Michael Skibbe

Michael Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German football manager who currently manages the Greece national football team.

Club career

In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09. Then he switched to the professional team of FC Schalke 04. From 1985 to 1986, he appeared in 14 Bundesliga games, but then he tore his cruciate ligament three times, which forced him to end his playing career.

Managerial career

1988–2004: Early career

At the age of 22, he started his career as coach with Schalke 04 youth team.

In 1989, Skibbe became a youth coach for Borussia Dortmund. Skibbe became head coach of the reserve side on 1 July 1997 and head coach of the senior team on 1 July 1998. Skibbe becoming the youngest head coach in the Bundesliga of all time at the age of 32. Skibbe was sacked on 6 February 2000. Skibbe moved to the position of coordinator of the youth system of the club.

He gave up this post after being offered the position as director of the German national team. In 2000, he became its head coach. Rudi Völler, however, made most of the decisions, but didn't have a coaching license and thus couldn't be the official head coach. After Germany was eliminated in the first round of UEFA Euro 2004, Völler and Skibbe resigned from their positions. Skibbe was director of the youth system of the German Football Association from 24 August 2004 to 8 October 2005.

2005–08: Return to club management

Skibbe became head coach of Bayer Leverkusen on 8 October 2005. Skibbe was sacked from Bayer Leverkusen on 18 May 2008 after missing out on Europe.

2008–12: Going to Turkey and returning to the Bundesliga

On 11 June 2008 Skibbe agreed with the Turkish football club Galatasaray. He won the Turkish Super Cup after a 2–1 victory against Kayserispor. Galatasaray failed to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after they lost 3–2 on aggregate to Steaua Bucuresti. Skibbe was sacked from Galatasaray on 23 February 2009, after a heavy 5–2 loss to Kocaelispor.

On 4 June 2009, Eintracht Frankfurt announced that Skibbe would succeed Friedhelm Funkel as head coach of the club. On 22 March 2011, after a decline in the Bundesliga, Skibbe was sacked by the club.

On 17 July 2011, Eskişehirspor announced that Skibbe would succeed Bülent Uygun as head coach of the club. On 27 December 2011, Skibbe's contract was dissolved to make way for his move to Hertha BSC.

Skibbe was officially released from Eskişehirspor to make way for his Hertha BSC move on 27 December 2011. After five losses in five games with the team, Skibbe was sacked from Hertha BSC on 12 February 2012.

2012–15: Foreign club management positions

On 17 May 2012, he was formally introduced as the new manager of Karabükspor for 1+1 years. Skibbe left the club on 5 November 2012.

On 15 June 2013, Skibbe was appointed as the new Grasshopper Club Zürich, succeeding Uli Forte. In January 2015, his contract was terminated by mutual consent. The club's management met thereby Skibbe's desire of realignment.

On 12 January 2015, it was reported that Skibbe had taken over Turkish Süper Lig side Eskişehirspor as the new manager. He had been coach of the club before in 2011 for six months.

2015–present: Greece

On 29 October 2015, the Hellenic Football Federation hired him as the new head coach of the national team. He was hired as the successor of Sergio Markarián due to the team's unsuccessful qualification for UEFA Euro 2016. Skibbe's first ever game as Greece coach was on 13 November 2015 against Luxembourg in Differdange which ended in a shocking start with the Greeks losing 1-0 to the very low ranked home side. His second game in charge was a very intense 0-0 derby draw against their biggest local-rivals Turkey in İstanbul on 17 November 2015. His next and third game in charge of the country was on 24 March 2016 where Skibbe enjoyed his first ever victory of the national team since taking over in a 2-1 home win over Montenegro at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus with goals from Giorgos Tzavellas and Nikos Karelis. His next challenge was the newly talented Iceland who the Greeks after leading 2-0 went on to lose the game 3-2 to the Icelanders in Piraeus on 29 March 2016. On 4 June 2016, Skibbe's Greek side began their 2-game tour of Australia by losing the first game 1-0 with a late Aussie winner from Matthew Leckie at Stadium Australia in Sydney. On 7 June 2016, Skibbe enjoyed only his second win as Greece coach in an emphatic display as the Greeks took out a 2-1 victory with a good finish by Petros Mantalos and an amazing 60 meter strike from Giannis Maniatis inside his own half which beat the scrambling Australia goalkeeper Adam Federici all the way to bounce into the net at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. It was Greece's first victory over the Australians since 1978 when Greece were 1-0 victors over the Aussies in Adelaide.

On 1 September 2016, he enjoyed a 2-1 away win over the Netherlands in an International friendly, the first ever Greek win on Dutch soil with goals from Konstantinos Mitroglou and Giannis Gianniotas. On 6 September 2016, Greece played against newly FIFA recognized minnow country Gibraltar who were appearing in their first FIFA competition game in their history and Skibbe's Greeks despite at one point the scores were level at 1-1, they went on to defeat the Gibraltarians 4-1 at Estádio Algarve in Faro/Loulé and get of the mark strong in their Round 1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification group game.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 13 November 2016

Honours

As coach

• Galatasaray
  • Turkish Super Cup: 1 (2008)