He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

A striker in his playing days, Hitzfeld won two Swiss Super League titles (1971–72, 1972–73) with Basel.

A trained mathematician and sports teacher, Hitzfeld is one of the most successful coaches of German and international football.

He has been elected "World Coach of the Year" twice; he is one of only six managers to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League with two clubs, along with Ernst Happel, Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho, Jupp Heynckes, and Carlo Ancelotti.

With this club the forward won the Swiss championship in 1972 and 1973, in the latter season even contributing as the top striker in Switzerland.

There, he played amongst others with Uli Hoeneß, the later Bayern Munich player and general manager who would hire him as coach in the late 1990s.

One of the highlights of this tournament was the first encounter between the national sides of West and East Germany on the football pitch.

During the summer of 1983, Hitzfeld signed his first coaching contract with SC Zug, in the second tier of Swiss football.

This time, Borussia prevailed 3–1 in Munich's Olympiastadion against the team from northern Italy which featured Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, and Christian Vieri, amongst others.

For his success, Hitzfeld was rewarded for the first time with the "World Coach of the Year" award,[9] but as frictions with the team had come to a head, he was promoted out of the firing line to the position of sports manager with the club, where he witnessed his successor, Nevio Scala, taking Borussia Dortmund to win the 1997 Intercontinental Cup against Cruzeiro from Brazil.

[10] In his first year, he led the club to renewed championship glories, winning the league title by 15 points,[11] a record margin.

The final is remembered for the dramatic Manchester United comeback inside the injury time period.

[15] Hitzfeld's team depended on the neighbours from Unterhaching, a suburb of Munich, to beat Bayer Leverkusen on the last day play to secure the title.

This made Hitzfeld only the second coach after Ernst Happel to win the major European trophy with two teams.

Again, he was recognized with the honour of "World Coach of the Year",[7] but this time he remained in control over his team in the ensuing 2001 Intercontinental Cup final against Boca Juniors from Argentina.

A sole goal by Ghanaian defender Samuel Kuffour in extra-time made it an evening to celebrate for Hitzfeld and his team.

[22] Bayern started the 2003–04 season by getting knocked out of the DFB-Ligapokal in the semi-finals after losing a shootout Hamburger SV on 22 July 2003.

[32] A multimillion spending spree before the new season helped Hitzfeld to lead the club to a new phase of domestic dominance, winning the DFB-Ligapokal,[33] the DFB-Pokal,[34] and the league championship.

[35] After several high wins and many draws, Bayern's UEFA Cup campaign ended in the semifinal with a humbling 4–0 defeat by eventual winner Zenit St. Petersburg.

[39] Switzerland finished top of its qualifying group to reach the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

[40] Switzerland played Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Italy in friendlies leading up to the FIFA World Cup.

[46] The undefeated streak ended when Switzerland lost to Wales before defeating Montenegro in their final qualifying match.

[47] Hitzfeld led Switzerland to a second successive FIFA World Cup as his team remained unbeaten throughout the qualifying campaign.

[57] It was said that Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande once offered Hitzfeld an 18–month-long contract, with a value of 24 million euros.

[58] Hitzfeld was born in Lörrach in the valley of the Wiese in southwest Germany, close to the Swiss border.