Key Figures — Mainz 05
Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned Klopp into cult.
Key Figures
Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned Klopp into cult.
Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned
Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned Klopp into cult.
Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned Klopp into cult. The club signed the Swabian in 1990 for the upcoming second-division season. Between then and 2001 he played 325 matches and, already under Wolfgang Frank, became the coach’s extended arm on the pitch. When Mainz were threatened by relegation in 2001, the injured “Kloppo,” who still lacked the formal coaching badge for a head-coach role in professional football but had completed a degree in sports science, was put in charge. Under him, Mainz won six of their first seven matches and stayed up. Charismatic Klopp won the club sympathy far beyond the city limits. In 2008 he followed the call from Dortmund, in 2015 he moved on to Liverpool, and in 2019 he became World Coach of the Year.
Thomas Tuchel – The Controversial One: On paper,
Thomas Tuchel – The Controversial One: On paper, he is the most successful Mainz coach.
Thomas Tuchel – The Controversial One: On paper, he is the most successful Mainz coach. With modern, fast, attacking football he ran the club in a style many called dictatorial and moody. After his promotion from youth coach to head coach in 2009, Mainz enjoyed five very successful years under him. The club never sat in a relegation place during his reign and qualified twice for European competition. Unlike Klopp, who valued harmony, Tuchel subordinated everything to success. As club executive Dag Heydecker put it, Tuchel took Mainz to a new level and reshaped many things exactly as he needed them in order to work successfully. His abrupt departure in 2014, when he imposed a sabbatical on the club, cost him a lot of sympathy with the board.
André Schürrle – The Youngster: Schürrle was the
André Schürrle – The Youngster: Schürrle was the youngest goalscorer Mainz had ever seen in the professional first team.
André Schürrle – The Youngster: Schürrle was the youngest goalscorer Mainz had ever seen in the professional first team. He grew up in Mainz, joined the youth academy in 2006 and quickly became part of the under-19 side. From 2009 to 2011 he was a permanent fixture with the professionals, and on September 19, 2009, with his first two goals for the first team, he became the youngest Bundesliga scorer in club history. Five of his 57 caps for Germany, with whom he later became a world champion in 2014, came while he was still a Mainz player.
Dimo Wache – The Old Hand: The goalkeeping
Dimo Wache – The Old Hand: The goalkeeping legend made his breakthrough in professional football with Mainz in 1995.
Dimo Wache – The Old Hand: The goalkeeping legend made his breakthrough in professional football with Mainz in 1995. He displaced Stephan Kuhnert, later his own goalkeeping coach, and took over the captaincy in 1999 when Lars Schmidt left. Wache lived through the three near-promotions of 1997, 2002 and 2003 as the undisputed number one before promotion finally arrived in 2004. After a falling-out with Klopp and a spell on the bench, he felt betrayed by the club, but among fans the “Krake von Brake” remained hugely popular. Wache retired in 2010 and with 406 competitive appearances remained, as of December 2019, the club’s all-time record holder. He also became proof that diabetes and elite sport can absolutely go together.
Christian Heidel – The Maker: Son of former
Christian Heidel – The Maker: Son of former Mainz mayor Herbert Heidel, Christian Heidel served from 1992 to 2016 as the club’s manager and by the end of that period was the longest-serving manager in the Bundesliga.
Christian Heidel – The Maker: Son of former Mainz mayor Herbert Heidel, Christian Heidel served from 1992 to 2016 as the club’s manager and by the end of that period was the longest-serving manager in the Bundesliga. For more than two decades he was the fixed point in Mainz’s daily business and became an honorary member and part of the club’s old guard. Even his later move to Schalke in 2016, where things went only moderately well, did little to alter his standing in Mainz.
Harald Strutz – The Long-Term President: After 29
Harald Strutz – The Long-Term President: After 29 years as president, Harald Strutz stepped down in the summer of 2017 amid criticism over his monthly “expense allowance” of 23,000 euros for what was formally an honorary office.
Harald Strutz – The Long-Term President: After 29 years as president, Harald Strutz stepped down in the summer of 2017 amid criticism over his monthly “expense allowance” of 23,000 euros for what was formally an honorary office. In the meantime the club and Strutz made peace again. In autumn 2019, in recognition of his services, he was named honorary president of Mainz 05. Not without reason: Christian Heidel, Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel — none of those decisive moves would have happened in Mainz without his backing.
Key Figures — Update 2020–2026
Bo Svensson became the third coach from the “Mainz school” to break onto the international stage.
Bo Svensson became the third coach from the
Bo Svensson became the third coach from the “Mainz school” to break onto the international stage.
Bo Svensson became the third coach from the “Mainz school” to break onto the international stage. The Dane, who had also played for Mainz, returned as coach and saved the season in 2021. His departure in 2023 was a genuine loss — even if later spells at Union Berlin and then Borussia Dortmund did not cement his reputation to quite the same degree.
Christian Heidel returned in 2020 as sporting director
Christian Heidel returned in 2020 as sporting director — to the place where he had once taken the club into the Bundesliga together with Klopp.
Christian Heidel returned in 2020 as sporting director — to the place where he had once taken the club into the Bundesliga together with Klopp. Heidel brought experience, connections and a feel for exactly the right managerial appointments.