Michael Silberbauer (born 7 July 1981) is a Danish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former professional player. He is currently the manager of

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. Silberbauer played more than a 100 games for each Danish club

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

and

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

, winning three

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

titles with FC Copenhagen. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

25 times for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

, scoring a single goal.

Club career

Aalborg BK

Born in Støvring, Silberbauer started his career playing youth football for local amateur team Støvring IF, before moving to nearby top-flight club

Aalborg Boldspilklub Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

(AaB). He made his

debut for AaB in the 3–2 win against defending Superliga champions

Herfølge BK Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Residential areas Holmebækhus ...

on 26 July 2000, and he played 28 of 33 games during the

2000–01 Danish Superliga The 2000–01 Danish Superliga season was the 11th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 22, 2000 to final match on June 13, 2001. The Danish c ...

season. Silberbauer played a total 105 Superliga games for AaB until December 2003, and was named AaB player of the year in both 2001 and 2002.

Copenhagen

In January 2004, Silberbauer moved on to Superliga rivals

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

(FCK) in a transfer deal reportedly worth between 7–10 million DKK. In his first six months with FCK, he won both the 2003–04 Danish Superliga championship and the 2003–04 Danish Cup trophy. In the spring of 2005, he was in top form, scoring four goals in two games, before he suffered an injury in a game against arch rivals

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

. He won a further two Danish Superliga titles with FCK, before leaving the club as his contract expired in the Summer 2008.

Utrecht

Silberbauer then moved abroad to play for

club

. He was eventually named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

of Utrecht, and was seen as a leader figure for the young team. With his contract running out in the Summer 2011, Utrecht looked to sell him in the winter 2010 transfer window, with a number of British clubs reportedly interested.Utrecht captain Michael Silberbauer interested in January move to Celtic despite English interest – Herald Scotland , Sport , SPL , Celtic
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Young Boys Bern

Silberbauer was not sold, and eventually agreed a free transfer move to

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

club

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

in April 2011, effective from July 2011. Silberbauer is on contract until 2015, but is on a loan to Odense Boldklub until summer 2013.

Odense Boldklub

Silberbauer joined OB 3 September 2012 on a one-year loan contract.

International career

At the age of 16, Silberbauer made his international debut for the Danish under-17 national team in August 1997. He participated in the 1998 European Under-16 Championship. Up until November 2003, he played a total 56 games and scored seven goals for the various Danish youth selections, including 24 games and two goals for the Danish under-21 national team. Silberbauer was selected for the senior Danish national team under national team manager

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

, and made his debut in the 1–0

friendly game Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States ...

win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in August 2002. It would be two-and-a-half years and a move to FCK before he added the second game to his tally. It came in March 2005, as he took part in the 3–0 win against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in the

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

tournament. Silberbauer scored his first international goal in his fourth game, a 1–0 friendly win against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in June 2005. It came as a surprise to many commentators that Silberbauer was not included in Olsen's squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, and Silberbauer himself was so disappointed that he considered ending his international career. Following the World Cup, he was called up for the national team again. Silberbauer also represented the

Denmark League XI national football team The Denmark League XI national football team is an unofficial national football team run by the Danish Football Association. The team generally consists of Danish players playing in the Danish Superliga, or other leagues if their clubs agree to r ...

, a selection of the best domestic Danish Superliga players managed by Morten Olsen for a number of unofficial international matches. Silberbauer has played an aggregated seven games and scored one goal for the League XI team in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first''

Coaching career

Silberbauer became an assistant at

club

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

in 2016. He remained with the club through the 2018–19 Swiss Super League season. On 20 August 2018, Silberbauer was announced as the first head coach of

Pacific FC Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford. History On May 5, 2 ...

of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

on a 2-year contract beginning January 2019. On 28 April 2019, he coached Pacific to a 1–0 victory in its first ever game over

HFX Wanderers FC HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer l ...

. He parted ways with the club on 18 October the same year. On 17 August 2020 it was confirmed, that Silberbauer had returned to Denmark and joined

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

as an assistant coach for the club's successful U-19 team. On 15 June 2021 Swiss club

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

announced, that Silberbauer had been hired on a deal for the 2021–22 season, as the clubs new assistant coach under head coach

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player who last worked as head coach for Basel. He played as midfielder or forward. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football skill playing with Nordstern Basel and t ...

. He left the club at the end of 2022. On 24 March 2022, he joined

, also as assistant, under manager Rick Kruys. Ahead of the 2022-23 season, Silberbauer returned to his homeland and joined his former club,

, as a first team assistant coach. On 28 December 2022, Silberbauer returned to FC Utrecht, this time as head coach, agreeing upon a 2.5-year contract.

Honours

Copenhagen *

: 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07

References

External links

Michael Silberbauer profile
Dansk Boldspil-Union
Silberbauer Michael
on FC Biel-Bienne

Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Silberbauer, Michael 1981 births Living people Danish men's footballers Association football wingers Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers AaB Fodbold players F.C. Copenhagen players FC Utrecht players BSC Young Boys players Odense Boldklub players FC Biel-Bienne players Pacific FC non-playing staff Danish Superliga players Swiss Super League players Eredivisie players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland UEFA Euro 2012 players People from Rebild Municipality Sportspeople from the North Jutland Region Danish football managers Canadian Premier League coaches FC Utrecht managers Eredivisie managers