Marco Kurz

Marco Kurz (born 16 May 1969) is a German football manager and former player who played as a defender. He last managed Australian side Melbourne Victory.

Kurz, who played as a defender, started playing football at SV Sillenbuch, a small club in his native Stuttgart, and then for VfL Sindelfingen. At age 20, he had his breakthrough into professional football, when he signed a contract for his local Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart in the summer of 1989. After one year, where he—with the exception of one cap—only played for VfB's second team, he was transferred to 1. FC Nürnberg in 1990; there he was more successful, earning 108 caps in four seasons. When the team was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after the 1993–94 season, Kurz took up an offer by Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund won the title of German champion in the following season, with Kurz playing four times.

At rival club Schalke 04, where Kurz subsequently played from 1995 to 1998, he earned 58 caps. With Schalke he won his biggest title, the 1996–97 UEFA Cup, under coach Huub Stevens. In 1998, he transferred to the south of Germany again, joining 1860 Munich. He played 128 times for 1860 Munich until 2004, when the club was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.

2004–05 was Kurz's last season as a player. He spent it at SC Pfullendorf, a Regionalliga Süd (then third division) team (11 caps). Shortly after joining Pfullendorf, he was promoted to player-coach; in 2005, he retired as a player, but stayed at Pfullendorf as head coach.

After managing SC Pfullendorf, Kurz returned to 1860 Munich as a manager for the second team (Regionalliga Süd). In March 2007, he was promoted to head coach of the first team. 1860 Munich sacked Kurz in February 2009.

Kurz joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern in June 2009. He won promotion to the Bundesliga for the club in 2010. The subsequent 2010–11 season was changeable and most of the time, FCK was threatened by relegation, but eventually they finished a sensational seventh in the German top flight—their best finish in the bundesliga since 1998–99, when they finished fifth. 2011–12 was much worse, with Kaiserslautern occupying a relegation berth virtually all season. As a result, Kaiserslautern parted ways with coach Kurz on 20 March 2012.

On 18 December 2012, it was announced by Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim that Kurz would be the new head coach for the second half of the 2012–13 season, when Hoffenheim faced the threat of relegation. Hoffenheim were not able to emerge from the drop zone and decided to fire Kurz on 2 April 2013. Then, Kurz was manager of Ingolstadt 04 between 9 June 2013 and 30 September 2013.

He was named the head coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf on 23 December 2015. After scoring four points in seven games, Kurz was sacked on 13 March 2016.