Michael Skibbe

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Michael Skibbe (born August 4, 1965) is a former German football (soccer) player and the current manager of the German club Bayer Leverkusen. He was assistant manager of the German national team under Rudi Völler until 2004.

In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09. Then he switched to the professional team of FC Schalke 04. From 1984 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. At the age of 22, he started his career as coach with Schalke 04. In 1989, he became the youth coach for Borussia Dortmund, where he became head coach in 1998, thus becoming the youngest head coach in the Bundesliga of all time at the age of 32. After one and a half years at this position he was sacked 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 the 2004 European Championship, Völler and he resigned from their positions. Skibbe was director of the youth system of the German Football Association from August 24, 2004 to October 9, 2005, at which point he became head coach of Bayer Leverkusen.