Matthäus was born in Erlangen, Bavaria. Early in his career, he played in the midfield, before switching to the Sweeper position in his 30s.Matthäus started his professional career in 1979 with Borussia Mönchengladbach of the Bundesliga, for whom he played until 1984. Internationally, he won Euro 80 and also played two games at the 1982 World Cup, where West Germany reached the final, losing to Italy 3-1.
He then played for Bayern Munich from 1984-88, winning the Bundesliga twice and the DFB-Pokal. They also reached the European Cup final in 1987, leading 1-0 for most of the game until two late goals gave FC Porto the win.
By now, he also had a regular place in the national team for the 1986 World Cup, scoring the winner in the round of 16 against Morocco. In the final, despite his considerable play-making ability, he was assigned to mark Argentina's Diego Maradona. West Germany lost their second consecutive World Cup final 3-2.
At Euro 88, Matthäus captained the team and scored a penalty against the Netherlands (the eventual winners) in the semi-final to give his team a 1-0 lead, but Ronald Koeman leveled the score with a penalty, and then Marco van Basten slid in the winning goal in the final minutes.
Matthäus and Bayern teammate Andreas Brehme signed with Inter Milan of Serie A in 1988, winning the Scudetto in 1989 during their first season, and the Italian Supercup that year as well.
His immediate success in Serie A was a precursor to the national team which finally managed to triumph at the 1990 World Cup held in Italy. Six of West Germany's squad played professionally there and Matthäus played most of the World Cup games at Inter's home Stadio San Siro. West Germany was the best team of the tournament and one of the few to chose an attacking style of play; Matthäus led his squad from midfield and personally scored four goals, including two against Yugoslavia. West Germany reached its third consecutive final, which was a rematch against Maradona-led Argentina and this time Matthäus and his team emerged victorious 1-0 thanks to Brehme converting an 85' penalty. As captain, Matthäus had the honour of hoisting West Germany's final World Cup before reunification.
Matthäus continued to enjoy further success with Inter, winning the UEFA Cup in 1991 and being named FIFA World Player of the Year. Returning to Bayern Munich in 1992, he won four Bundesliga, two DFB-Pokal, and reached a second European Cup final in 1999.
He was injured and unable to take part in Euro 92; though a reunified Germany made the final but lost 2-0 to surprise Denmark. At the 1994 World Cup hosted by the USA, he captained the team but now operated as sweeper. He scored a penalty in the quarter-finals, which was also his record-tying 21st match, but the Bulgarians scored twice in three minutes to upset to defending champions. USA '94 was expected to be his last tournament, though he did not officially retire from international play. Matthäus was afterwards not called up for the national team, due to feuding with succeeding captain Jürgen Klinsmann and coach Berti Vogts. In his absence Germany won Euro 96 which was hosted by England.
Surprisingly, he was called up for the 1998 World Cup as a replacement for the injured sweeper Matthias Sammer. He was on the bench for Germany's victory over USA, but came in as a substitute against Yugoslavia and helped the team to a 2-2 draw, also setting a new record for appearances in the World Cup with 22. He played in all the rest of Germany's matches until Croatia knocked them out in the quarterfinal, taking his total to 25.
The only major honour which eluded Matthäus, for competitions in which he played, was the UEFA Champions League. Famously, he came within 2 minutes of picking up a winners' medal in 1999, only to have his hopes dashed by Manchester United, who scored two goals in injury time in the final. That match also caused controversy among Bayern Munich fans as he had been considered one of their key players and was substituted in the 86th minute of play while the team was still leading 1-0. When the two teams went to collect their medals, television viewers around the world watched as Matthäus removed his runners-up medal almost after he received it. It was the second time he had been on the losing side in a final; in the 1987 final, Bayern had been leading 1-0 most of the game until two late goals gave FC Porto the win. After Matthäus retired, Bayern would win the Champions League in 2001 and later that year the Intercontinental Cup.
After the 1999-2000 season with Bayern, Matthäus moved to the MetroStars team of Major League Soccer in the USA from May to September 2000 and retired from football afterwards. He earned his last three caps at Euro 2000, his 150th being against Portugal, where Germany had a first round exit.
Coaching
After ending his illustrious playing days, Matthäus started a coaching career, which has so far been much less distinguished. His first job was as the head coach at Rapid Vienna with mixed results.
In December 2002 he was hired by Partizan Belgrade in mid-season to replace recently sacked Ljubiša Tumbaković. Matthäus achieved the required success by steering the team to the 2002/03 title, but his finest hour with the club came in August 2003 when Partizan eliminated favourites Newcastle United in the 3rd qualifying round to reach the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League. Though drawn in a tough group with powerhouse Real Madrid, eventual champions FC Porto, and Olympique de Marseille, Partizan played some inspired football that autumn, only narrowly missing out on the UEFA Cup spot.
In December 2003, Matthäus made an abrupt announcement about leaving his post at Partizan only to follow it the next day with another of signing on to coach the national squad of Hungary. A country once synonymous with world class football was trying to return its national team on the path of former 1950s glory, and Matthäus was given the task of qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After being drawn in a tough group with Sweden, Croatia and Bulgaria that goal looked increasingly difficult. The campaign started in the autumn of 2004 and fairly quickly it became obvious Hungary were in over their heads. However, Matthäus was not fired until the end of the campaign, and was even offered Hungarian citizenship, which he at the time said he would accept. There's no word whether he actually did.
On 11 January 2006, Matthäus signed a one-year contract to coach Atlético Paranaense of Brazil. However, after only 7 matches in charge (5 wins, 2 draws) he quit the club in March 2006 citing the need to be closer to his family. The way he left the club raised some questions about his professionalism. Apparently, only 5 weeks after signing a contract he informed club officials about a need to rush back to Europe in order to deal with an urgent personal problem, but assured them he'd be back in 3-4 days. After missing for two weeks, he faxed in his resignation and never even went back to Brazil to pick up his personal belongings.
On May 19, 2006, Matthäus was announced as coach of Red Bull Salzburg (formerly Austria Salzburg) for the 2006/2007 season. The Austrian Bundesliga side named Giovanni Trapattoni as their sporting director on the same day. Notably, Trapattoni coached Matthäus in the late 1980s (when at Internazionale) and from 1994-1996 and 1997-1998 (when at Bayern Munich). Despite co-leading the team to the Austrian league title by a big margin, Matthäus would eventually be fired on June 12, 2007 by unanimous decision of the Red Bull Salzburg's board of directors.
