Wolfgang Rolff

Football player infobox
playername = Wolfgang Rolff
fullname =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1959|12|26
cityofbirth = Lamstedt
countryofbirth = West Germany
height = height|m=1.79
currentclub =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs = TSV Lamstedt
OSC Bremerhaven
years =1979-1980
1980-1982
1982-1986
1986-1989
1989-1990
1990-1991
1991-1994
1994-1995
1995-1996
clubs = OSC Bremerhaven
SC Fortuna Köln
Hamburger SV
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
RC Strasbourg
Bayer 05 Uerdingen
Karlsruher SC
1. FC Köln
SC Fortuna Köln
caps(goals) = 035 0(6)
075 (17)
129 (24)
099 0(9)
030 0(4)
020 0(0)
094 (14)
014 0(0)
016 0(2)
nationalyears = 1983-1989
nationalteam = West Germany
nationalcaps(goals) = 037 0(0)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Wolfgang Rolff (born 26 December 1959) is a German football manager and former player.

Career as player

Wolfgang Rolff played in 356 Bundesliga matches (47 goals) for Hamburger SV, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer 05 Uerdingen, Karlsruher SC and 1. FC Köln. He further took part in 126 2nd Bundesliga matches (23 goals) for OSC Bremerhaven and SC Fortuna Köln, having a spell in France with RC Strasbourg for whom he scored 4 goals in 30 games in Ligue 2. In his years with his clubs he won the German Bundesliga title with Hamburg in 1983 and was part of the Hamburg side that clinched the European Cup against Juventus in Athens the same summer, five years later he won the UEFA Cup with Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 1988.

Reputed as a tireless midfielder, Rolff debuted for West Germany in 1983 and was part of the 1984 UEFA European Football Championship and the 1988 UEFA European Football Championship squad of his nation. On both occasions he featured twice each in games of West Germany, making also two appearances for the West Germans in their runner-up campaign at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. In total he played in 37 caps until 1989.

Career as manager

His former Hamburg team-mate Felix Magath appointed Rolff as assistant at Hamburger SV in 1997. In 1998 Rolff took sole charge of SV Meppen for six months until the clubs relegation from the 2nd Bundesliga. He went on working as assistant to his former Karlsruhe manager Winfried Schäfer at VfB Stuttgart and was, shortly after, named caretaker manager of "Die Schwaben". In 2000-2001 he worked in the coaching staff of former Germany coach Berti Vogts during Vogts' reign as manager of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, also one of Rolff's ex-clubs. Subsequent to Vogts' departure from Leverkusen in 2001, Rolff worked as assistant to Vogts after Vogts had been hired to guide Kuwait. Rolff did not follow Vogts to Scotland, indeed, and was in July 2004 employed by SV Werder Bremen as assistant manager.