Ralf Minge

Infobox Football biography


fullname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|10|8
cityofbirth = Prösen
countryofbirth = Germany
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Striker
currentclub = Dynamo Dresden (Sporting Director)
youthyears =
youthclubs = TSG Gröditz
years = 1980-1991
clubs = Dynamo Dresden
caps(goals) = 222 (103)
nationalyears = 1983-1989
nationalteam = fb|East Germany
nationalcaps(goals) = 036 00(8)
manageryears = 1993 1995 1995-1996 2000-2005 2006-2007
managerclubs = Dynamo Dresden Dynamo Dresden Erzgebirge Aue Bayer Leverkusen II Georgia U-21

Ralf Minge (born October 8, 1960) is a German former footballer, later a coach. He was an international for East Germany, and spent his entire professional career with Dynamo Dresden, where he currently serves as Sporting Director.

Playing career

A striker, Minge joined Dynamo Dresden in 1980, signing from TSG Gröditz, and spent the next eleven years with the club, winning two East German titles and four cups. He scored 103 league goals for the club, and ranks as the club's third top scorer, behind Hans-Jürgen Kreische and Torsten Gütschow. He retired in 1991, at the end of the last ever DDR-Oberliga season. At international level, Minge won 36 caps between 1983 and 1989, scoring eight times.

Coaching career

After retiring from the game, Minge had a brief spell on the board at Dynamo, before serving on the the coaching staff for three years, during which he had two brief spells as manager, in 1993 and 1995, the last of which saw Dynamo's relegation from the Bundesliga, a relegation that was doubled due to financial misdealings.

Minge then left Dynamo, and in July 1995 took up the post as manager of Erzgebirge Aue, where he served for ten months. His next job came in 1998, assisting Toni Schumacher at Fortuna Köln. In December 1999, Schumacher was sacked, and Minge briefly stepped in as manager, but left by the end of the month, out of loyalty to his former colleague.

In 2000, he made the shot trip to Leverkusen, taking over the reserve team of Bayer 04, before the appointment of Klaus Toppmöller saw Minge promoted to the role of assistant manager. The club were almost hugely successful in 2001/02, reaching the finals of the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Champions League, and finishing second in the Bundesliga. The success could not last, however, and many of the star players left, ultimately leading to Toppmöller losing his job. Minge eventually dropped back to managing Bayer Leverkusen II, before resigning at the end of the 2004/05 season.

He returned to Dresden to study psychology, but his break from football was to be short-lived, as in January 2006 he reunited with Klaus Toppmöller, this time as assistant coach of the Georgia national team, also managing the under-21s. In September 2006, he rejoined the Dynamo Dresden board, and in January 2008, took up his role as Sporting Director, ending his spell in Georgia.

Honours

*East German Cup (4): 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990
*East German Champion (2): 1989, 1990

References

External links

* [http://www.ralf-minge.de/ Personal website]