Former W-Cup winner Littbarski to coach Sydney in A-League

SYDNEY: Former German World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski has signed a two-year deal to coach Sydney in the new Australian A-League starting in August. 

The 44-year-old Littbarski played in three successive World Cup Finals for West Germany in 1982, 1986 and when they won the trophy in 1990. 

He was also involved in the setting up of the Japanese J-League as a player and coach. 

“I think Australia now and Japan then are very similar,” Littbarski told a news conference yesterday. 

“They started something new and everyone was wondering if it would work and if it would be successful and look at it now. Japan has a very strong league and the national team is 18th in the world.” 

Sydney chief executive Andy Harper said Littbarski’s experience made him perfect to lead the new club. 

“Pierre’s stature as a player is as good as it gets in the world of football but he is also very astute as a coach and he has been involved in building clubs from scratch, which we need to do here at Sydney,” Harper said. 

“He will bring to Sydney a culture of winning football.” 

Littbarksi made 73 appearances for West Germany, scoring 18 goals, and also played 406 matches for Cologne in the Bundesliga. 

He finished his playing career in Japan when the J-League was established in 1993 and began coaching in 1999 when he was put in charge of Yokohama. 

Littbarski was appointed assistant coach at Bayer Leverkusen in January 2001. He took over as head coach of Second Division MSV Duisburg six months later and after he was sacked he returned to Yokohama in 2003. 

Australia unveiled plans last November to start an eight-team league in August 2005. 

Known as the A-League, it replaces the National Soccer League that was scrapped last season as part of an overhaul of the domestic game. 

Frank Lowy, Australia’s second richest man, set up a company to oversee the development of football after the government called for the entire board of Soccer Australia to be sacked and replaced. – Reuters