Pierre Littbarski net worth in 2023 Career & Relationship

Estimated value:	€17 million
Age:	62
Born:	04/16/1960
Country of origin:	Germany
Source of Wealth:	footballer
Last updated:	2021

Short introduction

Pierre Littbarski is a former professional soccer player who won the 1990 World Cup with Germany. He played most of the time for 1. FC Köln, but was also active in France and Japan. After his career, he held various positions in football, was a trainer and assistant coach at times, and has now been a brand ambassador for VfL Wolfsburg for some time, where he was previously head of scouting.

early life

Pierre Littbarski was born in 1960 in what was then West Berlin and grew up mostly with his grandparents. Early on, namely from 1967, he played football in the club. First until 1976 at VfL Schöneberg, then at Hertha Zehlendorf, with whom he became German runner-up in the A-Juniors in 1978. From 1978 he was under contract with 1. FC Köln, where he was sold for DM 13,000. His debut in the Bundesliga took place on August 26, 1978, another 21 seasons as a player in professional football were to follow for Pierre Littbarski.

Career

In his first season, Littbarski made 16 out of a possible 34 league appearances and was also active in the European Cup for 1. FC Köln. In the following season, the only 1.68 meter tall offensive player became a regular in Cologne. The same was true for Germany’s U21 national team. However, in the 1980 DFB Cup final, he and his club lost 2-1 to Fortuna Düsseldorf. He was to win this missed title in 1983, when he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win against local rivals Fortuna Köln at home in the Müngersdorfer Stadion.

Previously, he had made the final breakthrough based on the number of goals he had scored. In the 1981/82 season he scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga. Consequently, he also went to the 1982 World Cup in Spain, where he became vice world champion with colleagues like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner. He had already made his senior national team debut in 1981 in a 3-1 win over Austria, where he scored two goals in his debut game.

Pierre Littbarski was to be able to repeat the same success in 1986 when he again became vice world champion with the DFB selection. In 1990 he even managed the really big hit when he became world champion with a 1-0 win over Argentina under team boss Franz Beckenbauer.

In the club, he had quickly broken off a short trip to France for the duration of a season to Racing Club Paris. Despite 34 missions, he only scored 4 goals for the capital city. He is said to have taken over part of the transfer fee himself when he switched back to 1. FC Köln. During his time at this club between 1978 and 1993 he made 406 appearances in the Bundesliga and scored 116 goals, which still places him in the top 50 of the all-time Bundesliga goalscorers list.

Following this, Pierre Littbarski moved to JEF United Chiba in Japan for two years, where he added another season at Brummell Sendai before ending his career as a player. In Japan, he gained great popularity due to his open but often mischievous nature, which continues to this day.

He then had various coaching positions in both German and Japanese football. He coached MSV Duisburg, Yokohama FC and even Sydney FC in Australia, and was most recently an assistant coach at VfL Wolfsburg. However, he did not achieve great success in these jobs – he did not win a single title as a coach and was given early leave several times.

At the 2002 World Cup he worked as a co-commentator for the World Cup games in Japan on RTL, from 2012 to 2018 he was head of scouting at VfL Wolfsburg. Since then he has been the brand ambassador for this club.

Career highlights

The absolute highlight of Pierre Littbarski’s career was, of course, winning the World Championship in 1990, after having been runner-up twice before. Otherwise he won the 1983 DFB Cup. He is also their record goalscorer with Germany U21s with 18 goals in 21 international matches. However, Pierre Littbarksi can take credit for the fact that he was popular far beyond the supporters of his respective clubs, both in Germany and in Japan, as a particularly great non-sporting success. He won hearts here with his very playful way of celebrating football, especially in impressive dribbles, as well as with being blessed with a certain mother-wit and free of affectations off the pitch.

Famous quotes

“We played quite well in the first half, but in the second we lacked continuity… uh, continuity… oh shit foreign words: we weren’t consistent enough!”

“If we continue like this, maybe we can pick up where we actually want to go.”

“Rudi Völler would have transformed him with a leg in plaster.”

Amazing Facts

In 1989 he was appointed by the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia to elect Richard von Weizsäcker as Federal President in the Federal Assembly, where he also took part.

In Japan he is extremely popular as “Litti”, among other things he appears as such in a Japanese textbook.

In 2018 he appeared as a guest in the series “Dittsche”, playing himself.

Estimated value:	€17 million