Günter Bittengel (born 14 July 1966) is a Czech football coach and former player. He played as a striker in the Czechoslovak First League and went on to play in the Czech First League after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. As a result, he also represented both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic at international level.
Bittengel in 2012 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | (1966-07-14) 14 July 1966 (age 56) | ||
Place of birth | Prague, Czechoslovakia | ||
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
1974–1985 | Dukla Prague | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1985–1991 | Dukla Prague | 159 | (21) |
1991–1996 | Bayer Uerdingen | 153 | (20) |
1997–2001 | FK Chmel Blšany | 93 | (13) |
Total | 415 | (54) | |
National team | |||
1986–1988 | Czechoslovakia U21 | 14 | (3) |
1987–1991 | Czechoslovakia | 4 | (0) |
1995 | Czech Republic | 1 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
2001–2003 | FK Chmel Blšany | ||
2003–2004 | FK Viktoria Žižkov | ||
2004–2005 | SC Xaverov Horní Počernice | ||
2005–2006 | SK Union Čelákovice | ||
2006–2009 | FK Dukla Prague | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
During his playing career, Bittengel made over 100 league appearances for Dukla Prague in six seasons at the club.[1] He was part of the Dukla team which won the 1989–90 Czechoslovak Cup.[2] Bittengel then went to Germany to play for Bayer Uerdingen.[2] During his time in Germany he played 153 league matches, scoring a total of 20 goals.[3]
Later in his career, Bittengel returned to the Czech Republic and played for FK Chmel Blšany, where he was the captain.[4] Bittengel, Jan Šimák and Pavel Pergl scored the first-ever top-flight goals for Blšany, each finding the net in a 3–1 win away at Teplice in August 1998.[5]
Bittengel played for the Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team between 1986 and 1988, scoring three times in 14 appearances.[2] He progressed to the senior side, making his début for Czechoslovakia senior team in 1987.[2] He played his fourth and final match for Czechoslovakia in 1991,[6] but would go on to play for the newly independent Czech Republic in a 1995 match against Finland, his only appearance.[6]
As a manager, Bittengel's first Czech First League position was at FK Chmel Blšany, who he led between 2001 and 2003.[2] He took charge of Blšany in the winter break of the 2001–02 Gambrinus liga, after the team had lost seven consecutive matches under boss Miroslav Beránek.[7] Blšany remained in the top league throughout Bittengel's tenure, but suffered a run of five consecutive defeats at the beginning of the 2003–04 season.[8] In October 2003, with the club still last in the table, having taken just two points from the opening ten matches, Bittengel was replaced by Michal Bílek.[9]
He took over at FK Viktoria Žižkov in the winter break of the 2003–04 Gambrinus liga, with the club second from bottom in the league.[10] The club were relegated at the end of the season and Bittengel left Žižkov to join SC Xaverov Horní Počernice, a team which had just been relegated to the Bohemian Football League, on a one-year contract.[11]
Bittengel joined FK Dukla Prague in July 2006, while the team was in the Prague Championship.[12] He led Dukla until December 2009, when Luboš Kozel was brought in to lead the team and Bittengel moved to a new role as sporting director.[13]
Dukla Prague Czechoslovak Cup: 1989–90