Christian Ziege

Club career

At club level, Ziege played for Bayern Munich (1990–97), AC Milan (1997–99) and Middlesbrough (1999–2000). The reason he left Milan was his conflict with manager Alberto Zaccheroni, who later reflected: "my biggest regret there [at Milan] was Christian Ziege. I tried to convince Ziege to play as a wing-back. I was sure he could have been great in that role. He had the technical ability of a number 10 – a great left foot with which he could score goals and provide assists – but he could also run up and down for 90 minutes. He never fully accepted the idea of not playing as a left-back, however, and after leaving AC Milan he didn’t have a great career". In the summer of 2000, Liverpool made a £5.5m bid which exactly matched a get-out clause in Ziege's contract. Middlesbrough insisted they had received offers in excess of £8m for Ziege, but were forced contractually to allow Ziege to talk to Liverpool, who then signed him. He made his debut for Liverpool in a 3–2 home win over Manchester City on 9 September 2000, replacing Steven Gerrard in the second half. A combination of knee injuries and the improving form of Jamie Carragher, meant he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of that season. He scored two goals during his spell at Liverpool; against Leeds in the league and Stoke in the League Cup. Ziege also contributed to their treble in the 2000–01 season. He came on as an extra time substitute in the 2001 Football League Cup Final and scored a…

Club

International

Scores and results list Germany's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ziege goal.

Managerial record

As of 3 July 2019

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Following retirement as a player, Ziege picked up his UEFA diploma for coaching. In 2006, he moved into coaching with his last professional club, Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he was named manager of the club's Under-17 team, succeeding Thomas Schumacher. In 2006–07 the club's U17 team had won ten out of seventeen matches with Ziege in charge when, in March 2007, he was handed the role of Director of Football at the club, as the replacement for the outgoing Peter Pander. At the time of his appointment, with ten matches to go until the end of the season, Borussia Mönchengladbach were at the bottom of the Bundesliga, with five points between them and safety. On 5 October 2008, Ziege dismissed Jos Luhukay and became interim manager. The interim job lasted until 18 October 2008 when Hans Meyer became the new permanent manager. On 15 December 2008 Ziege left Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Arminia Bielefeld and German junior national teams

On 26 May 2010, Ziege signed a contract as manager of Arminia Bielefeld. However, his managerial career got off to a poor start with Arminia Bielefeld only picking up three points from a single win from eight games, the worst start to an Arminia Bielefeld season in twenty-three years. Ziege was released from his post as manager of Arminia Bielefeld on 6 November 2010 after a 2–0 defeat against FC Augsburg. From April 2011, Ziege worked for the DFB. He first coached the German U-19, before taking over the…

Ziege was married to his wife, Pia, from 1997 to her death in 2024. They have two children, Atakan and Maria.