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Klaus-Dieter Pagels
Personal information
Date of birth	1 September 1949
Place of birth	Stade, Germany
Managerial career
Years	Team
1991–199?	VfL Stade
2012–2013	Zimbabwe
2016	Emirates Club

Klaus-Dieter Pagels (born 1 September 1949 in Germany) is a German football coach.

Career

On a Germany-Zimbabwe government project, Pagels went to Zimbabwe in 2009 to educate schoolchildren and develop grassroots as well as women's football.^[6]

Nominated to take the position of Zimbabwe coach in 2009,^[7] Pagels was named as interim of the Warriors near the close of 2012^[8] with his appointment seen as ludicrous to some.^[9] Tasked with bringing Zimbabwe to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, putting a confident mentality into the team and making most of the talent in the country,^[10] he planned on selecting a mainly local-based squad for the World Cup qualifying^[11] but only chose five for the 18-man roster for their qualifier away to Egypt^[12] amid work permit problems,^[13] Going down 1-2 to Egypt, the German employed a technical style of play similar to Barcelona's tiki-taka style, where possession is highlighted and the offensives build up from the back to the front line.^[14] However, he was criticized for not calling up the most talented Zimbabwean footballers^[14] and crashed out to Egypt again 2-4 in their second leg a few months later, becoming the only African selection to go down on back-to-back home rounds.^[15] At the 2013 COSAFA Cup, his last tournament,^[16] the then 63-year old aimed to defend the tournament title^[17] but let in goals in all three games^[18] and conceded 0-2 to Zambia in the final,^[19] with failing to read the opposition one of the causes for his poor run.^[18] His contract expiring on July 31 that year,^[20] the Stade local stated that low finances are one of the greatest problems with Zimbabwean football^[21] and that he regretted his departure since the new manager would have to start form scratch with the team.^[22]