Vaduz, Liechtenstein - Pierre Littbarski has left a personal hell in Iran for the tax haven of Liechtenstein and enjoys the tranquillity there. The German coach signed at the Vaduz club last month after fleeing Iran's Saipa Tehran in October because he was caught in a power struggle between club boss Hamid Sadschadi and national team coach Ali Daei.
"I basically fled Iran, saying I would meet my wife in Dubai," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
But the World Cup winner from 1990 insisted that not everything was bad in Iran: "The people there are very friendly and football-crazy."
Now Littbarski has added the tiny principality of Liechtenstein on his coaching map which has also seen stops in Japan, Australia and his native Germany.
"Everything is organized very well here, very similar to Germany," he said of the conditions in Vaduz.
Liechtenstein's most famous sports personalities are former alpine skiing siblings Hanni and Andreas Wenzel, but football is also a popular sport in the country of 35,000.
Fans travel some 200 kilometres to Munich or Milan for big games while an average 2,370 fans attend home games of the Vaduz club.
Vaduz play in the Swiss first division where they are fighting relegation in ninth place. Keeping them in the league is the main aim for Littbarski who has a contract until 2010.
The former Cologne and Germany winger Littbarski has been received well in Liechtenstein and plans to make the club more attractive for the public, with open training sessions, an intensive programme for junior teams and better results overall.
"That would be important for the team and at the same time raise the interest of the locals for the Vaduz club," said Littbarski.
Vaduz are also record winners of the Liechtenstein cup with the winner allowed into the UEFA Cup.
The national team has improved in recent years, famously drawing with Portugal in 2004 and managing wins over Latvia and Iceland.
Littbarski does not see the appointment in the principality as a slide in his career.
"What is that, a career? I don't want to sit around at home, I can't expect that from my wife. It is not about success alone, the players and I are to enjoy ourselves as well," Littbarski said.