There are coaches who speak in clichés. They give interviews that fans can barely stay awake through. And then there’s Claus-Dieter Wollitz. When the FC Energie Cottbus coach talks about soccer, it rarely sounds like rehearsed lines, but rather like bar talk, a family meeting, or a reckoning.
The fact that he rubs people the wrong way is almost part of his trademark. Just like his unconventional principles. “When I hear that the guys were out in the evening and tell me they didn’t get home until three a.m., I ask, ‘Why not five a.m.?’” he said in an interview with the magazine “11 Freunde.”
Within just a few minutes, Wollitz can be warm, humorous, emotional, and quick-tempered. His extra-long press conferences sometimes turn into monologues, and interviews into debates on principles. In short: “Pele” Wollitz is one of a kind in German professional soccer. The fact that Energie is returning to the second-division stage for the first time in twelve years this Sunday (1:30 p.m./Sky) against Hannover 96 has a lot to do with the coach.
