Manfred Schmid (footballer)

Manfred Schmid (born 20 February 1971) is an Austrian football coach and a former player who is he manager of Austrian Football Bundesliga club Wolfsberger AC.

Playing career
Schmid played for Austria Wien from 1989 to 2002 and LASK Linz from 2002 to 2003.

Coaching career
Schmid was the assistant coach for the reserve team of Austria Wien in the 2007–08 season. However, during the winter break, he took over as head coach of Schwanenstadt 08 and was there until the end of the season. After his coaching stint at Schwanenstadt 08, he became assistant coach at Wiener Neustadt. He left Wiener Neustadt to return to Austria Wien where he became assistant coach to the first team. He became assistant coach of 1. FC Köln after the 2012–13 season. He has had talks with Austria Wien about the vacant head coach's job. However, Köln refused to release him.

He was named the head coach of Köln on 9 November 2019 but never managed a game and Markus Gisdol took over nine days later.

During the 2021–22 season, he returned to Austria Wien, securing a contract as head coach extending until June 2023. In his inaugural season at the helm, he swiftly guided the club to third place in the standings of the Austrian Bundesliga, earning them a spot in European competitions. Despite their participation in the UEFA Europa Conference League after faltering in the UEFA Europa League playoffs, Austria Wien faced an early exit in the group stage with only two points. However, on December 5, 2022, his tenure came to an end as his contract was mutually terminated due to divergent visions regarding the team's sporting trajectory between Schmid and the club's supervisory board.

On March 6, 2023, Austrian club Wolfsberger AC appointed Schmid as their head coach following his spell at Austria Wien.

During his current spell at Wolfsberger AC Schmid has utilised both a 3-4-1-2 and a 4-3-3 formation, the club performed well in Schmid's opening set of fixtures, however, as of December 2023 the club is on a run of just three wins in their last nine games. At the end of the saison 23/24 he will leave WAC.