Daniel Moustapha Thioune (born 21 July 1974) is a German professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who currently manages

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

. Thioune spent most of his playing career at

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The c ...

, where he established himself as a prolific scorer from midfield. Upon retiring in 2010 after playing for multiple lower league sides, he began coaching different teams in the VfL Osnabrück academy before being appointed as the first team coach in 2017. He was hired as

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

head coach in 2020.

Playing career

Thioune started playing for local club Raspo Osnabrück at the age of six, living across their home ground and training facilities. As a junior player, he would also play for Osnabrücker SC and Post SV Osnabrück. After two years of senior football playing for Post SV Osnabrück, Thioune moved to Sportfreunde Oesede in 1994, who were playing in the fifth-tier

Oberliga Niedersachsen The Oberliga Niedersachsen ( en, Upper League Lower Saxony), sometimes referred to as ''Niedersachsenliga'' (Lower Saxony league), is the fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Lower Saxony (ge ...

at the time. Prior to the 1996–97 season he was signed by third tier Regionalliga club

, with whom he won promotion 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 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. There, he made his professional debut in the 2000–01 season and scored 10 goals in 22 appearances. After the club's relegation in 2001, Thioune initially stayed with the club, but moved to 2. Bundesliga side

VfB Lübeck VfB Lübeck is a German association football club playing in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein in the country's north. In addition to its football side the 1,000 member sports club also has departments for badminton, women's gymnastics, handball, and ...

in 2002, for whom he played 47 league games in two years and scored eight goals. In the 2003–04 season, he reached 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 ...

with Lübeck under head coach

Dieter Hecking Dieter-Klaus Hecking (; born 12 September 1964) is a German football manager for 1. FC Nürnberg and former professional player. He played for Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig. He returned to manage Hannover despite the long-standing and bi ...

, in which the team was eliminated after leading twice in extra time against the eventual ''

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

'' winners from

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

. Ahead of the 2004–05 season, Thioune moved to 2. Bundesliga side LR Ahlen (Rot Weiss Ahlen from 2006). With the club he suffered relegation to the Regionalliga for the second time in his career, in 2006. As team captain, however, he won promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in the 2007–08 season after being down for two years. After a serious injury, Thioune stepped down as captain in January 2010 and retired from professional football on 15 April 2010. Thioune made 126-second-tier and 192 third-tier appearances during his career, in which he scored 24 goals in the 2. Bundesliga and 60 goals in the Regionalliga. After finishing his professional career, he would play alongside former German international Ronald Maul at Eintracht Osnabrück for a while.

Managerial career

Beginnings

Thioune started out in management in the 2010–11 season, where he functioned as

Arie van Lent Arie van Lent (born 31 August 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a forward. He was most recently the manager of SpVgg Unterhaching. Playing career At the age of 12, van Lent played for the youth team of Sparta 57 Op ...

's assistant at

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...

club

Rot Weiss Ahlen Rot Weiss Ahlen is a German football club based in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2006 the club was known as ''LR Ahlen'' for its major sponsor, but underwent a name change when the sponsor withdrew its support after the team was relegate ...

, but was released from his duties after the club faced bankruptcy in June 2011. In the 2011–12 season, he moved to a position as scout for Rot-Weiß Erfurt. From the 2013–14 season, Thioune coached the '' B1 Jugend'' (U17) of

and led them to promotion to the '' B-Junioren Bundesliga'' (Under 17 Bundesliga) from the North/Northeast group in 2015. When Joe Enochs succeeded Maik Walpurgis as head coach of the VfL Osnabrück senior team in 2015, Thioune took over Enochs' position as the head of the youth academy and became head coach of the '' A-Junioren'' (U19). Under his leadership, the U19 managed to get promoted from the ''A-Jugend-Regionalliga Nord'' to the '' A-Junioren Bundesliga'' (Under 19 Bundesliga) from the North/Northeast group in 2016. In March 2016, Thioune received his coaching license, after taking courses at the Hennes-Weisweiler Academy together with the likes of Julian Nagelsmann,

Alexander Nouri Alexander Nouri ( fa, آلکساندر نوری, ; born 20 August 1979) is a German former footballer and manager. He played professionally for 14 years with Werder Bremen, Seattle Sounders, KFC Uerdingen, VfL Osnabrück, Holstein Kiel and VfB Ol ...

and

Domenico Tedesco Domenico is an Italian language, Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auri ...

VfL Osnabrück

After a poor start to the 2017–18 season, Joe Enochs was relieved of his duties as head coach of the

senior team competing in the

, in early October 2017. Thioune initially took over as an caretaker manager, but in early November 2017, he was appointed the permanent head coach. Thioune managed to turn around the team and eventually reach the 17th place in the league standings with 6 points down to the relegations spots. In the 2018–19 season, he led VfL Osnabrück to the 3. Liga championship and thus to promotion to the

. In September 2019, his contract with the club was extended to June 2021. In the 2019–20 season, Thioune's side held 5th place in the league table after the first half of the season with 26 points; only four points behind a direct promotion spot. In the second half of the season, the team from

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

finished as the worst team of the league with a mere 14 points, which in the end resulted in a relegation battle. Another season in the 2. Bundesliga was only secured on the 33rd matchday, and VfL finished the season as the best promotee with 40 points and a 13th place finish.

Hamburger SV

For the 2020–21 season, Thioune took over the

side of

, which had previously missed out on promotion to 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 ...

for two years in a row in fourth place. He succeeded

, whose contract had expired and under whom he had played at

. Thioune triggered a release clause in his contract at

to sign a two-year contract in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. Thioune was sacked on 3 May 2021, three matchdays before the end of the season.

Fortuna Düsseldorf

On 8 February 2022, Thioune was hired by

, replacing Christian Preußer. He signed a contract until 2023.

Personal life

Thioune was born in Germany to a Senegalese father and German mother, and holds dual citizenship. He is the first black professional football manager in Germany. As a youngster he attended the Graf-Stauffenberg High School in

. Thioune studied

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

at the University of Vechta and graduated in 2019 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

. He is married and has a daughter and a son.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

VfL Osnabrück *

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

: 1999–2000 Rot Weiss Ahlen *

: 2007–08

Manager

VfL Osnabrück *

: 2018–19 Individual *

Manager of the Season: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thioune, Daniel 1974 births Living people People from Georgsmarienhütte Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Lower Saxony German men's footballers Senegalese men's footballers German football managers German people of Senegalese descent Senegalese people of German descent 2. Bundesliga players VfL Osnabrück players VfB Lübeck players Rot Weiss Ahlen players VfL Osnabrück managers Hamburger SV managers Fortuna Düsseldorf managers 2. Bundesliga managers 3. Liga managers