Karlsruher SC As a manager, he led
Karlsruher SC to the semi-finals of the
UEFA Cup in the
1993–94 season.
VfB Stuttgart Tennis Borussia Berlin Cameroon national team In November 2001, Schäfer was appointed head coach of
Cameroon. He won the
2002 African Cup of Nations with Cameroon, defeating
Senegal 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out after a 0–0 draw in the
final.
Al-Ahli In 2006, he won the
UAE national championship with
Al-Ahli (Dubai). He worked then from 2007 to 2009 for
UAE League side
Al-Ain.
FK Baku On 10 June 2010, Schäfer signed a two-year contract with Azerbaijani club
Baku. On 18 January 2011 his contract was ended.
Thailand national team and Muangthong United in 2011 In late June 2011, Schäfer was hired as
Thailand manager on a three-year contract. On 4 June 2013, Schäfer and
Football Association of Thailand mutually agreed to cancel the contract. The following day, he became manager of thai club
Muangthong United, replacing Serbian
Slaviša Jokanović.
Jamaica national team On 17 July 2013, it was announced that Schäfer will become the new coach of
Jamaica, replacing previous manager
Theodore Whitmore who resigned from his position following a 2–0 loss to
Honduras. Jamaica's first match with Schäfer as manager was a
World Cup qualification match against
Panama on 7 September 2013 which ended with a 0–0 draw. In the
2014 Caribbean Cup, Jamaica's first match ended with a 1–1 draw over
Martinique. However, the team recorded two-straight wins against
Antigua and Barbuda and
Haiti to make it to the final. Schäfer led Jamaica to their sixth
Caribbean Cup title after beating
Trinidad and Tobago 4–3 on penalties in the final. In June 2015 at the
Copa América, Jamaica put in an incredible performance, being drawn in the same group as regional powers
Argentina and
Uruguay, who both defeated Jamaica by a single goal. Shortly after, on 22 July 2015 Schäfer's team reached the Final of the
Gold Cup after beating tournament favourites the
United States.
Esteghlal On 2 October 2017, Schäfer was chosen to become the new manager of Iranian club
Esteghlal, following
Alireza Mansourian's resignation as team's head coach. The next day, he signed his official contract with Esteghlal until the end of the season.
2017–18 season Upon being appointed, Schäfer re-called Esteghlal's captain
Mehdi Rahmati who was banned from joining the team by the previous coach, Alireza Mansourian, as well as asking the management to re-sign
Behnam Barzay whose contract wasn't renewed and became a free agent in summer. Schäfer also chose to continue working with
Mick McDermott (whom he worked with as fitness coach in
Al Ain) as Esteghlal's assistant manager, however they had a conflict later on and McDermott left the club on 30 October. Jiří Saňák and Miguel Coley were announced to replace him as Schäfer's assistant coach. His first official match as Esteghlal's coach was the 0–0 against
Foolad in
Azadi Stadium on 13 October. His first victory came against
Nassaji Mazandaran in
Hazfi Cup, which Esteghlal won the match 2–1. He won his first league match on 31 October beating
Naft Talaieh 2–0. During the winter transfer window, he offloaded players which were not part of his plans for the rest of the season.
Hassan Beyt Saeed joined
Foolad while
Yaghoub Karimi went to
Esteghlal Khuzestan.
Sajjad Shahbazzadeh joined
Qatar SC on a free transfer. In association with Esteghlal vice president
Seyed Pendar Toufighi, two new signings were made by Schäfer; free agent's
Bojan Najdenov and
Mame Thiam arrived at the club. On 28 December Schäfer's Esteghlal beat
Esteghlal Khuzestan 3–0 and became the first team to reach a total of 900 points in all-time
Persian Gulf Pro League table. In the
2018 AFC Champions League, Schäfer's team were drawn against
Al-Rayyan,
Al Ain and
Al-Hilal in the competition's
group of death. However, they did not lose a game, topping the group with some impressive performances. On 1 March 2018, Schäfer won his first
Tehran derby as a manager in a 1–0 victory; this was also his third win against
Branko Ivanković, having previously beaten him twice in
2. Bundesliga with
Tennis Borussia Berlin when Branko was the manager of
Hannover 96 during the
1999–2000 season. On 3 May 2018, Schäfer extended his contract until June 2020. On the same day, Schäfer won his first trophy with Esteghlal, the
Hazfi Cup, when his side defeated
Khooneh be Khooneh 1–0, with
Mame Thiam scoring the only goal. Esteghlal extended their record of seven Hazfi Cups.
2018–19 season During Schäfer's second season as manager, he saw some of his top players leaving the club,
Majid Hosseini moved to
Trabzonspor, while
Omid Ebrahimi joined
Al Ahli,
Server Djeparov signed for
Zhetysu and
Omid Noorafkan moved to
Charleroi. Esteghlal signed players such as
Morteza Aghakhan,
Rouhollah Bagheri,
Farshad Mohammadi Mehr,
Meysam Teymouri,
Ali Karimi and
Morteza Tabrizi to replace the departed players and improve the squad depth. He also asked to sign Nigerian striker
Alhaji Gero, his compatriot
Markus Neumayr as well as
Iraq international
Humam Tariq. Schäfer's Esteghlal were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League after a 5–3 aggregate loss to
Al Sadd on 17 September 2018. They were also eliminated from the
Hazfi Cup on 1 November, reaching the Round of 16 stage, after a penalty shootout defeat to
Saipa after a 2–2 draw. On 29 April 2019, Schäfer was suspended until the end of the season two days after Esteghlal's loss to
Padideh in the league and replaced by his assistant
Farhad Majidi. he coached the team until his contract expired with barely any notable records other than getting to the
UAE President's Cup semi finals. On 11 November 2021, he left Qatar after his contract was terminated. ==Managerial statistics==