Stuart Baxter

Baxter began his playing career with Preston North End in 1973. He joined Scottish club Dundee United in October 1975, but was released the following month after playing only for the reserve team. He then returned to England with Stockport County. Baxter then moved to Australia, Sweden and the United States respectively with South Melbourne, Helsingborgs IF and San Diego Sockers. His playing career ended in 1983. While playing for South Melbourne, Baxter was called up to train with the Australia national team, and played for Australia in unofficial matches against a Queensland XI and Partizan Belgrade in 1979. As he had not obtained Australian citizenship, he had to be withdrawn from the squad to play against New Zealand when the match was classified as an official international.

Baxter returned to Scandinavia to begin his coaching career; he worked with Örebro SK's youth team. In 1986, he was appointed manager of minor Norwegian side IF Skarp. The following year he landed a larger managerial role with Portuguese team Vitória de Setúbal before returning to Sweden for a three-year stint at Halmstads BK between 1988 and 1991. In his first year with Halmstad he guided them to promotion to the Allsvenskan but the club was relegated at the end of his tenure. Baxter moved to Japan to first coach Sanfrecce Hiroshima, between 1992 and 1994, and then Vissel Kobe, in 1997. He took over as manager of Kobe only days after an earthquake caused devastation in the city and spent two weeks living in a makeshift caravan in the club car park.

AIK

In 1998, Baxter was bought back to Sweden by AIK, where he guided them to the Swedish championship. Having qualified for the UEFA Champions League, Baxter took AIK into the group stages where the Swedish champions played against some of Europe's largest teams, such as Barcelona, Arsenal and Fiorentina. Unsurprisingly, AIK finished bottom of the group. After two years, he moved to Norwegian side Lyn.

England U-19, South Africa, Vissel Kobe and Helsingborg

Baxter was hired by the Football Association to coach the England Under-19 team in 2002. After two years, he was hired as South Africa's manager. As guests of the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, he led South Africa to the Quarter Finals before being eliminated via…

Stuart Baxter was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, on 16 August 1953. His Scottish father, Bill Baxter, was a professional footballer then playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers and later for Aston Villa. Stuart initially grew up in England, while his father was coaching at Aston Villa, before the family moved to Scotland, where Bill had managerial jobs with East Fife and Raith Rovers. During this time, Stuart was educated at Buckhaven High School in Fife. As a result of his background, Baxter is variously described as being English, Scottish or an Anglo-Scot in the media; he has commented on his identity, saying, "If I'm mentioned for a job in Scotland, they call me a Scot. If I'm mentioned for a job in England, they call me an Englishman. I call myself a European". He has also described himself as "a mongrel" and "proud to be British, although I feel more European".

As well as his father Bill, Baxter has a son, Lee, who is also a former professional football player and now a goalkeeping-coach.