Gert Engels

Gert Engels (born 26 April 1957) is a German football manager and former player. He most recently coached Nadeshiko League club INAC Kobe Leonessa.

In 2018, Engels received the German Football Ambassador Award for sporting and social commitments abroad. He was succeeded in 2019 by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Playing career
Engels commenced his professional playing career with SG Düren 99 and later joined Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Niederau. In Mönchengladbach he was part of the team that won the German Championships of 1976 and 1977.

Coaching career
In 1990, Engels moved to Japan to work as a coach. His first stop was in Ibaraki with Prima Aseno FC, the club that later became Mito HollyHock. He also coached at Takigawa Dai Ni High School in Kobe before he joined the Yokohama Flügels as a member of the coaching staff in 1993.

Shortly before the Flugels folded and were partly absorbed into today's Yokohama F. Marinos - some of the players joined Yokohama Marinos, and the F was added in remembrance of Flugels - he was made manager there for a brief period. He held that position also briefly with JEF United Chiba before taking over the reins at Kyoto Purple Sanga.

In Kyoto he returned the club, that was relegated after the previous season, into the J1 League and even led it to a win in the Japanese cup competition, the Emperor's Cup in 2002, defeating the fancied Kashima Antlers 2–1 in extra time. After three years there he was fired when the club started poorly into the new season.

At the start of 2004 he was assistant coach with Urawa Red Diamonds, initially under head coach Guido Buchwald and later Holger Osieck, winning the AFC Champions League in 2007. When Osieck was sacked after only two matches of the new J.League season on 16 March 2008, Engels was appointed his successor. He was fired by Urawa Reds on 26 November 2008.

On 12 October 2011, he became new manager of the Mozambique national team. He ended his time there in 2013.

Honors

 * Emperor's Cup: 1998, 2002
 * Nadeshiko League runner-up: 2020