Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of Japanese club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the co ...

Club career

In his youth, Skibbe played for

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

, then moved to the professional team of FC Schalke 04. From 1985 to 1986, he appeared in 14 Bundesliga games, but tore his

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

three times, which ended his playing career.

Managerial career

1988–2004: Early career

At the age of 22, he started his career as coach with Schalke 04 youth team. In 1989, Skibbe became a youth coach for

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 ...

. Skibbe became head coach of the reserve side on 1 July 1997, where he won the

Oberliga Westfalen The Oberliga Westfalen is the highest level football league in the region of Westphalia, which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The league existed from 1978 to 2008, but was then replaced by the NRW-Liga, a new statewide league. Wit ...

, and head coach of the senior team on 1 July 1998. Skibbe becoming the youngest head coach in 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 ...

of all time at the age of 32. Skibbe was sacked on 6 February 2000. Skibbe finished with a record of 28 wins, 20 draws, and 18 losses. Skibbe moved to the position of coordinator of the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

of the club. He gave up this post after being offered the position as director of the German national team. In 2000, he became its head coach.

Rudi Völler Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (; born 13 April 1960), nicknamed "''Tante Käthe''" ("Aunt Käthe"), is a German former professional football player and manager who serves as the sporting director for Bayer Leverkusen. A forward, Völler won the FIFA W ...

, however, made most of the decisions, but did not have a coaching licence and thus couldn't be the official head coach. After Germany was eliminated in the first round of

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, Völler and Skibbe resigned from their positions. Skibbe was director of the youth system of the German Football Association from 24 August 2004 to 8 October 2005.

2005–08: Return to club management

Skibbe became 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 ...

on 8 October 2005. Skibbe was sacked from Bayer Leverkusen on 18 May 2008 after missing out on Europe. Skibbe finished with a record of 52 wins, 25 draws, and 45 losses.

2008–12: Going to Turkey and returning to the Bundesliga

On 11 June 2008 Skibbe agreed terms with the Turkish football club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. He won the

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

after a 2–1 victory against

Kayserispor Kayseri Spor Kulübü, commonly known as Kayserispor, is a Turkish professional football club based in Kayseri. They play their home matches at the Kadir Has Stadium in red and yellow kits. The team has won one Turkish Cup in 2008 and also fi ...

failed to qualify for the group stages of 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 ...

after they lost 3–2 on aggregate to Steaua Bucuresti. Skibbe was sacked from Galatasaray on 23 February 2009, after a heavy 5–2 loss to Kocaelispor. Skibbe left Galatasaray fifth in the table, outside of a

spot. On 4 June 2009,

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

announced that Skibbe would succeed

Friedhelm Funkel Friedhelm Funkel (born 10 December 1953) is a German football manager and former player, who last managed 1. FC Köln. Coaching career Early career Funkel was manager of Duisburg between 13 May 1996 and 24 March 2000. He finished with a record o ...

as head coach of the club. On 22 March 2011, after a decline in the Bundesliga, Skibbe was sacked by the club. Skibbe finished with a record of 25 wins, 15 draws, and 27 losses. On 17 July 2011,

Eskişehirspor Eskişehirspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in Eskişehir. Eskisehirspor has a total of six trophies, making them the sixth most trophies holders in Turkey. Founded in 1965, Eskişehirspor competed in the top division ...

announced that Skibbe would succeed

Bülent Uygun Bülent Uygun (born 1 August 1971) is a Turkish football manager and former player. He played as an attacking midfielder after starting his career as a striker, and was the captain of Fenerbahçe. His nickname is ''The Soldier''. Playing career ...

as head coach of the club. On 27 December 2011, Skibbe's contract was dissolved to make way for his move to Hertha BSC. Skibbe finished with a record of nine wins, three draws, and five losses. Skibbe was officially released from Eskişehirspor to make way for his Hertha BSC move on 27 December 2011. After five losses in five games with the team, Skibbe was sacked from Hertha BSC on 12 February 2012.

2012–15: Foreign club management positions

On 17 May 2012, he was formally introduced as the new manager of Karabükspor for 1+1 years. Skibbe left the club on 5 November 2012. Skibbe finished with a record of four wins, three draws, and five losses. On 15 June 2013, Skibbe was appointed as the new manager of Grasshopper Club Zürich, succeeding Uli Forte. In January 2015, his contract was terminated by mutual consent. The club's management met thereby Skibbe's desire of realignment. On 12 January 2015, it was reported that Skibbe had taken over Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side Eskişehirspor as the new manager. He had been coach of the club before in 2011 for six months.

2015–2018: Greece

On 29 October 2015, the

Hellenic Football Federation The Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), also known as the Greek Football Federation ( el, Ελληνική Ποδοσφαιρική Ομοσπονδία; ΕΠΟ, translit=Ellinikí Podosferikí Omospondía; EPO) is the governing body of football ...

hired him as the new head coach of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. He was hired as the successor of Sergio Markarián due to the team's unsuccessful

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. Skibbe's first ever game as

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

coach was on 13 November 2015 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Differdange Differdange ( lb, Déifferdeng or (locally) ; german: Differdingen) is a commune with town status in south-western Luxembourg, west from the country's capital. It lies near the borders with Belgium and France and it is located in the canton ...

which ended in a shocking start with the Greeks losing 1–0 to the very low ranked home side. His second game in charge was a very intense 0-0 derby draw against their biggest local-rivals

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

on 17 November 2015. His next and third game in charge of the country was on 24 March 2016 where Skibbe enjoyed his first ever victory of the national team since taking over in a 2–1 home win over

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

at the

Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the ...

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

with goals from Giorgos Tzavellas and Nikos Karelis. His next challenge was the newly talented

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

where the Greeks after leading 2-0 went on to lose the game 3–2 to the Icelanders in Piraeus on 29 March 2016. On 4 June 2016, Skibbe's Greek side began their 2-game tour of Australia by losing the first game 1–0 with a late Aussie winner from Matthew Leckie at

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

in Sydney. On 7 June 2016, Skibbe enjoyed only his second win as Greece coach in an emphatic display as the Greeks took out a 2–1 victory with a good finish by

Petros Mantalos Petros Mantalos ( el, Πέτρος Μάνταλος; born 31 August 1991) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Super League club AEK Athens and the Greece national team. Club career Skoda Xanthi Petros ...

and an amazing 60 metre-strike from

Giannis Maniatis Giannis Maniatis ( el, Γιάννης Μανιάτης ; born 12 October 1986) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right back or a defensive midfielder. Club career Panionios Maniatis was first spotted as a 16-year-old pla ...

inside his own half which beat the scrambling Australia goalkeeper

Adam Federici Adam Jay Federici (born 31 January 1985) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Federici began his senior career at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2003, but was only there briefly and soon switched to Torres. Af ...

all the way to bounce into the net at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. It was Greece's first victory over the Australians since 1978 when Greece were 1–0 victors over the Aussies in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. On 1 September 2016, he enjoyed a 2–1 away win over the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in an International friendly, the first ever Greek win on Dutch soil with goals from

Kostas Mitroglou Konstantinos "Kostas" Mitroglou ( el, Κωνσταντίνος "Κώστας" Μήτρογλου, ; born 12 March 1988) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is nicknamed "Mitrogoal" and "Pistolero" by fans due to his go ...

and

Giannis Gianniotas Giannis Gianniotas ( gr, Γιάννης Γιαννιώτας; born 29 April 1993) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a winger for Super League club Levadiakos. Club career Aris 2011–12 season Born in Neochori, Greece, Gianniota ...

. On 6 September 2016, Greece played against newly FIFA recognized minnow country

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

who were appearing in their first FIFA competition game in their history and Skibbe's Greeks despite at one point the scores were level at 1–1, they went on to defeat the Gibraltarians 4–1 at

Estádio Algarve The Estádio Algarve (Algarve Stadium), also known as ''Estádio Faro/Loulé'' (Faro/Loule Stadium), is an association football stadium located between Faro and Loulé municipalities, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The stadium has a capacit ...

in Faro/

Loulé Loulé () is a city and municipality in the region of Algarve, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2011, the population of the entire municipality was 70,622 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two principal cities: Loulé ...

and get off the mark strong in their Round 1

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

group game. Greece have continued to be successful in their group, drawing 1–1 to a highly commendable Belgium squad on 25 March 2017. Despite losing to the Belgians 1–2 at home some months later, subsequent positive results against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and

helped Greece clinch a place in the World Cup qualification playoffs, being placed second to Belgium and just above Bosnia & Herzegovina. The team's playoff campaign against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

was rather disappointing due to a heavy 4–1 away defeat in the 1st leg at Maksimir Stadion, which also proved to be the aggregate score that got Greece eliminated, following a goalless draw in the return leg at

Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the ...

. Despite this outcome, the

recognized Skibbe's contribution to restoring the national team's status within the footballing world after a devastating Euro 2016 qualifier campaign, and the increased cohesion and chemistry that he brought amongst the players during his reign. In fact, on 12 November 2017, Skibbe announced to the press that he would remain at the helm of Greece, something later confirmed by the Federation after the manager signed a two-year contract extension covering the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers. However, a poor showing in the first rounds of UEFA's newly formed Nations League competition, has prompted the Federation to consider sacking him. Skibbe's removal from his post as Greece manager was confirmed on 24 October 2018, with native experienced manager

Angelos Anastasiadis Angelos Anastasiadis (; born 8 March 1953) is a Greek football manager and former international footballer. He previously coached numerous clubs in Greece including PAOK, Panathinaikos, Platanias and PAS Giannina as well as the Greece and Cyp ...

expected to take charge for both the Nations League's two remaining games, and the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Al-Ain

Skibbe became manager of

Al-Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is bordered to the east by the Omani ...

on 17 October 2020. Skibbe's first match was a 1–0 loss to Al Hilal. 28 January 2021, Skibbe was sacked by Al-Ain. At the time of his sacking, Al-Ain sat at the bottom of the table, six points from safety.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Borussia Dortmund U19 * A-Junioren Bundesliga: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97 Borussia Dortmund II *

: 1997–98 Galatasaray *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Sanfrecce Hiroshima *

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

* J.League Manager of the Year: 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skibbe, Michael 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Gelsenkirchen German footballers Germany youth international footballers Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players SG Wattenscheid 09 players FC Schalke 04 players German football managers Bundesliga managers Süper Lig managers Borussia Dortmund managers Bayer 04 Leverkusen managers Eintracht Frankfurt managers Galatasaray S.K. (football) managers Eskişehirspor managers Kardemir Karabükspor managers Grasshopper Club Zürich managers Expatriate football managers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in Switzerland German expatriate sportspeople in Turkey German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland German expatriate football managers Greece national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Greece German expatriate sportspeople in Greece Association football midfielders Borussia Dortmund II managers Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Borussia Dortmund non-playing staff Association football coaches Saudi Professional League managers Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia German expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Al-Ain FC (Saudi Arabia) managers J1 League managers Sanfrecce Hiroshima managers