Alex Manninger

Alex Manninger

Personal information
Full name	Alexander Manninger
Date of birth	4 June 1977 (1977-06-04) (age 32)
Place of birth	Salzburg, Austria
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Juventus
Number	13
Youth career
1993–1995	SV Salzburg
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1996	SV Salzburg	1	(0)
1995–1996	→ Vorwärts Steyr (loan)	5	(0)
1996–1997	Grazer AK	23	(0)
1997–2002	Arsenal	40	(0)
2001–2002	→ AC Fiorentina (loan)	24	(0)
2002–2003	RCD Espanyol	0	(0)
2003	FC Torino	3	(0)
2003–2005	FC Bologna	0	(0)
2004–2005	→ Siena (loan)	19	(0)
2005–2006	Red Bull Salzburg	16	(0)
2006–2008	Siena	64	(0)
2008	Red Bull Salzburg	0	(0)
2008	Udinese	0	(0)
2008–	Juventus	16	(0)
National team‡
1999–2009	Austria	32	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 01:18, 23 August 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:18, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Alexander "Alex" Manninger (born 4 June 1977) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Juventus in the Serie A.

Club career

Early years

Manninger first played as a youth for SV Austria Salzburg. In the 1995–96 season he was sent on loan at Vorwärts Steyr, and played his first top-level game away against Grazer AK. After a strong performance in goal, Grazer decided to sign him as backup goalkeeper in summer 1996. Manninger's first match was a baptism of fire; after first-choice goalkeeper Franz Almer fell ill before the autumn 1996 UEFA Cup second round game against Internazionale, Manninger found himself making his debut in the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. He put in a strong performance and pulled off several high-quality saves as GAK narrowly lost 1–0. In the return leg, GAK won 1–0 to level the aggregate score at 1–1, but lost in the resulting penalty shoot-out.

Arsenal

After that, he remained first-choice for the rest of the 1996–97 season and was signed by Arsenal in June 1997 as cover for David Seaman. During the 1997–98 season Seaman suffered a long spell out injured and Manninger ably covered for him, enjoying a spell of eight clean sheets in a row in the league, a club record. The last of these was against Bolton Wanderers, where Arsenal won 1–0. In March 1998 he was named Premier League Player of the Month, a first for an understudy goalkeeper in the Premier League. However, Manninger had to make way for Seaman once the Englishman returned from injury.

Manninger continued to deputise for Seaman for the next three seasons, but without a consistent run in the side he was unable to maximise his potential. In all he made only 64 appearances over four seasons for Arsenal. After the Gunners bought Richard Wright in 2001, Manninger became number three at Arsenal, and spent the 2001-02 season on loan at Fiorentina, making 24 appearances.^[1]

In July 2002 RCD Espanyol signed Manninger on a four-year deal for £960,000.^[2] However they released him just seven weeks later before he had made a first team appearance. Doubts were raised as to whether his transfer from Arsenal had been fully completed;^[3] although Manninger claimed Espanyol didn't have the money to pay his fee.^[4]

Serie A

Manninger joined Torino in January 2003,^[5] staying there six months before joining Bologna in the summer. He spent two years with the club but unable to break into the first team he had a loan spell with Brescia in July and Siena in August, before he rejoined FC Salzburg in 2005. For the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons he returned Siena, where he was first-choice goalkeeper.

At the end of the 2007-08 season he returned from Italy to sign for FC Red Bull Salzburg on free transfer, but did not stay for long. In July 2008, Manninger moved back to Italy with Udinese,^[6] but stayed with the club for only a few weeks before signing for Juventus as backup for Gianluigi Buffon. He is the second goalkeeper purchased by the Turin club during summer 2008, along with Antonio Chimenti, also from Udinese.^[7] Due to a long-term injury to Juventus and Italy no.1 Gianluigi Buffon, Manninger had been Juventus's leading keeper from early October 2008 through February 2009.

International career

Manninger made his debut for Austria in an August 1999 friendly match against Sweden and was member of the Austrian Euro 2008 squad. He has so far as of August 2008 earned 32 caps and retired after ten years from International football for the Austria national football team on 5 August 2009^[8].

Honours

Arsenal

• FA Premier League: 1997-98
• FA Cup: 1998
• FA Community Shield: 1998, 1999

External links

• Player profile - Juventus
• Player profile - EURO2008
• Career stats - National Football Teams

References

v • d • e Austria squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Manninger • 2 Standfest • 3 Stranzl • 4 Pogatetz • 5 Fuchs • 6 Aufhauser • 7 Vastić • 8 Leitgeb • 9 Linz • 10 Ivanschitz • 11 Korkmaz • 12 Gërçaliu • 13 Katzer • 14 Garics • 15 Prödl • 16 Patocka • 17 Hiden • 18 Kienast • 19 Säumel • 20 Harnik • 21 Macho • 22 Hoffer • 23 Özcan • Coach: Hickersberger