Thomas Doll


Thomas Jens Uwe Doll is a German former footballer. He played as an attacking midfielder for Hansa Rostock, BFC Dynamo, Hamburger SV, Lazio, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bari.

Club career

Doll began his career with local side BSG Lokomotiv Malchin, before joining East German first-division DDR-Oberliga side Hansa Rostock. When Hansa Rostock was relegated to the DDR-Liga after the 1985-86 season, he joined BFC Dynamo, the country's dominant side, where he won two East Germany titles and played his first European Cup matches. At BFC Dynamo he teamed up with fellow talented forward Andreas Thom and sweeper Frank Rohde.
After reunification Doll was one of the most sought-after players of coming out of the former East Germany. Together with Frank Rohde he joined Hamburger SV in 1990. After just one season there he had impressed sufficiently to move to Italian side Lazio for a then record fee of DM15 million. He played at Lazio for three years, before returning to the Bundesliga in 1994, joining Eintracht Frankfurt, but he was hampered by injuries in the three seasons he spent with the club and made only 28 appearances. After a year in Italy with Bari, he returned to Hamburger SV in 1998. He played another three seasons, but injuries continued to take their toll.

International career

At international level, Doll represented both East Germany and the unified Germany. His last international appearance came in 1993. He was part of Germany's squad for Euro 1992 where the side finished as runners-up to Denmark.

Coaching career

Hamburger SV

Following his retirement, he became part of Hamburg's coaching staff, managing the reserves from 2002 until being appointed first-team manager in 2004.
Early in his tenure as coach with Hamburg, he enjoyed some success, saving the team from relegation in his first season, winning the Intertoto Cup, and then guiding the club to a much-improved third-place result in the 2005–06 season to earn a Champions League berth. The 2006–07 season, however, was less successful for the coach. The team delivered a disappointing performance in the Champions League that saw only one win in six first-round games, and then plunged to the bottom of the Bundesliga table by mid-season. Doll was sacked on 1 February 2007.

Borussia Dortmund

On 19 May 2008, Doll resigned as the coach of Borussia Dortmund after the team finished a disappointing 13th in the Bundesliga.

Gençlerbirliği

He agreed to manage Gençlerbirliği S.K. and signed a two-year contract.

Al-Hilal

On 20 July 2011, he was appointed as head coach of Saudi Arabian champion team, Al-Hilal but was sacked on 22 January 2012.

Ferencváros

He became head coach of Hungarian club Ferencváros on 18 December 2013. On 20 May 2015, Ferencváros beat Videoton 4–0 at the Groupama Arena in the 2014–15 Magyar Kupa Final.
Doll's Ferencváros secured the club's 29th Nemzeti Bajnokság I title on 2 April 2016 after a defeat at the Nagyerdei Stadion against Debreceni VSC. By winning the 2015–16 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season, Doll managed to win all the possible titles in football in Hungary.
In recognition of his record performance with Ferencváros, Doll received the "Coach of the year in NB I" award from the Hungarian Football Federation in 2016.
Ferencváros were eliminated in the second round of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League by the second-placed team of the 2015-16 Albanian Superliga, FK Partizani Tirana, on penalties. This result affected the entire 2016–17 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season since Ferencváros were not able to fight for the Hungarian League title which was won by Budapest-rival Budapest Honvéd FC. However, Ferencváros fans were consoled by the club by winning the 2017 Magyar Kupa Final against Vasas SC.
The 2017–18 Nemzeti Bajnokság I started with moderate success. However, the main disappointment was that the club were defeated by the fourth-placed of the 2016-17 Danish Superliga, FC Midtjylland twice in the second round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, although Ferencváros defeated FK Jelgava in the first round.

Hannover 96

On 27 January 2019, Bundesliga club Hannover 96 announced Doll as the new manager of the club, replacing the sacked André Breitenreiter. He left the club as Mirko Slomka was confirmed as the club's new manager on 28 May 2019.

APOEL FC

On 15 August 2019, Doll became manager of APOEL.
Having managed to guide APOEL to the round of 32 of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, on 9 December 2019, Doll got relieved of his duties as the club's manager by mutual consent.

Personal life

Doll has two daughters, one with his Italian-born wife Roberta, the other with a former wife now married to another ex-footballer, Olaf Bodden. He lives in Budapest.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Playing

Berliner FC Dynamo
Hamburger SV
Borussia Dortmund
Ferencváros