Rüdiger Ziehl (born 26 October 1977) 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 who last managed

1. FC Saarbrücken 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken () is a German Football in Germany, football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany. History The club began its existence as the footbal ...

Playing career

Ziehl was born in

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

. He made his debut on the professional league level in the

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 ...

for

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

on 11 March 2001 when he came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute in a game against

1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...

Managerial career

Ziehl ended his active career in 2012 and was named assistant manager at his last club, VfL Wolfsburg II. After four years as an assistant and two stints as interim manager, he was named head coach in 2016. He left the club in 2020. On 28 June 2021, Ziehl was named head coach of

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

club

TSV Havelse TSV Havelse is a German association football club based in Garbsen, Lower Saxony, near Hanover. History The club was founded in 1912 as ''FC Pelikan-Havelse'' by a group of thirteen young men from the small village of Havelse. They took their n ...

starting in the 2021–22 season. A year later he was appointed as the intertim; later permanent manager of

. Saarbrücken finished in 5th place in the 2022-23 3.Liga season, qualifying for the DFB Pokal. This became important as he led Saarbrücken to a miraculous

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

run in the 2023–24 season, eliminating three Bundesliga sides; including reigning Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, reigning DFB Pokal runners-up Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach in the process to reach the Semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2019–20 season whilst being in the 3.Liga. They were defeated by his former club

a 2.Bundesliga side in the Semi-finals. He moved to a managerial role at Saarbrücken in April 2025.

References

External links

* 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Zweibrücken German men's footballers Footballers from Rhineland-Palatinate Men's association football midfielders Bundesliga players FK Pirmasens players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players 1. FC Kaiserslautern II players SV Wehen Wiesbaden players TuS Koblenz players VfL Wolfsburg II players German football managers 3. Liga managers TSV Havelse managers 1. FC Saarbrücken managers {{germany-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub