Erich Ribbeck

Erich Ribbeck (born June 13, 1937 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) is a former football player who came to more substantial fame as manager.

The player

As player he had a career spanning most of the 1950s to the early 1960s with "SSV 1904 Wuppertal", Wuppertaler SV (the club which resulted from a merger of SSV) and Viktoria Köln. The highest level he played was the Oberliga, part of the first tier of Germany which was then split into five regional divisions.

The coach

Club sides

In the beginning of his coaching career he was, at 31, the yougest coach ever in the German Bundesliga.

His very first coaching position he held even at the age of 30 in 1967/68, when he took Rot-Weiss Essen to the second place in the western division of Germany's Level 2 league and thus to the promotion tournament, where the club ended up losing out against Hertha Berlin.

He achieved his only trophy when he won the UEFA Cup 1988 with Bayer Leverkusen. In the finals Leverkusen came back from 0-3 away to Espanyol Barcelona to win the eventual penalty shoot-out at home.

He was also runner-Up in the German Championship of 1993 with Bayern Munich and in the German cup final of 1976 which he lost with Kaiserslautern to Hamburger SV.

National team

At the end of his career in 1998, coming back from retirement on the Canary Islands, he took over the reins of the German national team when other candidates made themselves not available. At 61, he was the oldest ever appointee to the job of manager of the German national football team. His two year tenure marked one of the most undistinguished periods in the modern history of Germany's national side. Following strong public criticism after an early exit, Ribbeck decided to resign after Euro 2000.

His statistical summary as Germany's coach was 10 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses, the worst summary of all coaches of Germany.

Retirement

These days Ribbeck shares his residence between Pulheim near Cologne, and Tenerife on the Canary Islands.

Career overview (coaching)

* 1965-1967 Borussia Mönchengladbach (assistant to Hennes Weisweiler)
* 1967-1968 Rot-Weiss Essen (second division)
* 1968-1973 Eintracht Frankfurt
* 1973-1978 1. FC Kaiserslautern
* 1978-1984 Germany - National Team (assistant to Jupp Derwall)
* 1984–1985 Borussia Dortmund
* 1985–1988 Bayer Leverkusen
* 1992–1993 FC Bayern Munich
* 1995–1996 Bayer Leverkusen
* 1998-2000 Germany - National Team

ee also

* List of UEFA Cup winning managers

References

* [http://www.eintracht-archiv.de/ribbeck.html Erich Ribbeck at eintracht-archiv.de]

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