Oliver Glasner

Oliver Glasner

Glasner in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth	(1974-08-28) 28 August 1974 (age 49)
Place of birth	Schärding, Austria
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Crystal Palace (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–2011	SV Ried	516	(27)
2003–2004	→ LASK (loan)	3	(0)
Total		519	(27)
Managerial career
2014–2015	SV Ried
2015–2019	LASK
2019–2021	VfL Wolfsburg
2021–2023	Eintracht Frankfurt
2024–	Crystal Palace
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

A defender by trade, he spent almost all of his professional career with Austrian Bundesliga club SV Ried, winning the Austrian Cup in 1998 and 2011. Following his retirement, Glasner worked as an assistant coach at Red Bull Salzburg before returning to Ried as head coach in 2014. He then spent four seasons as head coach of former club LASK, winning promotion to the Austrian top flight, and helping the club finish as runners-up in his final season.

In 2019, he was appointed head coach of Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, qualifying for Europe in both seasons at the club. He was then appointed head coach of Eintracht Frankfurt, and won the UEFA Europa League in his first season, as well as leading the club to the Champions League knockout stages and DFB-Pokal final in his second and final season. In 2024, he was named manager of Crystal Palace.

 

Glasner started his career at SV Riedau, and joined the second Austrian division team SV Ried in 1993. Ried got promoted to the Austrian Bundesliga in 1995. During the 1997–98 season he won the Austrian Cup with the club. When Ried went down to second division again in 2003, Glasner joined First League team LASK for the next season, but returned to Ried a year later. Ried returned to the Bundesliga in 2005, and in the 2010–11 season, Glasner won the Austrian Cup for the second time. On 31 July 2011, he suffered a cut above the eye and a slight concussion during a header duel in a league match between Ried and Rapid Wien. Nevertheless, he accompanied his team during the Europa League third qualifying round second leg against Brøndby. After the final head ball training session, a brain haemorrhage developed on August 4, 2011. He was operated on the same day. Glasner survived the operation, but ended his career on the advice of the doctors on August 23, 2011. He made more than 500 league appearances in his 16-year career.

Early career

In 2006, Glasner completed Diplomkaufmann at University of Hagen. He was offered an assistant coach role at Ried in 2012. But Peter Vogl, then honorary president of SV Ried and CEO of Red Bull Salzburg, hired Glasner as management assistant, responsible for sports. Glasner asked Ralf Rangnick for an opportunity in coaching, and in July 2012, he became assistant coach for Roger Schmidt in the first-team squad. After the successful two-year spell at Salzburg, finishing Austrian champions, Glasner did not follow Schmid towards Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, but instead was appointed head coach at his former club Ried for the 2014–15 season. He started the campaign with two wins: 3–2 against Parndorf in the first round of the Austrian Cup, on 11 July 2014; and 3–1 against Wiener Neustädter in a league match, on 19 July.

LASK

Glasner joined LASK in the 2015–16 season as a director of sport, as well as head coach. Over time, vice president Jürgen Werner and Glasner constructed a team with an unmistakable style of play. LASK earned promotion to the first division in Glasners second season, then finished the 2017–18 Austrian Football Bundesliga season in fourth position, earning a place in the 2018–19 Europa League third qualifying round. It was club's first European campaign since 2000. In the 2018–19 season, LASK finished in second place, just behind perennial champions Red Bull Salzburg, which allowed them to participate in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Following his success with LASK, Jörg Schmadtke hired Glasner to manage VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, and Valérien Ismaël joined LASK as his replacement.

Vfl Wolfsburg

In his first season with Wolfsburg, the club managed to qualify for the Europa League, finishing seventh in the league. Glasner also guided them to the Europa League round of 16 phase, where they lost 5–1 on aggregate against Shakhtar Donetsk. In the 2020–21 Bundesliga, Wolfsburg finished fourth, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. Mark van Bommel joined to succeed Glasner.

Eintracht Frankfurt

In May 2021, Eintracht Frankfurt announced that Glasner had signed as head coach on a three-year deal until 30 June 2024. The start at Frankfurt was challenging. Frankfurt appointed Axel Hellmann as the new chairman of the board, Markus Krösche succeeded Fredi Bobic as managing director for sport, Ben Manga replaced Bruno Hübner as sporting director and the team lost its top scorer, André Silva, to RB Leipzig. The team lost 2–0 in the first round of DFB-Pokal against third tier Waldhof Mannheim. Frankfurt was close to the relegation zone in November, managing to win only one league game during the first months – against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. It was the first time after 21 years, and after 16 matches they did so.

Between November and December, Frankfurt won six out of seven, and was placed sixth at the end of the first round of matches. The second half of the season was inconsistent, Frankfurt finished the league at 11th place. Their continental campaign was successful, they advanced to the Europa League final, for the second time in the club's history (after 1980) – defeating Barcelona and West Ham United en route – and won the match 5–4 on penalties against Scottish club Rangers. Frankfurt stayed undefeated for 13 UEL games, and qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 1960.

The following season, Glasner led Frankfurt to finish second in the Champions League group stage against Tottenham, Sporting and Marseille, but lost in the round of 16 against dominating later Italian champions Napoli. Though they were fourth at the halfway point, Frankfurt only finished seventh, winning two of their last three matches to secure qualification for the Europa Conference League. They also reached the DFB-Pokal final against RB Leipzig, but lost 2–0. Following a poor second half of the league season, Glasner departed Frankfurt at the end of the 2022–23 season, one year earlier than his original contract. Dino Toppmöller was his successor.

Crystal Palace

On 19 February 2024, Glasner was appointed manager of Premier League club Crystal Palace, signing a contract until the end of the 2025–26 season. He replaced Roy Hodgson, who stepped down as manager the same day. He did not take charge of the match against Everton the same day, which was overseen by interim manager Paddy McCarthy; he was instead seen observing the 1–1 draw from the Goodison Park stands alongside chairman Steve Parish.

Glasner won his first game in charge, beating Burnley 3–0 at Selhurst Park on 24 February. On 14 April, Glasner won his first away game with the club, ending Liverpool's 29-game unbeaten streak at Anfield with a 1–0 win.

As of match played 24 April 2024

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record								Ref
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
SV Ried	12 May 2014	25 May 2015	37	13	7	17	52	54	−2	035.14
LASK Linz	1 July 2015	1 July 2019	161	94	32	35	308	173	+135	058.39
VfL Wolfsburg	1 July 2019	30 June 2021	87	41	22	24	146	110	+36	047.13
Eintracht Frankfurt	1 July 2021	30 June 2023	97	38	30	29	145	137	+8	039.18
Crystal Palace	19 February 2024	present	9	4	2	3	16	12	+4	044.44
Career total			391	190	93	108	667	486	+181	048.59	—

Player

SV Ried

• Austrian Cup: 1997–98, 2010–11

Manager

Eintracht Frankfurt

• UEFA Europa League: 2021–22