an upturn in form in the last couple of weeks in the Bundesliga, but Bayern finished second, as Borussia Dortmund won their second German championship in a row. 1. FC Kaiserslautern After being sacked by Bayern Munich, Rehhagel took over as manager of Kaiserslautern in 1996, after a season where the club had won the DFB-Pokal but had also been relegated from the top-flight following a catastrophic season in the Bundesliga. Rehhagel injected new energy into the team, which saw Kaiserslautern comfortably getting back into the top-flight in 1997, winning the second division by 10 points. Prior to the start of the 1997–98 season, Kaiserslautern were seen as dark horses for a place in the UEFA Cup, but Rehhagel's team simply steamrollered the Bundesliga opposition all season. With sparkling offence and sheer never-ending energy (half a dozen games were won in injury time), Kaiserslautern won a sensational German championship in 1998, the first and so far only German championship triumph by a team that had just been promoted the previous season. Rehhagel coached Kaiserslautern to some less spectacular, but very decent results over the next year, such as leading the team to the quarter finals of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, but then big internal conflicts within the club, rows with some players, and a massive smear campaign, caused him to resign his position in 2000. Rehhagel finished with a record of 87 wins, 39 draws, and 48 losses. Greece national team In August 2001, following Vassilis Daniil's departure, Rehhagel was appointed as the new manager of the Greece national team, ahead of other candidates, such as Marco Tardelli, Nevio Scala, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, and Terry Venables, who were also being considered for the managerial post. Rehhagel's first match in charge was in October 2001, a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Finland, which ended in a 5–1 away defeat. As a result, he rebuilt the squad, and in October 2003, after a 1–0 win over Northern Ireland, Greece qualified automatically for Euro 2004, ahead of Spain and Ukraine. Ranked 150–1 outsiders, they nevertheless defeated host nation Portugal, holders France and the much more fancied Czech Republic on the way to the final, where they again defeated Portugal 1–0. Rehhagel, who was seen as the man most responsible for the team's success, became the first foreign manager ever to win a European Championship and remains the only one to date. Despite not