Ralf Loose (; born 5 January 1963) 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 ...

coach and former player who last managed Swiss club

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

. He is most noted for his stint with the Liechtenstein national football team.

Playing career

Loose played as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

between 1981 and 1986 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 ...

, and also for a year for Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Between 1987 and 1994 he was at

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 ...

. He has also been captain for the

Germany national under-21 football team The Germany national under-21 football team represents the under-21s of Germany in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and is controlled by the German Football Association (DFB), the governing body of football in Germany. Before t ...

Managing career

Between 1996 and 1998 Loose was the coach for the Liechtenstein Under-18s team. On 1 July 1998, he was appointed to Liechtenstein national team manager. Ralf held this position until 29 July 2003. On 1 July 2004, he became coach at a regional team

Sportfreunde Siegen Sportfreunde Siegen is a German association football club based in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. After going through insolvency in 2008, the first team was forcibly relegated to the fifth-tier NRW-Liga. Promotion to fourth division Regionallig ...

. After a brief spell with

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

he returned to

. Ralf Loose replaced

Rainer Hörgl Rainer may refer to: People * Rainer (surname) * Rainer (given name) Other * Rainer Island, an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia * 16802 Rainer, an asteroid * Rainer Foundation, British charitable organisation See also * Rainier (disambiguation ...

as coach at

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded ...

in October 2007. Loose was sacked in April 2008, after a dismal season that has left Augsburg teetering close to relegation. He was appointed as manager of Dynamo Dresden in April 2011. He earned promotion in his first season, after a playoff victory over

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 ...

, but was sacked in December 2012, after a poor start to the 2012–13 season. Loose was appointed manager of

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while th ...

club, FC Winterthur on 1 July 2019

References

1963 births Living people German footballers Germany youth international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Borussia Dortmund players Borussia Dortmund II players Fortuna Düsseldorf players Rot-Weiß Oberhausen players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players German football managers Footballers from Dortmund FC Augsburg managers FC St. Gallen managers German expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Liechtenstein German expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein Expatriate football managers in Switzerland German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Liechtenstein national football team managers Dynamo Dresden managers Sportfreunde Siegen managers 2. Bundesliga managers SC Preußen Münster managers Association football defenders Association football midfielders 3. Liga managers FC Winterthur managers {{Germany-footy-defender-1960s-stub