Stefan Kuntz


Stefan Kuntz is a German former professional football striker. He played for the German national team between 1993 and 1997, reaching the 1994 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals and winning UEFA Euro 1996. He scored six goals from 25 full caps including in the Euro 96 semi-final elimination of England. He has coached the German under-21 team since 2016.

Playing career

Kuntz's playing career lasted from 1983 until 1999. He made 449 appearances and scored 179 goals in the Bundesliga. Kuntz played for VfL Bochum, Bayer 05 Uerdingen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Arminia Bielefeld and also played in Turkey for Beşiktaş J.K. In 1986 and 1994, Kuntz was the top scorer in the Bundesliga.
In 1995, Kuntz joined Turkish side Beşiktaş following request of his compatriot coach Christoph Daum. Kuntz made his 1.Lig debut on 13 August 1995 in an away game against Kayserispor that ended 1-1. On 24 September 1995, he scored his first goal at week 5 home encounter against Istanbulspor which ended 5-2.
At Euro '96, Kuntz played a key role in the 1–1 draw with England in the semi-final, scoring the equalizer soon after England took the lead, as well as scoring the fifth penalty later in the shootout. During his international career, Kuntz obtained 25 caps, scoring six goals. None of these caps ended in a defeat for Germany, which is the German record for most caps without defeat.

Post-playing career

From 2006 to 2008, Kuntz was the athletic director of VfL Bochum. Between 2008 and 2016, he was the chairman of the board of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
On 11 August 2017, Kuntz signed a new contact until 2020.
As a coach of Germany U21 he won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2017 as Germany beat Spain in the final by 1–0.

Honours

Player

Kaiserslautern
Germany
Germany U21'