Julian Schuster (born 15 April 1985) is a German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who is the currently head coach of

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 ...

club

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

. Schuster played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and spent the bulk of his career at SC Freiburg.

Playing career

Schuster was born in

Bietigheim-Bissingen Bietigheim-Bissingen ( or ; locally: ''Biedge-Bissenge'') is the second-largest town in the Ludwigsburg (district), district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz and the riv ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

. He had his professional debut on 27 October 2007 for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

. In July 2008, he moved to

. On 18 February 2014, Schuster extended his contract for an undisclosed length. In May 2018, he announced his retirement.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, Schuster transitioned into a liaison coach at SC Freiburg while concurrently serving as an assistant coach. In October 2022, alongside Patrick Baier, he stepped in for head coach

Christian Streich Christian Streich (; born 11 June 1965) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. On 29 December 2011, he was named manager following the re ...

, who tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, during the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match against

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

. In January 2023, he completed a course at the

DFB DFB may refer to: Music * Dem Franchize Boyz, an Atlanta hip hop group * Dysfunctional Family BBQ, a New York festival Sport * DFB-Pokal, a football cup competition in Germany Organisations * Furka Steam Railway (), Switzerland * German Footbal ...

to attain the Pro license, the pinnacle coaching accreditation in German football. In March 2024, it was announced that Schuster would assume the position of head coach for SC Freiburg for the 2024–25 season, succeeding Streich. In his debut season, Schuster led the club to a fifth-place finish and

qualification, narrowly missing out on the Champions League after a 3–1 home defeat against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

on the final matchday.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Bietigheim-Bissingen Footballers from Stuttgart (region) German men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players SC Freiburg players SC Freiburg II players German football managers SC Freiburg managers 21st-century German sportsmen {{Germany-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub