Markus Krösche (born 17 September 1980) is a German

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 ...

former football player and current

Sporting Director 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 ...

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

Club career

Markus Krösche, who won the German A youth championship as team captain in 1999 with

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. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, switched to the 2001–02 season from Bremen's amateurs to regional league rivals

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest success since the ...

, with whom he finished second in the 2004–05 season, equal on points with champions

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. They compete in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier o ...

, managed to get promoted from the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

to the 2. Bundesliga. In 2008, as the longest-serving player, he extended his contract with SCP by a further four years until 2012. He took over the position of team captain from René Müller after he left the club after Paderborn was relegated to the 3rd division. In the 2008–09 season, Krösche made an immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga with Paderborn. After extending his contract again in 2011, Krösche ended his career as a professional soccer player in the summer of 2014. In his last season, Paderborn was promoted to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for the first time in 2013–14, to which he contributed with 18 appearances and two goals. Krösche played 192 times for SC Paderborn in the 2nd Bundesliga and 162 times in the third divisions. This makes him the record player of SCP 07 and its predecessor clubs in professional football. In 2007, Krösche was elected to the SC Paderborn 07's eleven of the century.

Managerial career

In the 2014–15 season, Krösche became the head coach of

SC Paderborn II Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest success since the turn of the millenni ...

. He later joined Roger Schmidt as assistant coach for two years at

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. In mid-March 2017, he became sports director of SC Paderborn 07, where the club managed to promote from the

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

to Bundesliga during his tenure. Bundesliga club

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

appointed Krösche to be their sporting director on 1 July 2019. He filled a vacancy opened by the departure of

Ralf Rangnick Ralf Dietrich Rangnick (; born 29 June 1958) is a German professional football coach, executive, and former player who is currently the manager of the Austria national team. Rangnick began his coaching career in 1983, succeeding his career as a ...

and in April 2021, he became the sporting director of

References

External links

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Markus Krosche Interview
1980 births Living people Footballers from Hanover German men's footballers Men's association football defenders Germany men's under-21 international footballers 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players SV Werder Bremen II players SC Paderborn 07 players 21st-century German sportsmen {{Germany-footy-defender-1980s-stub