Michael Büskens (; born 19 March 1968) is a German former

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 ...

player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and a football

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 ...

. He is currently the assistant head coach of

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 ...

club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

. During a 14-year professional career, he appeared in nearly 400

games, mainly representing

(11 years) and later also briefly managing the latter.

Playing career

Büskens began his career with his hometown team Alemannia Düsseldorf before moving to city giants

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

. After five years, he moved to VfL Benrath, returning in 1987 to Fortuna, this time as member of the professional squad, and rarely missed one top-division game during his three-year spell, although ended in relegation. In 1992, Büskens moved to

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

, where he had the most successful years of his career. He was part of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, 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 Bundes ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

winning squads and never appeared in less than 27 league games in his first seven seasons. In the European conquest of 1997, he played in 10 matches (eight complete), including both legs of the final against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. In January 2000, Büskens spent half a season at

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

, returning to Schalke after a poor

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. He continued to play for the team until 2003, splitting between the first and second squads in his last year, also being assistant manager of the latter.

Managerial career

Schalke 04

In 2005, Büskens succeeded Gerhard Kleppinger as manager of the second squad. On 13 April 2008, he was appointed caretaker manager of Schalke's first team, alongside another former club player,

Youri Mulder Youri Mulder (; born 23 March 1969) is a Dutch Association football, football manager and former player who played as a Forward (association football), striker. Club career Mulder was born in Brussels, Belgium. The son of former AFC Ajax, Ajax A ...

, succeeding

Mirko Slomka Mirko Slomka (; born 12 September 1967) is a German Association football, football manager who last managed Hannover 96. Managerial career Hannover 96 From 1989 to 1999, Slomka was the manager of Hannover 96's U19 squad. Slomka coached several ...

after a 1–5 away loss to

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 ...

, as the team was battling for a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

position (eventually reaching third). Büskens remained in charge until the end of the season, being replaced by

Fred Rutten Fredericus Jacobus Rutten (; born 5 December 1962) is a Dutch football coach and former player. As a player, he spent his entire career with Twente during the years 1979 to 1992. Following his playing career, Rutten also managed Twente, before m ...

in July 2008. He finished the stint with a record of five wins and a draw. However, in March 2009, the latter was fired, which led to the pair again taking over the side until the end of the season (now accompanied by another former Schalke player,

Oliver Reck Oliver Reck (born 27 February 1965) is a German football manager and former player. In a 20-year professional career, he played as a goalkeeper and was best known for his stints with Werder Bremen and Schalke 04, for whom he appeared in more th ...

), being then replaced by

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

, and released by the club on 23 June 2009. He finished his second stint with a record of four wins, one draw and four losses.

Greuther Fürth

Büskens was named manager of 2. Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth on 27 December 2009. Under his management, Fürth gained promotion to the

for the first time in the club's history in 2012. Büskens was sacked on 20 February 2013. He finished with a record of 50 wins, 33 draws and 33 losses.

Fortuna Düsseldorf

Büskens was named manager of

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

on 4 June 2013. His first match was a 1–0 win against

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

. Büskens picked Fabian Giefer to start the match instead of

Michael Rensing Michael Rensing (born 14 May 1984) is a German former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He has played for FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, 1. FC Köln, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer Lever ...

. Rensing refused to be a substitute and left the stadium and went home. Robin Heller subsequently took the substitutes bench. Büskens was sacked on 30 November 2013, a day after a 2–0 loss to

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. He finished with a record of five wins, four draws and eight losses.

Return to Greuther Fürth

Büskens was hired for the second time on 23 February 2015. His first match was a 2–1 loss against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

on 27 February 2015. Then on 7 March 2015, Fürth and

VfR Aalen Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, tab ...

finished in a 1–1 draw. In a Bavarian derby on 13 March 2015, Fürth lost 3–0 to 1860 München. Büskens resigned on 28 May 2015. He finished with a record of two wins, four draws and six losses.

Rapid Wien

Büskens was hired by

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

on 7 June 2016. He signed a one-year contract with an option. He replaced Zoran Barisic. His first training session was on 10 June 2016. On 7 November 2016, Büskens was relieved of his duties.

Return to Schalke 04

Büskens returned to Schalke on 14 March 2019 as an assistant manager. On 7 March 2022, after the dismissal of Dimitrios Grammozis, he took over the team as head coach on an interim basis until the end of the 2021–22 season. Schalke won the 2. Bundesliga title after winning eight out of nine games under Büskens' management.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Fortuna Düsseldorf * 2. Bundesliga: 1988–89 Schalke 04 *

: 1996–97 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02

Manager

Greuther Fürth *2. Bundesliga: 2011–12 Schalke 04 *2. Bundesliga: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buskens, Mike 1968 births Living people German men's footballers German football managers Men's association football midfielders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Fortuna Düsseldorf players FC Schalke 04 players MSV Duisburg players UEFA Europa League–winning players Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers Austrian Football Bundesliga managers German expatriate football managers FC Schalke 04 managers FC Schalke 04 II players SpVgg Greuther Fürth managers SK Rapid Wien managers German expatriate sportspeople in Austria Footballers from Düsseldorf West German men's footballers