Markus Babbel (; born 8 September 1972) is a German professional

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 ...

coach and former player who last managed the

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premie ...

. He played as a defender for clubs in Germany and England. Babbel won the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

twice, in 1996 with Bayern and in 2001 with Liverpool, and was part of the

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

team that won

UEFA Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

Career

Playing career

Bayern Munich

Born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Babbel's first professional club was

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. He advanced from the youth squad to the first team and was a starting player eight times, and made four appearances as a substitute in league games.

Hamburger SV and return to Bayern Munich

He moved to

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 ...

in August 1992 and appeared regularly in the first team, scoring his first league goal in Germany's top-flight. Returning to Bayern Munich in 1994, he started in 167 games, and attracted the attention of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

following

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. A£5 million deal was put in place for the German full back, but it never went through. He was signed on a Bosman by

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, U ...

in June 2000, forming part of the back four during Liverpool's successful 2000–01 season.

Liverpool

He was an integral member of Liverpool's side and his characteristic raiding runs down the right side led to a number of goals, including one in the UEFA Cup final itself. His Liverpool career was forced to a sudden halt when he contracted

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain often ...

and was unable to play for a year.

Blackburn Rovers

He went on loan to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in August 2003 after having recovered from

, achieving regular first team appearances in the league and scoring three goals in the process.

VfB Stuttgart

Babbel's last club was

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 Stu ...

, which he joined on a free transfer in July 2004. In January 2007, Babbel announced that he would retire at the end of the 2006–07 season.

German National Team

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 ...

51 times, scoring one goal for

and was part of the

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

winning team. Babbel also played for his country at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

and

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

Coaching career

2007–12: Early career

Following his retirement from football, Babbel stayed on with his last club, VfB Stuttgart, as an assistant manager. On 24 November 2008, Babbel became head coach of VfB Stuttgart. Upon Babbel's arrival, VfB Stuttgart were 11th in the table after 14 games. Babbel's first match was a 1–1 draw against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

on 27 November 2008. They finished the season in third place, five points off league winners VfL Wolfsburg and qualifying for the Champions League. On 6 May 2009, Babbel extended his contract with VfB Stuttgart until the summer of 2011, however, on 6 December 2009 VfB Stuttgart and Babbel parted ways. His final match was a 1–1 draw against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seas ...

on 5 December 2009. At the time of Babbel's sacking, VfB Stuttgart were in 16th place after 15 games played. Babbel finished with a record of 21 wins, 15 draws, and 14 losses. Under Babbel, VfB Stuttgart finished second in their Champions League group and qualified for the round of 16. Babbel took over

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

in the 2nd division in July 2010. His first match was a 2–0 German Cup win. In his first season, he succeeded in returning them 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 ...

after winning the 2. Bundesliga during the 2010–11 season. On 18 December 2011, Babbel was sacked as coach of

. Prior to this, he had announced that he wanted to leave the club at the end of the season. His final match was a 1–1 draw against 1899 Hoffenheim on 17 December 2011. Hertha BSC were in 11th place at the time of the sacking. Babbel finished with a record of 30 wins, 13 draws, and 12 losses. On 10 February 2012, Babbel took over as manager of 1899 Hoffenheim. 1899 Hoffenheim were in eighth place when Babbel took over. His first match was a 1–1 draw against

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, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

. 1899 Hoffenheim finished the season in 11th place. On 3 December 2012 he was released because of poor results, with the team in 16th place in the

. Babbel's final match was a 4–1 loss to Werder Bremen. Babbel finished with a record of seven wins, eight draws, and 15 losses.

2014–2018: FC Luzern

Babbel became the new head coach of

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

on 12 October 2014, following the sacking of Carlos Bernegger who failed to win a single league game in 2014–15 season. His first match was a 0–0 draw against

Vaduz Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...

on 19 October 2014. Luzern finished the 2014–15 season in fifth place. The 2015–16 season started off with a 2–2 draw against

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...

on 18 July 2015. During the 2015–16 season, Luzern got to semi-final of the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

and finished 3rd in the league. The 2016–17 season starts with six matches between 23 July 2016 and 7 August 2016. Luzern won the opening match of the season 2–1 against

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

on 23 July 2016.

2018: Western Sydney Wanderers

On 19 May 2018, Babbel was appointed as manager of

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. The 2018–19 A-League season saw the Wanderers finish eighth out of ten teams, winning only six games, drawing six and losing 15. In the 2019–20 season, after a bright start including a 1–0 win over Sydney FC in the first Sydney Derby at the new

Western Sydney Stadium Western Sydney Stadium, commercially known as CommBank Stadium, is a multi-purpose rectangular stadium in Parramatta, within the Greater Western Sydney region, approximately west of Sydney CBD. It replaced the demolished Parramatta Stadium ...

, the team collapsed with just 1 win and only 2 draws in the next 11 games, dropping from first place after 3 rounds to 9th place (out of 11) after 14 matches. Babbel was sacked by the Wanderers on Monday, 20 January 2020 with his assistant coach named as interim replacement.

Overview

Career statistics

International

:''Score and result list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Babbel goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Bayern Munich *

: 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

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 considere ...

: 1997–98, 1999–00, Runner-up 1998–99 *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

: 1995–96 *

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 competit ...

: Runner-up 1998–99 Liverpool *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2000–01 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 2000–01 *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

; runner-up

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

: 2000–01 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

VfB Stuttgart *

: 2006–07 *

: Runner-up 2006–07 *

: Runner-up

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

International *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

As a coach

Hertha BSC * 2. Bundesliga: 2010–11

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babbel, Markus 1972 births Footballers from Munich German footballers Bundesliga players Premier League players Association football fullbacks German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players Hamburger SV players Liverpool F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players VfB Stuttgart players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship-winning players German football managers Bundesliga managers VfB Stuttgart managers Hertha BSC managers TSG 1899 Hoffenheim managers Living people Expatriate football managers in Switzerland German expatriate football managers FC Luzern managers German expatriate sportspeople in England German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland UEFA Cup winning players FA Cup Final players People with Guillain–Barré syndrome