Rangnick: His football story so far

The 63-year-old leaves his role as head of sports and development at Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow to join the Reds for the remainder of this current campaign, and beyond - Ralf and the club have agreed that he will continue in a consultancy role for a further two years.

The experienced German has a tremendous track record across Europe, as you can read in this feature about our interim boss.

WHERE HAS HE BEEN?

Rangnick has an extremely impressive CV in football as manager, director of football and, most recently, head of sports development at Lokomotiv Moscow. In 1999, he managed German side Ulm to the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history in what was a bright start to his managerial career.

Since then, he has managed some top clubs in the German top flight, including Stuttgart, Schalke 04, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig.

Rangnick has also operated as a director of football at RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg, with the pioneering coach being a central figure in the Red Bull system’s development following his arrival there in 2012. He left Red Bull in 2020 before moving to Russia to become head of sports and development and Lokomotiv Moscow in July this year.

Between taking both Ulm and Hannover to the Bundesliga, he won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000 with VfB Stuttgart.

He then managed Schalke 04 in two periods, most notably taking them to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the first time in the club’s history, only to lose out to his new employers, Manchester United in 2011. Under Rangnick’s direction, Schalke finished second in the Bundesliga in the 2004/05 season in his first period, and won the DFB-Pokal and the DFL Supercup in 2011 in his second spell.

RB Leipzig, with Rangnick as director of football, ascended from Germany's fourth tier all the way to the Bundesliga between 2012 and 2016 in one of the most impressive rises in modern football history. The club also secured a Champions League place at the end of their first season in top flight, 2016/17, having finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich.

Rangnick also had two stints as RB Leipzig manager, in 2015/16 and 2018/19, and guided the Saxony club to the DFB-Pokal final in the latter.

For his achievements, he was promoted to head of sport and development at Red Bull, overseeing the football clubs under the company's ownership, including New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Baragnito in Brazil.

As sporting director for both RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig, he oversaw exponential growth at the German and Austrian clubs in recent years, with plenty of top talents seeking opportunities at either one due to their progressive, attacking style of football and proven record of player development.

WHAT STYLE OF FOOTBALL DOES HE PLAY?

Rangnick is described as a hyperenergetic coach with a fine eye for detail and the godfather for Gegenpressing, a high-pressing style of football where hard work and zonal pressing means the ball is won high in the opposition’s half in great attacking areas.

In recent years, fellow German coaches Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann and Ralph Hasenhuttl are all said to have been influenced by their fellow countryman.