Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (pronounced [ˈfœlɐ]; born 13 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player, who is currently the director of the Germany national team.

At the time of his retirement in 1994, he was Germany's second highest goalscorer behind Gerd Müller; he is now joint-fourth with Jürgen Klinsmann, having been surpassed by Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.

After retiring as a player with Bayer Leverkusen, he became the sporting director of the club until 2000, where he was the interim manager for twelve matches, before being succeeded by Berti Vogts.

In the wake of the drug scandal that involved the preferred choice of the DFB, Christoph Daum, Völler was ultimately kept on, and was able to lead Germany to the 2002 FIFA World Cup final, where they lost to Brazil.

Along with Mário Zagallo, Franz Beckenbauer and Didier Deschamps, Völler has the distinction of reaching a World Cup final as both a player (1986 and 1990) and as a manager (2002).

[4] Völler started his career with 1860 Hanau, then played for second division sides Kickers Offenbach and TSV 1860 Munich, before joining Bundesliga club Werder Bremen in 1982, winning his first cap for West Germany that same year.

Völler was capped 90 times for the Germany national team, scoring 47 goals, including eight in World Cup final rounds.

[6] Völler also played at three UEFA European Championships, starting with Euro 1984, where he scored twice in a group match against Romania which the Germans won 2–1.

At the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Völler scored the West Germans' equalizer in a 2–1 win over Scotland in the group stage.

Völler became the third player to score as a substitute in the World Cup final, after Dick Nanninga in 1978 and Alessandro Altobelli achieved this feat in 1982.

The unsavoury incident that took place during the second-round match with the Netherlands started when Rijkaard was booked for a bad tackle on Völler.

[9] Initially, he only planned to take interimistic responsibility for one year,[9] following the decision by Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Völler himself (as sporting director of the club) not to make Christoph Daum step down from the national team before 2001.

[10] Despite losing to England 5–1 at home and two disappointing draws against Finland during qualification, he managed to lead the team to a surprising appearance in the final of the 2002 World Cup against Brazil.

Hired in late August as a last-minute appointment after the shock resignation of Cesare Prandelli,[12] he left the club only one month later after a series of poor results and high-profile disagreements with players, notably Antonio Cassano.

The public even forgave Völler when – during a TV interview after a 0–0 draw against Iceland in September 2003 – he lost his temper and yelled at the presenter Waldemar Hartmann in order to defend his team against, what he thought was, unfair press statements.

[14] On 10 September 2023, following the sacking of Hansi Flick,[15] Völler was named as interim manager of the national team for their friendly against France,[16] which Germany won 2–1.