Christian Schulz (born 1 April 1983) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and current manager who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He is currently the interim manager of

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

Club career

Schulz joined

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in 1995 at the age of twelve and stepped up to the reserve side, playing in the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord () is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga N ...

in 2001–02. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 15 February 2003 as a substitute against 1. FC Nürnberg. When

Ümit Davala Ümit Aydın Davala (born 30 July 1973) is a Turkish Association football, football coach and former player. During his stint at Galatasaray S.K. (football), Galatasaray, he won four Süper Lig, three Turkish Cup, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super ...

was injured, Schulz stepped in and made the

position his own. With Bremen he won the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

German football championship German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ger ...

. Although he had previously stated that he did not want to leave Bremen, he moved to

on 30 August 2007. After nine years with Hannover, he joined

SK Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

. With Graz he won the

2017–18 Austrian Cup The 2017–18 Austrian Cup was the 84th edition of the national cup in Austrian football. The champions of the cup, Sturm Graz, earned a place in the 2018–19 Europa League and would have begun play in the third qualifying round. Sixty–four clu ...

. Schulz retired at the end of the 2020–21 season. Overall he played more than 400 matches in the German and Austrian top-flight respectively.

International career

Schulz earned four caps for the Germany national team, making his international debut on 16 December 2004 in a 3–0 friendly win over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He was part of the DFB squad of the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup association football, football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FI ...

on home soil but didn't take part in the tournament because of an injury.

Managerial career

Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Schulz was hired to coach the under-17 team of

. On 23 April 2025, he was named interim coach for the club's first team together with

Lars Barlemann Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel", and is therefore related to the name ...

and

Dirk Lottner Dirk Lottner (born 4 March 1972) is a German football manager and a former player who is currently the manager of Hannover 96's under-19 team. Coaching career From 2016 to 2019, he coached 1. FC Saarbrücken. On 11 September 2020, he was hired ...

until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Werder Bremen *

: 2003–04, runner-up 2005–06 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2003–04 *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German association football, football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five t ...

: 2006, runner-up 2004 Sturm Graz *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schulz, Christian 1983 births Living people People from Diepholz (district) Footballers from Lower Saxony German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players Germany men's under-21 international footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Hannover 96 players SK Sturm Graz players Regionalliga players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football central defenders German expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria German expatriate sportspeople in Austria 21st-century German sportsmen German football managers 2. Bundesliga managers Hannover 96 managers