Torsten Lieberknecht (born 1 August 1973) is a German former

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 ...

player and manager who is the head coach 2. Bundesliga club of

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 ...

Career

Lieberknecht began his senior career at

, where 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 26 August 1992 in a game against

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

. He left Kaiserslautern after the 1993–1994 season to join

SV Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ov ...

and went on to play a total of ten seasons in the 2. Bundesliga for Mannheim,

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

and

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. They compete in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier o ...

before retiring as a player in 2007. Lieberknecht also represented Germany nine times at the U-21 level and was part of the German squad for the

1993 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1993 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 9th edition FIFA World Youth Championship. U20 Brazil defeated Ghana, 2–1 for its third title. It took place a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Managing career

After retiring as a player, Lieberknecht became a youth coach at his last club, Eintracht Braunschweig. At the end of the 2007–08 Regionalliga season the club was in serious danger of missing out on qualification for Germany's new nationwide third-tier league

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 ...

, which would have meant Braunschweig's first ever relegation to the fourth level of Germany's

football league system Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

. When Benno Möhlmann, at the time the manager of Eintracht Braunschweig's first team, stepped down in May 2008, Lieberknecht was named his successor. Under him the club not only secured 3. Liga qualification on the last match day of the season, but since then has started a steady climb back up the ladder of German football. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Lieberknecht and his team were promoted back into the 2. Bundesliga, and quickly established themselves at this level. After having finished the previous season comfortably midtable, the club was even more successful during the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season and in the end won promotion to the Bundesliga. This marked Eintracht Braunschweig's return into Germany's top-flight after a 28-year absence. Lieberknecht was widely recognized in the media both in Germany and abroad as one of the key figures in the club's resurgence after years in the second and third tier. After ten years, his spell at Braunschweig ended in 2018. He finished with a record of 151 wins, 99 draws, and 120 losses. On 1 October 2018, he was appointed by

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jer ...

as the new head coach. He was sacked on 10 November 2020. He moved to

Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German professional association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was bri ...

in June 2021. In September 2024, he resigned. On 22 April 2025, he was appointed as head coach of

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lieberkhecht, Torsten 1973 births Living people People from Bad Dürkheim Footballers from Rhineland-Palatinate German men's footballers Germany men's youth international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders German football managers 1. FC Saarbrücken players 1. FC Kaiserslautern II players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SV Waldhof Mannheim players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players Eintracht Braunschweig players Eintracht Braunschweig managers MSV Duisburg managers SV Darmstadt 98 managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers Eintracht Braunschweig non-playing staff Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga managers 2. Bundesliga managers 3. Liga managers