Christian Streich (; born 11 June 1965)
is a German professional
football manager and former player who is the manager of
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
club
SC Freiburg
Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...
. On 29 December 2011, he was named manager following the release of
Marcus Sorg. Because of his immediate success at the club and his enigmatic and, oftentimes, energetic personality, Streich has been called a "cult figure",
a "firebrand",
and a "football philosopher".
Playing career
Streich began his youth career in 1983 with
Freiburger FC
Freiburger FC () is a German association football club based in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg. Freiburger FC were one of the founding clubs of the DFB ( German Football Association) in 1900.
History
Founded in 1897, for many decades FFC were t ...
in the second division of Baden-Württemberg. In his first season with the club, Freiburg won the championship, but was defeated in the promotion round to reach the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
. After a further season with FFC, Streich was transferred to the
Stuttgarter Kickers
Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers.
History
In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...
in 1985. He left a little over a year later to play for SC Freiburg in the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
.
After a season with SCF in which he made 22 appearances and scored 2 goals, Streich left the club and went to the second-division team
FC 08 Homburg
Fußball-Club 08 Homburg or simply FC Homburg is a German association football club based in Homburg, Saarland, that competes in the Regionalliga Südwest. The club was founded on 15 June 1908 as ''Fussball Club Homburg'' by a group of seventeen ...
, with which he obtained the vice championship and promotion into the top national league in 1989. In the 1989–90 season, Streich made ten appearances for Homburg. In 1991, Streich transferred back to Freiburger FC and played there until his playing career was cut short by a broken
metatarsal
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the me ...
in 1995.
Coaching career
Early career
Streich returned to SC Freiburg in 1995 as a youth trainer. With the youth squad, he won the 2006, 2009, and 2011 junior
DFB Cup and the
Under 19 Fußball-Bundesliga
The Under 19 Bundesliga (German: ''A-Junioren Bundesliga'') is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions (Nord/Nordost, West und Süd/Südwest) with 14 teams each. The winner of each ...
championship in 2008.
After
Robin Dutt
Robin Dutt (; born 24 January 1965) is a German football coach, executive and former player. He is the manager of Austrian club Wolfsberger AC.
Early life
Dutt was born and brought up in Germany, the son of a German mother and Indian Bengali ...
was named manager of the Freiburg's first team in the summer of 2007, Streich served as a co-trainer, attending mainly to the youth squad. Under his direction, many youth players made the leap to the pros including:
Dennis Aogo
Dennis Aogo (born 14 January 1987) is a German former professional footballer who played as a left back and midfielder.
Early life
Born to a German mother and a Nigerian father, Aogo grew up in Oberreut, a suburb in the south-west of Karlsruhe, ...
,
Jonathan Pitroipa
Beninwende Yann Jonathan Pitroipa (born 12 April 1986) is a Burkinabé former professional footballer who played as a winger.
Since making his debut for Burkina Faso in 2006, he has featured at the 2010, 2012 and 2013 editions of the African ...
,
Daniel Schwaab,
Eke Uzoma
Eke Uzoma (born 11 August 1989) is a Nigerian-Hungarian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Viktoria Berlin.
Career
Uzoma was born in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. He began his professional career with SC Freiburg. His first rea ...
,
Ömer Toprak, and
Oliver Baumann.
2011–12 season
At the beginning of the 2011–12 season, Streich became assistant coach of Freiburg's first team with the new trainer
Marcus Sorg after
Robin Dutt
Robin Dutt (; born 24 January 1965) is a German football coach, executive and former player. He is the manager of Austrian club Wolfsberger AC.
Early life
Dutt was born and brought up in Germany, the son of a German mother and Indian Bengali ...
left the club to become head coach of
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...
. Following a poor first half of the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
season which saw Freiburg in the relegation zone, Streich became head coach on 29 December 2011 after Marcus Sorg was sacked.
Following the winter break, Freiburg played its first Bundesliga match under Christian Streich against fellow relegation battlers
FC Augsburg
Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...
.
Freiburg won 1–0 off of an 88th-minute goal by
Matthias Ginter
Matthias Lukas Ginter (born 19 January 1994) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg and the Germany national team.
Club career Early career
Ginter began his career with SV March before he ...
, a player who trained under Streich at the youth levels at SCF and who was brought to the senior squad by Streich himself. The goal came off of a free-kick by the newly signed Danish defender
Michael Lumb, another of Streich's own signings during his first transfer period with the club. With the victory, Streich became the first Freiburg manager to win their Bundesliga debut.
Volker Finke
Volker Finke (born 24 March 1948) is a German football manager. He was the coach of SC Freiburg for 16 years.
Coaching career
On 6 December 2008, Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds announced they signed a contract with Finke as head coach until ...
lost his debut in 1991 while his immediate successors,
Robin Dutt
Robin Dutt (; born 24 January 1965) is a German football coach, executive and former player. He is the manager of Austrian club Wolfsberger AC.
Early life
Dutt was born and brought up in Germany, the son of a German mother and Indian Bengali ...
and
Marcus Sorg, both drew in their debuts. The win also lifted Freiburg off of the bottom of the league table, passing Augsburg in the process. Despite being viewed as a club that would certainly be relegated before Streich took over, following an unbeaten streak of 9 matches, Freiburg secured their place in the Bundesliga for the upcoming season on matchday 32 with a 0–0 draw against
Hannover 96. The team finished the season with a club record of a 10-match unbeaten streak before losing on the final matchday of the season to league champions
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...
. Freiburg finished in 12th place.
After the season, Streich was named Coach of the Year by Goal!, the official Bundesliga magazine.
2012–13 season
upStreich coaching Freiburg in 2013
Under Streich, the
2012–13 season saw the club finish in fifth place,
their best league standing since the 1994–95 season. The fifth-place finish secured a position in the
2013–14 UEFA Europa League
The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title.
The 2014 UEFA Europa League Final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at th ...
, an accomplishment that the club had not achieved since the
2001–02 edition of the tournament. Had SC Freiburg defeated
FC Schalke 04 on the final matchday of the season, Freiburg would have leapfrogged Schalke and qualified for the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
for the first time in the club's history. However, the 1–2 defeat to Schalke saw Schalke secure fourth place in the league and qualify for the tournament instead.
During the 2012–13 season, Freiburg also advanced to the semi-finals of the
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...
for the first time in the club's history but lost to local rivals
VFB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...
1–2 and missed the chance to play
FC Bayern Munich in the final.
Following the season, Streich was named Coach of the Season by
''Kicker'' magazine, beating out treble-winning
Jupp Heynckes.
Streich extended his contract at the end of the season.
2013–14 season
The third season with Streich as coach started out very unsuccessful with Freiburg remaining 16th in the Bundesliga and were eliminated in the
group stage of the Europa League after finishing in third place. SC Freiburg was eliminated in round 3 of the
2013–14 DFB-Pokal
The 2013–14 DFB-Pokal was the 71st season of the annual German football cup competition. It began on 2 August 2013 with the first of six rounds and ended on 17 May 2014 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Bayern Munich went on to wi ...
by
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...
,
however finished the Bundesliga season as 14th and therefore remaining in the league.
2014–15 season
Freiburg started the season with a 2–0 win against
Eintracht Trier
SV Eintracht Trier 05 is a German association football club based in Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate. It was formed on 11 March 1948 out of the merger of Westmark 05 Trier and Eintracht Trier 06, on the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of pred ...
in the
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...
.
Only five wins in the second half of the season were not enough and the team finished 17th and therefore relegated to the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
by a single point.
2015–16 season
Freiburg started the season with a 6–3 win against
1. FC Nürnberg and was able to win the
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
.
All managerial contracts including Streich's originally expiring summer 2016 were extended in February 2016.
2016–17 season
Streich coaching Freiburg in 2017
Freiburg started the season with a 4–0 win against
SV Babelsberg 03
SV Babelsberg 03 is a football in Germany, German association football club based in Potsdam-Potsdam-Babelsberg, Babelsberg, on the outskirts of Berlin. The team was founded as ''Sport-Club Jugendkraft 1903'' and again as ''SG Karl-Marx Babelsbe ...
in the
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...
.
Overview
Personal life
Streich is the son of a butcher and grew up working in his father's shop. He attributes his welcoming personality to his parents and their nature towards customers at the shop. After the abrupt end to his playing career, Streich completed his studies of German and also studied sport and history and eventually became a qualified teacher. Streich is known for his heavy southwestern German dialect and has been called a firebrand by many because of his energetic personality. Currently, Streich has two children and has described himself as, "...just a normal guy, no tattoos, no piercings". Streich also cycles to the stadium on his bicycle for Freiburg's home matches, which is 12 kilometers from his neighbourhood.
Managerial record
Honours
Manager
SC Freiburg youth
*Junior
DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...
: 2006, 2009, 2011
*
Under 19 Bundesliga
The Under 19 Bundesliga (German: ''A-Junioren Bundesliga'') is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions (Nord/Nordost, West und Süd/Südwest) with 14 teams each. The winner of each d ...
: 2008
SC Freiburg
*
2. Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
:
2015–16
Individual
*''Goal!'' Official Bundesliga Magazine Coach of the Year:
2011–12
*
''kicker'' Coach of the Year:
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
*
VDV Bundesliga Coach of the Season:
2021–22
*
Football Manager of the Year (Germany) The title Manager (association football), Football Manager of the Year (''Trainer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 2002. The award is determined by a poll of German Association football, football journalists from the Association of Ge ...
: 2022
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Streich, Christian
Living people
1965 births
People from Lörrach (district)
Sportspeople from Freiburg (region)
Association football midfielders
German footballers
German football managers
SC Freiburg players
FC 08 Homburg players
Stuttgarter Kickers players
Bundesliga players
SC Freiburg managers
Bundesliga managers
2. Bundesliga managers
Footballers from Baden-Württemberg
Freiburger FC players