Ralf Becker (born 26 September 1970) is a German former football player and coach who works as the sports director of

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. K ...

Playing career

Becker spent a significant portion of his time as a youth player with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. Vf ...

, as well as with their smaller rival club

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 Sü ...

. In 1993, he first entered into professional competition by leaving TSF Ditzingen and joining

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 footbal ...

side

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, ...

, with whom he reached the quarterfinals of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

in the following year. In 1995, he moved to

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger ...

, another Bundesliga team, where he only stayed one season. Following a brief return to TSF Ditzingen in 1998–1999, he spent the remaining years of his playing career with

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

teams SSV Reutlingen 05 and

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the DF ...

, before retiring in 2006.

Coaching and managerial career

Becker acted as the Karlsruher SC's assistant coach under Edmund Becker (no relation) from 2006–2009, after which he coached

SSV Ulm 1846 SSV Ulm 1846 is a German football club from Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. The modern-day football department, officially playing as SSV Ulm 1846 Fussball, was formed on 9 March 2009 when the department separated from SSV Ulm 1846. The club's grea ...

, a Regionalliga Süd team, for little more than one year. Since stepping back from this position on 30 November 2010, he has not worked as a coach. From 2010 to 2016, Becker was

's chief of scouting. He then became

Holstein Kiel Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein von 1900 e.V., simply as KSV Holstein or Kieler SV Holstein, commonly known as Holstein Kiel (), is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s thro ...

's managing director. Under his direction, the club secured a promotion to the

in 2016–2017, and only narrowly missed out on a subsequent promotion to the

the following year. On 28 May 2018, Becker joined the newly relegated

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thr ...

as their managing director. He controversially replaced head coach Christian Titz with Hannes Wolf in October 2018, despite his team being merely two points behind the top of the table at the time. At the end of this season, the club missed promotion, causing its executive board to sack Becker and replace him with . On 25 June 2020,

announced Becker as their new sports director, following the departure of

Ralf Minge Ralf Minge (born 8 October 1960) is a German footballer former coach and player who works as sporting director of Dynamo Dresden. He was an international for East Germany, and spent his entire professional career with Dynamo Dresden. Playi ...

. After their relegation in the 2019–20 season, he oversaw the club's immediate return to the 2. Bundesliga.

Personal life

Becker is married and has three children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Ralf 1970 births Living people German footballers Association football midfielders Bayer 04 Leverkusen players FC St. Pauli players Stuttgarter Kickers players SSV Reutlingen 05 players Karlsruher SC players Karlsruher SC managers Hamburger SV non-playing staff Dynamo Dresden non-playing staff German football managers SSV Ulm 1846 managers People from Leonberg Sportspeople from Stuttgart (region) Footballers from Baden-Württemberg