Felix Magath

Wolfgang-Felix Magath (born July 26, 1953 near Aschaffenburg) is a German-Puerto Rican manager of football (soccer), who currently leads the Bayern Munich team. Magath was born in a military base in Germany, the son of a Puerto Rican soldier in the United States Army and a German mother. His father decided to return to Puerto Rico after his duty in Germany was over in 1954. He started his career playing for local club Aschaffenburg, in the second professional league at that time, before moving to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga, in 1976. He would play all his professional years as a midfielder at Hamburger SV, and from his debut in 1976 to his retirement in 1986 he scored 46 goals in 306 games for the club in the German Bundesliga.

Magath grew into one of Germany's best football players in history. In 1983, he lifted Hamburger SV to the European Cup triumph with the single goal in the 1-0 win in the final against Juventus F.C., and he represented the German national team at many international events, including the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cup, helping Germany land in second place both times. Magath is the only Puerto Rican known to have played in a World Cup, and through his career he played 43 caps for Germany and scored 3 goals.

After retiring as a player, Magath had stints as manager of German teams Hamburger SV, 1. FC Nürnberg, Werder Bremen, Eintracht Frankfurt, and VfB Stuttgart before he landed a job as director of FC Bayern, on July 1 2004. In his first season as manager, Magath was able to lead his team to victory in both the German Bundesliga championship and the German Cup, together known as "the Double". FC Bayern München repeated "the Double" in the 2005-06 season (a first in the history of the Bundesliga), cementing Magath's reputation as one of the top coaches of his era. His contract with Bayern Munich was recently extended through 2008. ^*

He revealed to the Puerto Rican newspaper, El Vocero, that he has Puerto Rican roots. Magath and his father reestablished a relationship in 1999, and they had been visiting each other twice a year since then. Magath told El Vocero that he felt proud of being Puerto Rican as well as German.

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