page_title: Lothar Matthäus
section_title: Partizan
hierarchical_section_title: Lothar Matthäus / Coaching career / Partizan
caption_attribution_description: Lothar Matthäus during an Interview in Vienna, Austria, in January 2002
context_page_description: Lothar Herbert Matthäus is a German football manager and former player. After captaining West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup where he lifted the World Cup trophy, he was named European Footballer of the Year. In 1991, he was named the first ever FIFA World Player of the Year, and remains the only German to have received the award.
  Matthäus held the record of having played in five FIFA World Cups, more than any other outfield player in men's football, until the 2018 World Cup, in which Mexico's Rafael Márquez equalled his record in a 1–0 victory over Germany, and holds the record for the most World Cup matches played by a single player. He was the captain of the West German team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy and also was captain of the German squad in the 1994 World Cup in the United States. He also won UEFA Euro 1980, and played in the 1984, 1988 and 2000 UEFA European Championships. In 1999, aged 38, he was again voted German Footballer of the Year, having previously won the award in 1990.
  Matthäus is the most capped German player of all time, retiring with a total of 150 appearances in 20 years, and 23 goals.
context_section_description: In December 2002 he was hired by Serbian club FK Partizan during mid-season winter break to replace recently sacked Ljubiša Tumbaković. Matthäus signed an 18-month contract.
  Inheriting a team at the top of the league table, Matthäus achieved the immediate goal by steering Partizan to the 2002–03 league title in convincing fashion, at one point, even extending the lead over the second-placed rivals Red Star Belgrade to 19 points. Still, his finest hour with the club came in August 2003 when Partizan eliminated Newcastle United in the Champions League third qualifying round to reach the 2003–04 competition's group stage. Following the first leg 0–1 loss at home, the cause seemed lost, however, Partizan improbably triumphed 0–1 away at St. James' Park, taking the tie to penalties. The penalty series brought further dramatic changes of momentum before Milivoje Ćirković's successful spot-kick finally put Partizan through. Matthäus had his back turned to the pitch as couldn't bear to watch the drama of Ćirković's penalty. Drawn in a tough group with Real Madrid, eventual champions FC Porto, and Olympique de Marseille, Partizan missed out on the UEFA Cup spot.
  On 13 December 2003, right after finishing the final league match of the half-season (0–1 win away at FK Železnik) before the winter break, Matthäus abruptly resigned his post at Partizan by addressing the players and club leadership in private. A club spokesperson said Matthäus would clear everything up at a press conference that he scheduled for two days later, but it was already widely speculated through reports in the Hungarian press that the German had agreed terms with the Hungarian Football Federation to coach the Hungary national team. The rumours proved true as he officially signed the contract in Budapest and also got introduced to the media at Kempinski Hotel Corvinus.
  Four months after leaving Belgrade, in mid-April 2004, the row over the terms of Matthäus' contract with Partizan was opened with both parties publicly going back and forth at each other. It began with Matthäus, by now Hungarian national team head coach, giving a detailed interview to Serbian press and accusing Partizan club leadership of breaching the additional terms of his contract. It became known on that occasion that his initial contract with Partizan that had been finalized on 1 January 2003 included a base guaranteed part as well additional premium clauses giving him between 5–10% from players' transfers and shirt sponsorships as well as Champions League bonus incentives. Matthäus claimed that after none of that was honoured he gave up on asking for his percentages of the Danko Lazović and Zvonimir Vukić transfers as well as Superfund shirt sponsorship deal due to "not wanting to upset the team atmosphere during Champions League qualifying", but instead pushed for the additional terms to be renegotiated. After successful Champions League qualification, the additional terms were in fact renegotiated with Partizan's general secretary Žarko Zečević so that both parties agreed to put the previous additional terms out of effect and instead now give Matthäus 15% of Igor Duljaj's (the club's best young asset at the time) future transfer abroad as well as to allow Matthäus to leave the club any time he wanted without penalties. Duljaj was sold to Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2004 for US$4 million, and Matthäus claimed Partizan failed to pay him the agreed percentage ($600,000 or €469,500). The club responded two days later in a lengthy press release saying that they don't owe him any money. One day after that, Matthäus decided to sue Partizan for the amount of US$600,000 before Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
caption: Matthäus in 2002
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