Thomas Jens Uwe Doll was born in Malchin, Germany, April 9, 1966.
He began his football for local side BSG Lokomotiv Malchin, in former East Germany. He then joined F.C Hansa Rostock youth academy in 1979.
Doll made his professional debut for Hansa Rostock on 27 August, 1983. He played three seasons there making 47 appearances and scoring 4 goals.
In 1986 he signed for another East German club BFC Dynamo from Berlin, the dominant team at the time. Alongside Andreas Thom he formed one of the best attacking partnerships in the league. He won the DDR - Oberliga (league title) in 1987 and 1988 and the FDGB- Pokal (East German cup) in 1988 and 1989. He also won the first and only ever East German Supercup scoring two goals in a 4-1 victory over SG Dynamo Dresden in 1989. At BFC Dynamo he played four seasons making 99 appearances with 39 goals.
After the historic events and the reunification of Germany he signed for Hamburger SV in 1990. He only stayed in Hamburg for a year but it was a very positive one. He played 33 league games and scored 4 goals.
He had performed so well for the Hanseatic club that he attracted interest from the then best league in Europe, Serie A. In the summer of 1991 he signed for Lazio (13 billion Lire - approx 6.5 million Euros) who were looking for an alternative to Paul Gascoigne, side-lined by injury. He became the first former East German to play in Italy.
In his first season in Rome he was a great success. He was exciting to watch, he set up and scored goals but also defended and generally worked hard. He played 31 league games and scored 7 times (plus 4 in Coppa Italia with 1 goal).
In his second year at Lazio he played less regularly. This was partly due to injuries and partly due to the fact that only three foreign players could be used in a game. With the arrival of Paul Gascoigne and Aron Winter, and already having Karl Heinz Riedle in the squad, competition for places was tough. In 1992-93 Doll played 20 league games with 2 goals (plus 2 games in Coppa Italia). Lazio had a good season finishing 5th and qualifying for a UEFA Cup place.
His third year at Lazio was again hindered by a series of injuries, he only got 13 league games and in the autumn market window went back to Germany to Eintracht Frankfurt on loan. Lazio improved their league placement and finished 4th, confirming a UEFA Cup participation. He played a total of 72 games for Lazio (64 in Serie A) with 10 goals (9 in Serie A).
In the 1994-1995 pre-season Doll was back training with Lazio and even played a couple of Coppa Italia games scoring 2 goals but, mainly due to his frequent injuries, they then definitively sold Doll to Eintracht Frankfurt. Back in Germany he would continue to struggle with physical problems and in 3 years only played 28 league games with 4 goals.
In 1996 he came back to Italy. He signed for Bari in Serie B. He played 31 games with 4 goals and the 'Galletti' from Puglia were promoted to Serie A. In 1997-98 however he was injury prone again and only played 14 times. Bari had a good season coming 11th under former Lazio manager (and club legend) Eugenio Fascetti.
In 1998 he returned to Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga. In three seasons due to his usual injuries he played 41 league games with no goals. At the end of the 2000-2001 season Doll called it a day and retired.
At International level he was one of the few players to win caps for both East Germany and the newly united Germany. Between 1986-1990 he played 29 games for DDR scoring 7 goals (plus 14 games and 2 goals for the Olympic team). From 1991-1996, after the reunification, he earned 18 caps for Germany with one goal (against Wales). He played the second half of the Euro '92 final defeat against Denmark.
After his retirement he stayed on at Hamburg going into coaching. He started with the under 19's, followed by the Hamburg second team and then Hamburger SV main team between 2004-2007. In his first year he saved them from relegation and won the European Intertoto cup while in his second they finished 3rd qualifying for Champions League. In his third year the team struggled, both in Europe (only one win out of six) and in the league, leading Doll to be replaced in February 2007.
Since his Hamburg days he has had a series of managerial experiences in several different countries. He coached Borussia Dortmund (Germany, for one year), Gençlerbirliği (Turkey, for one year), Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia, sacked after 7 months), Ferencváros (Hungary 2013-18, winning 3 cups and a league title), Hannover (Germany, for half a season) and APOEL (Cyprus, for 4 months winning Cypriot Supercup and then ended contract by mutual consent).
He is currently manager of Persija Jakarta (Indonesia), since April 2022.
Thomas Doll is remembered fondly at Lazio. He was part of an era in which they were able to start attracting exciting foreign stars such as Doll himself. He performed well in Rome, so well that there will always be a regret about how much more he could have given had it not been for his injuries. Doll was an attacking midfielder who played mainly on the right. He had an innate ability to jump his defender and had dribbling skills you rarely see nowadays. He was a dynamic player with great stamina and running abilities. He was also a generous, hardworking and brave player, never holding back in physical battles, this could also account for some of his injuries. Lazio fans have only positive memories of Doll and the most common opinion is "Quanto era forte" (what a great player he was).
Lazio Career
Season | Total | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
1991-92 | 35 (8) | 31 (7) | 4 (1) | - |
1992-93 | 22 (2) | 20 (2) | 2 | - |
1993-94 | 14 | 13 | - | 1 |
1994-95 | 2 (2) | - | 2 (2) | - |
Total | 73 (12) | 64 (9) | 8 (3) | 1 |
Sources
Comments