Ralf Rangnick

Ralf Dietrich Rangnick was born and raised in Backnang. His parents, Dietrich and Erika Rangnick, met in 1945 in Lichtenstein, Saxony, in the Ore Mountains. His mother is from Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and his father is from Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Rangnick began his playing career at VfB Stuttgart, but was noted for his strategic talents and was added as player-coach. His playing career was short-lived and was primarily concentrated in Germany, but included a stint at English club Southwick while studying at the University of Sussex.

Rangnick was one of the first coaches to publicise football tactics, notably during a ZDF SportsStudio TV broadcast in December 1998. As a result, Rangnick became known as the "professor"; a title initially used to jeer him, which then grew to be used to show respect.

Early career

Rangnick began his coaching career in the 1980s, first as player-coach at his hometown club Viktoria Backnang, then continuing on to play and coach at VfB Stuttgart II and TSV Lippoldsweiler. In 1988, he became the head coach at SC Korb, remaining for two seasons before returning to VfB Stuttgart for four seasons to manage the Under 19 team. In 1991, he won the U-19 Bundesliga (German: A-Junioren Bundesliga), the highest honor in German U-19 football. Rangnick then returned to first team management in 1995 with two seasons as head coach at Reutlingen 05. He took the club to a fourth-place finish in his first season. They began the following campaign strong, with the club in the midst of the promotion push by Christmas. However, Rangnick would not see the season to its finish as he was sought after by his former club Ulm in January 1997. Reutlingen were in fifth position when Rangnick left the club. His first match in charge of Ulm finished in a 2–0 loss to Greuther Fürth. Ulm were also positioned in the Regionalliga Süd, and although Rangnick could only manage a sixth-place position from the remainder of the 1996–97 season, they started the following season with a 3–1 win against…

Red Bull

In June 2012, Rangnick became the director of football for both Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig. Under Rangnick's leadership, by 2018, RB Leipzig saw promotion from regional league (tier IV) to the Bundesliga (tier I), and reached the UEFA Champions League; their highest domestic finish was runners-up in the 2016–17 season, while their highest European finish was reaching the semi-finals in the 2019–20 season. Despite consistent on-field success, RB Leipzig only won one trophy, the Saxony Cup, with Rangnick. Meanwhile, Red Bull Salzburg won Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian Cup multiple times, and reached the Champions League and UEFA Europa League. In 2019, Rangnick was promoted to head of sport and development for Red Bull, thus overseeing global football initiatives, including the New York Red Bulls and their takeover of Red Bull Bragantino. Under Rangnick's tenure, the New York Red Bulls won the Supporters Shield in 2013, 2015 and 2018, while Red Bull Bragantino gained promotion to Série A in 2020. He resigned from Red Bull in 2020, with a reported move to Milan failing during negotiations. While at Red Bull, their clubs rose in market value from €120 million to €1.2 billion during his tenure, with its largest club, RB Leipzig, peaking in value to €270 million in 2019. Red Bull also generated sizable profits with player transfers.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 6 July 2021, he signed a three-year contract as manager of sports and development for Russian…

Rangnick is regarded as the "godfather" of modern German football. He is credited with developing Gegenpressing, whereby the team, after losing possession, immediately attempts to win back possession, rather than falling back to regroup together with evolving player's spatial coverage by increasing memory space and processing pace. He developed this after playing a friendly against Dynamo Kyiv in 1984, being inspired by the pressing philosophy of Valeriy Lobanovskyi. His sides have been noted for their pressing and high attacking output, as well as for popularising zonal marking. Rangnick has cited his main coaching influences as Ernst Happel, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Arrigo Sacchi and Zdeněk Zeman, and is credited for influencing Thomas Tuchel, Jürgen Klopp, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralph Hasenhüttl, Marco Rose, Roger Schmidt, Adi Hütter, Oliver Glasner and Matthias Jaissle. Rangnick has said that a parental seminar about "raising kids with love and consequence" influenced his relationship with the people he works with.