Torsten Ziegner (born 9 November 1977) is a German former

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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, who manages

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

Career

Ziegner began his career with Carl Zeiss Jena, joining the club from amateur club BSG Mikroelektronik Neuhaus at aged 13. He was part of a successful Jena youth team alongside

Robert Enke Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Mönchengladbach, Benfica, and Barcelona, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 ...

and Mario Kanopa and was capped by the Germany youth team. He made his first-team debut in September 1995 in a

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

match, and made a further twenty appearances over the following three seasons, leaving the club in 1998 after they'd been relegated to the

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany as well as West Berlin. It ...

. Ziegner, along with Jena team-mates Heiko Cramer and Frank Nierlich, joined

FSV Zwickau FSV Zwickau is a German association football club located in Zwickau, Saxony. Today's club claims as part of its complex heritage sides that were East Germany's first champions: 1948 Ostzone winners SG Planitz and 1950 DDR-Oberliga champions ZSG ...

, who had been relegated to the same level. Zwickau finished in fourth place in Ziegner's first season, but started the following season badly: the Regionalliga was being restructured, and only the top seven teams would avoid relegation. Zwickau's poor start to the season made this almost impossible, and so there was a mass exodus of players during the season – Ziegner was one of the players to leave, returning to the 2. Bundesliga to sign for

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. History In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Sü ...

. Zwickau finished the season bottom of the table. Ziegner spent eighteen months at Kickers, the highlight being a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( 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 Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

tie in which they took

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

side

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, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

to extra time, before losing 2–1. The following season ended in relegation, though, so in July 2001 Ziegner returned to his native

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

, signing for Rot-Weiß Erfurt of the Regionalliga Süd. After two successful seasons with Erfurt, he signed for second division side

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

, but didn't make a first-team appearance in his year with the club, mainly playing for the reserve team. At the end of the 2003–04 season, he left Mainz to return to Carl Zeiss Jena, who were by now in the fourth-tier

NOFV-Oberliga Süd The NOFV-Oberliga Süd is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the southern states of the former East Germany. It covers the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony and southern Brandenburg. It is one of fourteen Oberl ...

. Ziegner missed just one game in the 2004–05 season, scoring nine goals as Jena won the division, and beat MSV Neuruppin in the playoff to earn promotion to the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) 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 Regional ...

. Another promotion followed immediately: Ziegner scored eight goals in 31 appearances as Jena finished second, behind

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 19 ...

, returning to the 2. Bundesliga after an eight-year absence. An injury in an August match against

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...

caused Ziegner to miss much of the 2006–07 season, and the following year his 24 appearances couldn't prevent the club being relegated back to the third tier, now in the form of a national

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 ...

. He played a further three years for the club at this level, but was dropped from the team near the end of the 2010–11 season, and left the club in June 2011. He joined

for a second spell, helping them win the

title, and promotion to the revived Regionalliga Nordost. Ziegner retired his player career at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Coaching career

After retiring his player career, Ziegner was appointed as Zwickau's manager. He was sacked after coaching a total 213 games in six seasons on 25 April 2018. He signed for the 2018–19 with

Hallescher FC Hallescher FC, sometimes still called by its former popular name Chemie Halle, is a German association football club based in Halle an der Saale, Saxony-Anhalt. The club currently plays in the 3. Liga, the third highest level in the German footba ...

. On 24 February 2020, he was sacked. On 24 May 2021, he was named head coach of

Würzburger Kickers Würzburger Kickers is a German association football club playing in Würzburg, Bavaria. In pre-World War II football, the club competed briefly at the highest level in the Bezirksliga Bayern, and during the war, in the Gauliga Bayern. Post-war, ...

, starting with the 2021–22 season. He was sacked after just four months, on 4 October 2021. In May 2022, with two matches to go, he took over the reign of

Ban

Ziegner was given a five-match ban in October 2008 for racially abusing Nigerian player

Kingsley Onuegbu Kingsley Onuegbu (born 5 March 1986) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qingdao Hainiu in China League One. Career Onuegbu played street football in Nigeria, before his football career began in Germany in the summ ...

during a match against

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegner, Torsten 1977 births Living people People from Neuhaus am Rennweg German footballers Germany youth international footballers German football managers FC Carl Zeiss Jena players FSV Zwickau players 1. FSV Mainz 05 II players SpVgg Unterhaching players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players Stuttgarter Kickers players 2. Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Regionalliga players 3. Liga managers Footballers from Thuringia FSV Zwickau managers Hallescher FC managers Würzburger Kickers managers MSV Duisburg managers Association football midfielders