mainz, aged 62.