Alexandré "Mano" Pölking (born 12 March 1976) is a Brazilian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former football player. He is currently the manager of

V.League 1 The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...

club Công An Hà Nội.

Playing career

He started his career in his ancestral country of Germany, playing for VfB Fichte Bielefeld,

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 is most well known as ...

and

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

. In 2005, he moved to Cyprus where he played for

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia (, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a Cypriot football club based in Nicosia and competes in the . The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the Cyprus Football Association. The club colors are black and green. ...

and APOEL.

Managerial career

Pölking was the assistant of German manager

Winfried Schäfer Winfried "Winnie" Schäfer (born 10 January 1950) is a German football manager and former player who is the technical director for the Ghana national football team. Playing career Winfried Schäfer played 403 Bundesliga matches and scored 46 goa ...

since 2008, at

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) is a professional Football team, football club based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi (emirate), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of ...

and

FC Baku FC Baku (), founded as Dinamo Baku in 1997, was an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that had been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and the ...

. In 2012, Alexandré Pölking came to Thailand to be the assistant of Schäfer who was appointed as the national head coach of Thailand national team in June 2011. In 2013, Pölking was appointed by the Army United as the head coach. He finished his first season as the manager with sixth place at the final standing. In 2014, Pölking moved to

Suphanburi Suphan Buri () is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand. It covers ''tambon'' Tha Philiang and parts of ''tambons'' Rua Yai and Tha Rahat, all within the Mueang Suphan Buri District. As of 2006 it had a population of 26,656. The tow ...

. However, after only 12 matches managing the club in the

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

he was sacked. Following his departure from Suphanburi, Pölking later took over as manager of

Bangkok United True Bangkok United Football Club () is a professional football club based in Pathum Thani province, Thailand. Known as Bangkok University Football Club until 2009, the club was relegated from the 2010 Thai Premier League only four years afte ...

during the second leg of the 2014 season. He made his debut with Bangkok United in a 3–0 win over his former club Army United on 25 June 2014.

Thailand

Pölking was appointed as the head coach of the Thailand national team, as announced by the

Football Association of Thailand The Football Association of Thailand, under the Patronage of His Majesty the King (), or FA Thailand (FAT) for short, is the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer in Thailand. It was founded on 25 April 1916. The associ ...

on 28 September 2021. Pölking replaced Japanese coach Akira Nishino, who was sacked in July after the War Elephants were eliminated in the qualifying round for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Polking's first task was the

2020 AFF Championship The 2020 AFF Championship (officially AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), the 7th and the last edition ...

in December 2021. Between 5 December 2021 and 1 January 2022, Polking accomplished the very task as he led the War Elephants to win 6–2 on aggregate after being held to 2–2 second-leg draw by Indonesia's Garuda, making Thailand reign the AFF Championship for the sixth time. In 2022, Pölking managed the Thai side to defend the title in the 2022 AFF Championship as he led the team to win 3-2 on aggregate against Vietnam, Pölking became the fourth manager, after

Peter Withe Peter Withe (; born 30 August 1951) is an English former football Manager (association football), manager and Forward (association football)#Striker, striker who played between 1971 and 1990. At Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest he won ...

Radojko Avramović Radojko "Raddy" Avramović ( sr-Cyrl, Радојко Аврамовић; born 29 November 1949) is a Serbian retired football coach and player. A goalkeeper, Avramović most notably played for Croatian club Rijeka and English club Notts Count ...

and

Kiatisuk Senamuang Kiatisuk Senamuang (; born 11 August 1973) is a Thai football manager and former football player. He is nicknamed "Thai Zico" by fans. During his eighteen-year career Kiatisuk played as a striker and scored 251 goals in 339 appearances. The fo ...

, to successfully defend the AFF Championship title, the first being on the 2020 edition. In the

2021 Southeast Asian Games The 2021 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 31st Southeast Asian Games, 31st SEA Games or SEA Games 31, and also recognized as Viet Nam 2021, were the 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, the biennial regional multi-sport e ...

, he became manager of U-23 team and he led the team to the men's football final, but lost 0–1 against the host Vietnam.

Công An Hà Nội

On 23 May 2024, Pölking was appointed as the head coach of

side Công An Hà Nội, signing a two-year contract with the club.

Managerial statistics

A win or loss by the penalty shoot-out is regarded as the draw in time.

Honours

Manager

Thailand *

AFF Championship The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the biennial football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's natio ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Thailand U23 *

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

Silver medalist A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, e ...

2021 Cong An Hanoi *

ASEAN Club Championship The ASEAN Club Championship or ACC, also known as the Shopee Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an international club football competition organised by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) between domestic champion clubs. The competition is backed by ...

runner-up: 2024–25 Individual *

Thai League 1 The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

Coach of the Month: April 2016, April 2018, June 2019

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Polking, Alexandre 1976 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers German men's footballers Cypriot First Division players SV Darmstadt 98 players Olympiakos Nicosia players APOEL FC players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Brazilian people of German descent Brazilian expatriate football managers German expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Azerbaijan Expatriate football managers in Thailand Alexandre Polking Alexandre Polking Alexandre Polking V.League 1 managers Men's association football wingers People from Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul Footballers from Rio Grande do Sul 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen