Jeff Saibene (born 13 September 1968) is a Luxembourgish former professional footballer and manager who most recently managed Swiss Challenge League club Neuchâtel Xamax.
 Saibene in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 13 September 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Keispelt, Luxembourg[1] | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1985–1986 | Union Luxembourg | ||
| 1986–1989 | Standard Liège | 7 | (0) |
| 1989–1993 | Aarau | 49 | (3) |
| 1993–1994 | Old Boys Basel | 38 | (9) |
| 1994–1995 | Monthey | ||
| 1995–1998 | Aarau | 72 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Locarno | ||
| 1999–2002 | Swift Hesperange | ||
| International career | |||
| 1986–2001 | Luxembourg | 63 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2007 | Thun | ||
| 2009 | Aarau | ||
| 2010–2011 | Luxembourg U-21 | ||
| 2011–2015 | St. Gallen | ||
| 2015–2017 | Thun | ||
| 2017–2018 | Arminia Bielefeld | ||
| 2019–2020 | FC Ingolstadt | ||
| 2020–2021 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | ||
| 2021–2022 | Racing-Union | ||
| 2022–2023 | Neuchâtel Xamax | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Personal life
Saibene is a citizen of both Luxembourg and Switzerland and married with a Swiss wife. He is a fan of Hamburger SV.[1]
Club career
He played most of his club football abroad, predominantly in Switzerland, but also in Belgium for Standard Liège. He began and ended his playing career in his native Luxembourg.
International career
As a defensive midfielder or defender, Saibene played for Luxembourg's national team 63 times between 1986 and 2001.[2] He played in 27 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.[3]
He played his final international game in October 2001, a World Cup qualification loss at Yugoslavia.
Coaching career
Saibene was the manager of FC Aarau, in Switzerland[4] and assistant to Allan Simonsen at the national team. He was formerly the assistant manager to Ryszard Komornicki at Aarau but was promoted in June 2009 when Komornicki left the club.[5] He then managed Luxembourg U-21.[6] He left his position in March 2011 to coach FC St. Gallen.
On 19 March 2017, he was appointed as the new head coach of Arminia Bielefeld.[7] He was sacked on 10 December 2018.[8]
He was appointed as the new head coach of FC Ingolstadt for the 2019–20 season.[9] He was sacked on 9 March 2020.[10]
On 2 October 2020, he was named head coach of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.[11] He was sacked on 30 January 2021.[12]
In June 2021, he was named new head coach of Racing FC Union Luxembourg.
On 29 August 2022, he returned to Switzerland to take over coaching duties of struggling Swiss Challenge League side Neuchâtel Xamax.[13] Sadly, he was unable to turn around Xamax's fortune, managing only three wins in 25 games he managed.[14] Following a 2–5 defeat to FC Aarau on 23 April 2023, he handed in his resignation.[15]
Managerial
- As of 23 April 2023
| Team | Nat. | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||||
| Thun |  | 7 March 2007 | 5 June 2007 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 37.50 | |||
| Aarau | | 1 July 2009 | 12 October 2009 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 15.38 | |||
| Luxembourg U-21 |  | 20 August 2010 | 7 March 2011 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00 | |||
| St. Gallen | | 7 March 2011 | 1 September 2015 | 182 | 80 | 42 | 60 | 43.96 | |||
| Thun | | 6 October 2015 | 19 March 2017 | 53 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 28.30 | |||
| Arminia Bielefeld |  | 20 March 2017 | 10 December 2018 | 62 | 19 | 23 | 20 | 30.65 | |||
| Ingolstadt 04 | | 1 July 2019 | 9 March 2020 | 31 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 41.94 | |||
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | | 2 October 2020 | 30 January 2021 | 21 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 19.05 | |||
| Racing-Union | | 1 July 2021 | 30 June 2022 | 36 | 19 | 4 | 13 | 52.78 | |||
| Neuchâtel Xamax | | 29 August 2022 | 23 April 2023 | 25 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 12.00 | |||
| Total | 433 | 159 | 121 | 153 | 36.72 | ||||||
Honours
As player
Union Luxembourg
- Luxembourg Cup: 1985–86
FC Aarau
As manager
St. Gallen
Racing Union
- Luxembourg Cup: 2021–22
References
External links
- Jeff Saibene at WorldFootball.net
- Jeff Saibene at National-Football-Teams.com
- Jeff Saibene at FBref.com
- Jeff Saibene at EU-Football.info
- Player profile[permanent dead link] – Standard Liège
