Winfried Schäfer has traveled a lot in the world of football. For his 75th birthday on Friday (January 10th), he wants nothing more than to get another coaching job.
Winfried Schäfer also used his visit to his daughter in Münster/Westphalia to, how could it be otherwise, watch football. At the beginning of the new year, the former national coach of Cameroon, Thailand and Jamaica stood at Preußen Münster’s training ground, watched the second division team’s kickers gallop into preparation for the second half of the season and once again noticed: it’s tingling!
Winfried Schäfer: Schäfer: “I love working as a trainer”
Because, says Schäfer: “I love working as a trainer. That’s my life.” The longing speaks in every word he says.
Twelve years as a coach at KSC, then a short interlude at VfB
On Friday Winfried “Winnie” Schäfer celebrates his 75th birthday. He began his career as a football coach almost 39 years ago, and since then he has been on the sidelines almost continuously: first for twelve years at Karlsruher SC, then at VfB Stuttgart and Tennis Borussia Berlin, and later at FC Baku in Azerbaijan and Muangthong United, among others in Thailand.
Waiting for the next engagement
But the Mayen-born globetrotter has been waiting in vain for his next engagement for a good three years. A year ago, his second Iran adventure failed due to a lack of a work permit. Is Schäfer’s age getting in the way? He says: “75 sounds like a company anniversary. But I don’t even realize that.”
Schäfer is bursting with energy. He is currently advising a group of investors in international football, he says. And he is writing a book. About his time as a professional at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Kickers Offenbach and Karlsruhe, and his wild journey as a coach, “all the exciting and sometimes frightening moments in Cameroon, Thailand and Iran, Jamaica, Qatar and the Emirates”.
But what concerns him most is what happens on the pitch. Schäfer has observed that the trend is moving away from possession football, “fortunately”.
The KSC makes Winfried Schäfer feel happy
He enjoys the KSC, where he was a player between 1975 and 1977 and a coach from 1986 to 1998: The team has “the quality to get promoted,” says Schäfer about the current runner-up in the second division.
The dream of the 2026 World Cup
Schäfer will probably no longer work in the German professional leagues. No matter, because foreign countries still appeal to him: “Perhaps a club in the USA, there is still so much that can be improved and the circumstances are of course great.” But Schäfer also thinks about Africa and national teams like Nigeria. “I would like to bring a team like that again to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.”
“These teams need a coach who they trust and who builds them into a team. That has always been my strength,” said Schäfer in an interview with SWR Sport. “Let’s see what happens. But now I’m excited again.”
Schäfer is not lacking in potential targets, nor is he lacking in experience. This is one of the most important currencies in the trainer business. During a season there are always problems that coaches of his level of maturity have “solved a thousand times.” Honesty and authenticity towards professionals are crucial keys to success.
From Schäfer’s point of view, the best coach in the world is Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid. “The way he danced with the players after they won the Champions League was fantastic,” says Schäfer, thinking enthusiastically about the final in June. Ancelotti will turn 66 in the summer. And that makes him just nine and a half years younger than Winfried Schäfer…
