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Bernd Walter Stange (born 14 March 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Syria national team.
During his playing career, he played for Chemie Gnaschwitz, Vorwärts Bautzen, and HSG DHfK Leipzig as a defender.
He was head coach East Germany Olympic Team from 1982 to 1984. They were undefeated in qualifying for the 1984 Olympic games.
In late 1983, he was appointed head coach of East Germany after years working as assistant coach and head coach of the Under 21s. After a mediocre five-year spell with the national team without qualifying for a World Cup or European Championship final tournament, Stange returned, now as head coach in the DDR-Oberliga, to FC Carl Zeiss Jena, in the autumn of 1989.
In 1998, he joined Perth Glory in the Australian National Soccer League. Glory under Stange in 2000 finished on top of the NSL league ladder however failed in the Grand Final, losing on penalties to the Wollongong Wolves after leading 3–0 at half-time. Stange was very popular among supporters in Perth to the point where a demonstration was held to prevent him from being sacked. However, his abrupt nature with players and other club officials made him a number of enemies, leading to his departure at the completion of his contract.
Amid threats from the US President George W. Bush of a possible military conflict with Iraq, he arrived in Baghdad in October 2002 and put pen to paper to a four-year contract that included two clauses allowing him to leave in the event of war and to refuse any political comment.
On 30 July 2007, Stange was appointed by the Belarus Football Federation to coach the national team after previous manager Yuri Puntus resigned the month before due to a poor performance in the Euro 2008 qualifying. For his first game on 22 August, against Israel, Stange, to the surprise of fans and media called up many young players from the domestic league. His debut ended in a 2–1 impressive victory despite questionable positioning of players on the field.
On 7 October 2011, Stange stood down from his post after the end of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
Bernd Stange has often commented on his desire to eventually settle in Perth with his wife Dorothea.
On 15 May 2013, Stange was unveiled as the head coach of Singapore national football team. He openly criticized Singapore players for their lack of fitness and refusal to meet him personally for further fitness drills. Under his tutelage Singapore performed badly as they were eliminated from the 2014 AFF Championship where the "Lions" were a host nation. There were high expectations for the "Lions" because they won the last edition (2012). Despite that in 16 June 2015, they tied Japan 0–0 in a goalless draw at Saitama Stadium 2002.
Stange ended his stint with Singapore in April 2016.
Stange retired on 14 July 2016.
His salary was about 35 Thousand dollars which was about 30 times more than the former manager of the team Ayman Hakeem who managed the team during the final phase of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification and led the team to the knockout stage. The salary was criticized many times by the press considering the situation in Syria, the poor results and performance of the team in 2019 Asian Cup and even in the friendly matches that preceded the tournament.
After heavy criticism and a poor showing during the first two matches of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which ended in a 0–0 draw against minnows Palestine and a sound 2–0 defeat from neighbours Jordan, the Syrian FA announced that Stange would be sacked immediately and replaced.
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