Thorsten Fink

Thorsten Fink

Fink with Bayern II in 2006.
Personal information
Full nameThorsten Fink
Date of birth29 October 1967
Place of birthDortmund, West Germany
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
APOEL (Manager)
Youth career
1976–1983SV Roland Marten
1983–1986Borussia Dortmund
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1989–1994Wattenscheid 09162(26)
1994–1997Karlsruher SC92(11)
1997–2003Bayern Munich150(4)
2003–2006Bayern Munich II86(6)
Total490(47)
National team
1989West Germany U211(0)
Teams managed
2006–2007Red Bull Salzburg (Junior)
2008–2009Ingolstadt 04
2009–2011Basel
2011–2013Hamburger SV
2015–APOEL
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a former German footballer and the current manager of APOEL FC in the Cypriot First Division.

Career

Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he helped them gain promotion to the German premier league, the Bundesliga, in 1990. After the club's relegation in 1994, he moved to Karlsruher SC, where he spent three seasons as a regular and impressed so much that he earned himself a move to the most successful club in Germany, Bayern Munich, in 1997. He subsequently spent seven seasons at Bayern, five of which as a regular, but lost his place in the starting lineup in 2002 and was transferred to the club's reserve squad in the German third division, the Regionalliga, in February 2003, although he managed a return to the Bundesliga squad in late April 2003. In the 2003–04 season, he became a regular in Bayern's reserve squad and only made one, his last, Bundesliga appearance that season, coming on as a substitute against VfL Wolfsburg in September 2003. His contract with Bayern's Bundesliga squad expired in June 2004 and he subsequently only continued to play another two seasons for the club's reserve squad before definitely ending his playing career upon the end of the 2005–06 season.

While playing for Bayern's first team, he helped the team reach the 1999 Champions League final against Manchester United, where Bayern dramatically lost 2–1, conceding two goals in injury time. Fink came on as a substitute late in the game, but his sliced clearance in the 91st minute led to United's equaliser, with the ball breaking to Ryan Giggs whose shot was turned into the net by Teddy Sheringham.

However, Fink still managed to pick up a Champions League winner's medal two years later, as Bayern beat Valencia in the 2001 Champions League final on penalties, although he did not play in the match. He also won four Bundesliga champions titles and three German Cups with the club.

He was forced to end his playing career in 2006 after sustaining cartilage damage in his knee.

Coaching career

Red Bull Salzburg reserves

While still playing for Bayern, he had already graduated from Cologne Sport University, in December 2005, after taking a course on coaching. From 5 September 2006, he began coaching Red Bull Salzburg's reserve side. After the departure of Lothar Matthäus as the assistant of head coach Giovanni Trapattoni, Fink stepped up and became the new assistant.

Ingolstadt 04

Fink took over as head coach of FC Ingolstadt 04 on 4 January 2008, replacing Jürgen Press, who was sacked on New Year's Day.[1] He appointed Heiko Vogel as his assistant. Fink was fired on 22 April 2009.[2]

FC Basel

On 9 June 2009, Fink was appointed manager of FC Basel as replacement for Christian Gross.[3] Fink took his assistant Vogel with him.[4] In domestic affairs Basel swept the board in 2009/10. Despite a poor start to the season, Finks' side came back to win the 2010 Super League title on the last day of the season with an away win against favourites BSC Young Boys in the Stade de Suisse. Young prospect Valentin Stocker and club legend Scott Chipperfield gave Basel the goals in the 2–0 victory on 16 May. FC Basel won the Swiss Cup Final 2010 with a 6–0 victory over FC Lausanne-Sport on 9 May. With Fink Basel also won the 2011 Super League title and the 2011 Uhrencup. Fink left the club in October 2011.[5]

Racist incident

Fwayo Tembo left FC Basel after he accused club coach Thorsten Fink of making racist remarks towards him during a training session. Fink is reported to have told a collaborator to "get the monkey down from the tree."[6]

Hamburger SV

On 13 October 2011, Fink signed a contract with Hamburger SV to manage the German Bundesliga club through to 2014.[5] with the team in the relegation zone after losing six of their opening eight matches. In HSV's first nine games under Fink they were unbeaten, going into the winter break in thirteenth place.[7] The team eventually finished fifteenth, avoiding a first ever relegation by five points.

In 2012–13, HSV recorded a much improved seventh place finish. However, during the season the team equaled the club's record Bundesliga defeat, losing 9–2 at the Allianz Arena to FC Bayern Munich.[8]

Following a run of disastrous results during which Hamburger SV picked up only four points from their first five league games of the 2013–14 Bundesliga season and with the club in 15th place in the league table, Fink was sacked with immediate effect on 16 September 2013.[9] "We were no longer confident that Thorsten Fink was capable of turning the team around and that was why we took this decision (to sack Fink). Also it is apparent that he had `outside troubles‘ which could have contributed to his poor results.

APOEL

On 10 January 2015, Fink signed a contract until the end of the 2014–15 season, with the option of a further season with the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL FC, replacing Giorgos Donis who was fired on 6 January 2015.[10]

Managerial statistics

As of 25 April 2015
Team From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Ingolstadt 04 4 January 2008[1] 22 April 2009[2] 43 16 10 17 55 61 -6 37.21
FC Basel 9 June 2009[3] 17 October 2011[5] 119 76 22 21 282 138 +144 63.87
Hamburger SV 17 October 2011[5] 16 September 2013[11] 67 23 18 26 85 111 -26 34.33
APOEL 10 January 2015[10] Present 18 10 7 1 29 9 +20 55.56
Total 247 125 57 65 451 319 +132 50.61

    Honours

    Player

    Bayern Munich

    Manager

    Basel
    Hamburger SV

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Alles klar mit Fink". kicker (in German). 4 January 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "FCI trennt sich von Fink". kicker (in German). 22 April 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Thorsten Fink ist der neue Cheftrainer des FCB" [Thorsten Fink appointed new head coach of FC Basel] (in German). FC Basel. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
    4. ↑ "FCB ergänzt Trainer Team" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 16 June 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Bestätigt: Fink übernimmt HSV". kicker (in German). 13 October 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
    6. ↑ "Fotbalistul dorit de Becali a regresat în carieră după ce a fost victima rasismului: ”Jos cu maimuţa din copac!”". gsp.ro (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
    7. ↑ "Amsif rettet FCA einen Punkt". kicker. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
    8. ↑ "Hamburg chief: Bayern defeat 'disgraceful'". ESPN. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
    9. ↑ "Reports: Hamburg fire Thorsten Fink". msn.foxsports.com. 16 September 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
    10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Ανακοίνωση συμφωνίας/Δήλωση Thorsten Fink (in Greek). APOEL FC. 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
    11. ↑ "HSV trennt sich sofort von Fink". kicker (in German). 16 September 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.