Stefan Kuntz (born 30 October 1962) is a German professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the head coach of the Turkey national team.
Kuntz represented the Germany 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 1996 semi-final elimination of England.
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 1996, 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 (20 wins, one win after penalty shootout and four draws), which is the German record for most caps without defeat.
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.
As coach of Germany U21 he won the UEFA European Under-21 Championship twice: in 2017, his side beat Spain 1–0 in the final, and in 2021, Germany defeated Portugal by the same scoreline.
On 19 September 2021, he was appointed as the new head coach of the Turkish national team.
UEFA European Championship 1996 Besiktas | Bundesliga Torjagerkanone 1993-1994 Kaiserslautern | Bundesliga 1990-1991 Kaiserslautern | DFB-Pokal 1989-1990 KFC Uerdingen 05 |
Bundesliga Hat-Trick 1997-11-22 | Bundesliga Hat-Trick 1993-10-09 |
1970-1981 |
1980-1983 |
1983-1986 |
1986-1989 |
1989-1995 |
1990-1997 |
1995-1996 |
1996-1998 |
1998-1999 |
1999-2000 Manager |
2000-2002 Manager |
2003-2003 Manager |
2003-2003 Manager |
2016-2021 Manager |
2021-2021 Manager |
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