Erich Ribbeck

As a player, Ribbeck had a career spanning most of the 1950s into the early 1960s with SSV 1904 Wuppertal, which has since merged with TSG Vohwinkel to form Wuppertaler SV. He later spent the rest of his career playing for Viktoria Köln. The highest level Ribbeck played was the Oberliga, part of the first tier of Germany which was then split into five regional divisions. Ribbeck nearly joined Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Bundesliga side Hertha BSC in 1965, but both deals fell through. He then retired from playing and joined Borussia Mönchengladbach as assistant to Hennes Weisweiler.

Club

Ribbeck's first coaching position he held at the age of 30 in 1967–68, when he took Rot-Weiss Essen to the second place in the western division of Germany's Level 2 league and thus to the promotion tournament, where the club ended up losing out against Hertha Berlin. The next ten years he shared evenly with engagements with Eintracht Frankfurt and 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In the Bundesliga these clubs remained on mediocre levels during his tenure. With Kaiserslautern he reached the German Cup final of 1976, losing 0–2 to Hamburger SV. After working as assistant to Jupp Derwall with the Germany national football team, Ribbeck was appointed Bayer Leverkusen coach in 1985. The club qualified for European competition for the first time in their history in his first season. In 1988, Leverkusen and Ribbeck won their first ever major trophy, lifting the UEFA Cup. Leverkusen beat Austria Wien, Toulouse, Feyenoord, Barcelona and Werder Bremen to reach the two-legged final against RCD Espanyol. Despite losing 3-0 away, Leverkusen won the second leg at home 3-0 with three second-half goals and won the eventual penalty shoot-out. Ribbeck joined FC Bayern Munich in March 1992, replacing Søren Lerby, as the team unexpectedly found themselves fighting relegation. Ribbeck guided Bayern to 10th place, which was still their worst league finish since 1978. The following season, Ribbeck's Bayern challenged for the title; going into the final day, they were level on points with Werder…

Ribbeck shares his residence between Pulheim and Tenerife, Spain.

Manager

Bayer Leverkusen UEFA Cup: 1987–88