Christian Ziege (; born 1 February 1972) is a German

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 ...

manager and former player. He most recently coached FC Pinzgau. A defender, he started his playing career at

FC 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 ...

, where he won two Bundesliga titles and a

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

before moving to A.C. Milan, winning an Italian ''Scudetto''. In 1999, he joined

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

of the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, where he was voted the club's Player of the Year in his only season. A year later, he joined

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and was part of the squad which won a treble of the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

, the

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 compet ...

and the UEFA Cup in 2000–01. In 2001, he moved to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, before ending his career back in Germany with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, Nort ...

. With the German national team, Ziege won

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 ...

and finished runner-up at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He also represented the country at

UEFA 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 wa ...

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. Th ...

and 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 t ...

. An attacking left wing-back, Ziege was considered a dead-ball specialist.

Playing career

Club career

At club level, Ziege played for

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 ...

(1990–97),

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

(1997–99) and

(1999–2000). In the summer of 2000,

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 ...

made a £5.5m bid which exactly matched a get-out clause in Ziege's contract. Middlesbrough insisted they had received offers in excess of £8m for Ziege, but were forced contractually to allow Ziege to talk to Liverpool, who then signed him. He made his debut for Liverpool in a 3–2 home win over Manchester City on 9 September 2000, replacing

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, ...

in the second half. A combination of knee injuries and the improving form of

Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's v ...

, meant he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of that season. He scored two goals during his spell at Liverpool; against Leeds in the league and Stoke in the League Cup. Ziege also contributed to their treble in the 2000–01 season. He came on as an extra time substitute in the 2001 Football League Cup Final and scored a penalty in the shootout as Liverpool defeated

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, but he was not part of the match days squads for either the 2001 FA Cup Final or 2001 UEFA Cup Final. On 14 March 2002, Liverpool were fined £20,000 by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

for having made an illegal approach for Ziege when he had been at Middlesbrough. The player himself was fined £10,000. Whilst at Spurs he scored in the 2002 Football League Cup Final but he ended up on the losing side. However, by this time Ziege's injury problems were escalating, and by 2004 his contract was terminated by mutual consent so he could return to Germany. Ziege returned to Germany with

in June 2004, but announced his retirement in October 2005, having not played since the previous December due to a persistent ankle injury.

International career

Ziege was capped 72 times for Germany, scoring nine goals. Other than the Euro 96 win, he also played for his country at the

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 s ...

and 2002 World Cups (during which he played the final game and sported a rather amusing mohawk), as well as Euro 2000 (he was a member of the Euro 2004 squad, but didn't play). Ziege was not initially named in Rudi Völler's

squad, but was then called up after an injury to Christian Rahn.

Managerial career

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Following retirement as a player, Ziege picked up his

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

diploma for coaching. In 2006, he moved into coaching with his last professional club,

, where he was named manager of the club's Under-17 team, succeeding Thomas Schumacher. In 2006–07 the club's U17 team had won ten out of seventeen matches with Ziege in charge when, in March 2007, he was handed the role of

Director of Football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

at the club, as the replacement for the outgoing Peter Pander. At the time of his appointment, with ten matches to go until the end of the season, Borussia Mönchengladbach were at the bottom 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 footb ...

, with five points between them and safety. On 5 October 2008, Ziege dismissed Jos Luhukay and became interim manager. The interim job lasted until 18 October 2008 when Hans Meyer became the new permanent manager. On 15 December 2008 Ziege left Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Arminia Bielefeld and German junior national teams

On 26 May 2010, Ziege signed a contract as manager of

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

. However, his managerial career got off to a poor start with Arminia Bielefeld only picking up three points from a single win from eight games, the worst start to an Arminia Bielefeld season in twenty-three years. Ziege was released from his post as manager of Arminia Bielefeld on 6 November 2010 after a 2–0 defeat against FC Augsburg. From April 2011, Ziege worked for the

DFB DFB may refer to: * Deerfield Beach, Florida, a city * Decafluorobutane, a fluorocarbon gas * Dem Franchize Boyz, former hip hop group, Atlanta, Georgia * Dfb, Köppen climate classification for Humid continental climate * Distributed-feedback ...

. He first coached the German U-19, before taking over the U-18 side in August of the same year. Ziege's contract was not renewed. His contract expires in the summer of 2014.

SpVgg Unterhaching

Ziege became the head coach of

SpVgg Unterhaching Spielvereinigung Unterhaching () is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. The club is widely known for playing in the first-division association football league ...

on 20 March 2014. Ziege's debut was a 1–1 draw against

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

. He resigned on 25 March 2015. His final match was a 2–1 loss to

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 ...

on 21 March 2015. On 30 November 2015, Ziege signed with

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foo ...

side Atlético Baleares as head coach.

Ratchaburi Mitr Phol

On 27 December 2017, Ratchaburi Mitr Phol F.C. of

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augus ...

officially announced the appointment of Ziege as their new head coach. However, he left them after 2 games of the new season, in the week commencing 19 February "by mutual consent".

FC Pinzgau

On 29 April 2019, Ziege was named head coach for Austrian

Austrian Regionalliga The Austrian Regionalliga (german: Regionalliga or plural , means Regional League) is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 5 groups: East (), covering the sta ...

side FC Pinzgau. He departed the club in September 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ziege goal''.

Managerial record

Honours

Club

Bayern Munich *

: 1993–94, 1996–97 *

: 1995–96 A.C. Milan *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: 1998–99 Liverpool *

: 2000–01 *

: 2000–01

International

UEFA European Football 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 bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

: 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 ...

References

External links

* * * *
LFChistory.net player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziege, Christian 1972 births Living people 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players A.C. Milan players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Bundesliga players Association football wingers Association football fullbacks Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain German expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England German expatriate sportspeople in Italy German expatriate sportspeople in Spain German footballers Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Liverpool F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Premier League players Serie A players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA European Championship-winning players 2. Bundesliga managers Arminia Bielefeld managers Borussia Mönchengladbach managers SpVgg Unterhaching managers CD Atlético Baleares managers 3. Liga managers UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Berlin German football managers West German footballers