Chris Coleman (footballer)

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Christopher Patrick Coleman Template:Post nominals (born 10 June 1970) is a Welsh professional football coach and former player. He is the current manager of Greek Super League club Asteras Tripolis.

As a player, Coleman usually played in defence, while also occasionally appearing as a forward. He began his career at Manchester City, leaving as a teenager to make his debut for hometown team Swansea City in 1987. In 1991, he joined Crystal Palace, whom he represented in the Premier League. He spent a year-and-a-half at league champions Blackburn Rovers before signing for Fulham in 1997, helping the team to two promotions from the third tier to the top flight. He won 32 caps playing for Wales. Coleman's playing career ended at the age of 32, when his leg was broken in a car crash. File:Welsh Government video of Chris Coleman at St David Awards 2016.webm

Following this, he started his coaching career at Fulham. In his first full season as manager, he guided the club to ninth place in the 2003–04 Premier League. After leaving Fulham, Coleman was appointed manager of Real Sociedad, where he resigned in January 2008 due to differences with the incoming president. He returned to England to manage Coventry City, but was dismissed in May 2010 following a poor run of results. Coleman then managed Greek side AEL for the first half of the 2011–12 season before resigning due to financial troubles at the club. In 2012, he took over as Wales national team manager after the death of Gary Speed, and led Wales to UEFA Euro 2016, their first major tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, where they made the semi-finals.

Early life

Coleman was born in Swansea.<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/> His Irish father was from Dublin.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>

Coleman was educated at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Primary School and Bishop Vaughan Catholic School.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Coleman has been nicknamed "Cookie" since childhood, as friends likened his eating habits to the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Playing career

Club

Swansea City

The first professional team Coleman was contracted to was Manchester City, aged 16, although he later left them, citing homesickness as the major reason.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He then joined his hometown club Swansea City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

He made his first professional appearance for them aged 17, in the autumn of 1987. He made nearly 200 appearances for the south Wales club and helped win the Welsh Cup in 1989 and 1991.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Crystal Palace

After spending four years with Swansea, Coleman was signed by Crystal Palace in 1991 for a transfer fee set by a Football League tribunal at around £270,000, plus a percentage of any future sale. After making 143 appearances, scoring 16 goals in that period – a 1 in 9 record explained by the fact that manager Steve Coppell often used Coleman as a makeshift centre forward. Palace finished 10th in Coleman's first season at Selhurst Park, but they were relegated from the new FA Premier League in his second season (although they did reach the semi-finals of the League Cup). They won promotion as Division One champions at the first attempt, but went straight back down again despite reaching the semi-finals of both cups that season. Coleman was sold to Blackburn Rovers, the defending league champions, for £2.8 million in December 1995. While at Palace, he was capped for Wales at senior level for the first time.

In 2005, Palace supporters voted Coleman into their Centenary XI.

Blackburn Rovers

Coleman joined Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £2.8 million. Blackburn did not retain the Premier League title they had won in 1995, and finished seventh, just missing out on a UEFA Cup place. Coleman made 28 league appearances over his season-and-a-half at the club, and when he found himself out of the starting line-up too often (not helped by a persistent Achilles injury), he took the gamble to further his career by dropping two divisions to join Fulham.

Fulham

Fulham, at the time in the third tier, were financed by wealthy businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, and were able to spend a record transfer fee for the division and club, of £2.1 million for Coleman in late 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He quickly became club captain, and led Fulham to promotion under manager Kevin Keegan in 1998–99 to the First Division.

He remained captain and a regular in the team under new manager Jean Tigana in the 2000–01 season as Fulham made a successful start to the campaign. However, Coleman's career was effectively ended midway through the season, after he broke his leg in a car crash near Bletchingley in Surrey on 2 January 2001, just days before an FA Cup tie against Manchester United.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He never recovered from this injury despite playing a reserve fixture in March 2002, a game that only served as an indication that he would never again play at the highest level of English football. He announced his retirement as a player in October 2002, but stayed at the West London club as a member of the coaching staff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

International

Coleman was capped by Wales at school, youth, under-21 and senior levels.<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/><ref>Template:NFT player</ref> His only competitive football appearance after his leg injuries came for Wales on 14 May 2002, when he was called up to the squad as a replacement for Danny Gabbidon,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and then came on as a late substitute for goalscorer Robert Earnshaw in the 1–0 win over Germany at the Millennium Stadium.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Coleman was also eligible to play for Ireland, through his father.<ref name="auto"/>

Managerial career

Fulham

Coleman joined Fulham's coaching staff in October 2002 under Tigana.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He later succeeded the Frenchman as caretaker manager in April 2003, and steered Fulham away from relegation danger. He was named as Fulham's permanent manager in May 2003, beating the more experienced Klaus Toppmöller and George Burley to the post, and also became the youngest manager in the Premier League.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

His first full season in charge saw Fulham finish a surprise ninth place, as many pundits tipped them to struggle and for Coleman to be sacked.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many of Fulham's key players, such as Edwin van der Sar, Louis Saha, Steed Malbranque and Luís Boa Morte, were sold in the following years and Fulham did not repeat their earlier successes under Coleman though he kept them clear of relegation. He was sacked on 10 April 2007 in a move that caught some observers by surprise, after a seven-game winless run that left the club four points above the relegation zone.<ref name="Coleman out as Sanchez takes over">Template:Cite news</ref>

Real Sociedad

Coleman moved abroad to manage recently relegated Segunda División side Real Sociedad on 4 July 2007, after being recommended to the club by fellow Welshman and former Real Sociedad manager John Toshack.<ref name="Coleman appointed Sociedad boss">Template:Cite news</ref> He was linked with Bolton Wanderers in October 2007<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> though nothing came of it. With the club in 5th place and having only lost once in its previous eleven games, Coleman resigned as manager on 16 January 2008, citing a divergence in vision for the club with newly elected President Iñaki Badiola.<ref name="Coleman resigns as Sociedad boss">Template:Cite news</ref>

Coventry City

Coleman was appointed manager of Championship club Coventry City on 19 February 2008, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He replaced Iain Dowie, who had been sacked by new owner Ray Ranson.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 26 August 2008, the BBC reported that Coleman was no longer interested in the Wales national team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He later said that his words had been misinterpreted; when answering a question on whether Coventry striker Freddy Eastwood was fit to play for Wales, he meant to say that he wanted Eastwood fit for club before returning to international duty.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 4 May 2010, Coleman was sacked following Coventry's 19th-place finish during the 2009–10 season,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> their lowest league finish in more than 45 years. They would be relegated two years later.

AEL

On 26 May 2011, Coleman was appointed as manager of Greek side AEL.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In January 2012, Coleman announced that because of financial troubles at the club he would be quitting from his position as manager.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wales

Coleman as manager of Wales in 2015

On 19 January 2012, Coleman was appointed team manager of the Wales national team, as successor to his friend Gary Speed, who had died the previous November.<ref name="Chris Coleman unveiled as Wales manager">Template:Cite news</ref> After letting his assistant Osian Roberts take charge in Speed's memorial match against Costa Rica in February,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> his first game in charge was a 2–0 defeat against Mexico at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on 27 May.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wales' first match in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was on 7 September at home to Belgium, with centre back James Collins sent off for a late lunge on Guillaume Gillet in the 25th minute of an eventual 2–0 loss.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Four days later in Novi Sad, the team lost 6–1 to Serbia; Coleman said in October 2015 that he considered leaving his post after the defeat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After becoming the first Welsh manager to lose his first five games, Coleman got his first win on 12 October 2012, a 2–1 victory against Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 26 March 2013, in a qualifier against Croatia at the Liberty Stadium, Wales led 1–0 for the majority of the game through a Gareth Bale penalty, but two late goals from the opponents ended any hopes of qualification.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In October 2015, Coleman led Wales to their best ever position on the FIFA World Rankings, 8th.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 10 October, their qualification for the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament was confirmed, a first tournament qualification since 1958.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The team came first in their group in France, and eliminated Northern Ireland and Belgium to reach the semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Portugal. Coleman received interest from other teams due to his management of the Welsh team at the tournament.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 23 May 2016, it was announced at a Football Association of Wales press conference that Coleman had signed a two-year contract extension to take in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wales's 1–0 home loss to the Republic of Ireland on 9 October 2017 meant that they were eliminated from qualification.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Coleman resigned as Wales manager on 17 November.<ref name=WalesOut>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sunderland

On 19 November 2017, Coleman was appointed as the new manager of under-performing Championship club Sunderland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He replaced the dismissed Simon Grayson, who had left the Black Cats third from bottom of the league table in twenty-second place and within the relegation drop zone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Coleman's first game in charge was a 2–1 defeat at Aston Villa, two days after his appointment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By the conclusion of 2017, Sunderland had collected eleven points, out of a possible twenty-four, under Coleman's guidance, briefly lifting out of the relegation zone into twenty-first place, following a satisfactory run of form.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

During the winter transfer window, Coleman was informed that club chairman Ellis Short had refused to invest any more money into player transfers, with the American businessman announcing his intentions to sell the club.<ref name=NetflixTransferWindow>Template:Cite web</ref> Joining the club for free of charge included the loan signings of Jake Clarke-Salter from Chelsea, Ovie Ejaria from Liverpool, Lee Camp from Cardiff City and Ashley Fletcher from fierce rivals Middlesbrough; Kazenga LuaLua was the only permanent transfer that window, joining from Brighton & Hove Albion on a free transfer.<ref name=NetflixTransferWindow/>

After their transfer window nightmare, Sunderland went on a nine-game winless run, ending when they defeated Derby County 4–1 at Pride Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This was Coleman's final victory in charge of Sunderland; his final six games saw the Black Cats record three draws and three defeats.<ref name=FulhamSunderlandLast>Template:Cite web</ref> Relegation to League One was confirmed following a 2–1 defeat against Burton Albion at the Stadium of Light.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His final game in charge was a 2–1 defeat to Fulham.<ref name=FulhamSunderlandLast/> On 29 April 2018, Coleman was dismissed shortly following the club's sale.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hebei China Fortune

On 10 June 2018, Coleman was appointed as the head coach of Chinese club Hebei China Fortune, as successor to Manuel Pellegrini,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> who left the side to return to the Premier League with West Ham United.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The club had become notable during the year for completing the high-profile signing of Javier Mascherano from Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> His side finished the 2018 Super League season in sixth position, two places and fourteen points adrift from qualification to the 2019 AFC Champions League.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Coleman's side struggled to adapt in the 2019 league campaign, with the club sat in fifteenth place, in the relegation zone, following nine games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Having only won one game that league season, a 2–1 victory over Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, he was sacked on 15 May due to poor performance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

He is married to TV presenter Charlotte Jackson. They had a son at the end of 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Coleman's godson is Republic of Ireland international Ronan Curtis, who plays as a forward for AFC Wimbledon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2010, Coleman worked as a commentator for ITV at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has also worked as a commentator and pundit for Sky Sports.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For Euro 2020, he worked for ESPN.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

On 20 October 2016 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Swansea.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Coleman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to football.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In 2017, he was awarded an honorary degree from his hometown's University of Swansea,<ref name=swanseauni>Template:Cite news</ref> and fellowships at both Bangor University and University of Wales Trinity Saint David.<ref name=bangor>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=trinity>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=cardiff>Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2017, he endorsed the Welsh Government's project to double the number of speakers of Welsh by 2050.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Swansea City	1987–88	Fourth Division	30	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	34	0
	1988–89	Third Division	43	0	3	0	2	0	5	0	53	0
	1989–90		46	2	4	0	2	0	2	0	54	2
	1990–91		41	0	4	1	2	0	8	0	55	1
Crystal Palace	1991–92	First Division	18	4	1	0	5	0	0	0	24	4
	1992–93	Premier League	38	5	1	0	7	2	0	0	46	7
	1993–94	First Division	46	3	1	0	4	0	0	0	51	3
	1994–95	Premier League	35	1	7	1	6	0	0	0	48	2
	1995–96	First Division	17	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	21	0
Blackburn Rovers	1995–96	Premier League	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
	1996–97		8	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9	0
	1997–98		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Fulham	1997–98	Second Division	26	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	27	1
	1998–99		45	4	7	0	5	1	0	0	57	5
	1999–2000	First Division	40	3	3	1	7	1	0	0	50	5
	2000–01		25	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	26	0
	2001–02	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			478	23	36	3	48	4	15	0	576	30

Managerial statistics

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Template:Abbr
			Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
Fulham	17 April 2003	10 April 2007	<ref name="Coleman out as Sanchez takes over"/><ref name="Managers: Chris Coleman"/>
Real Sociedad	4 July 2007	16 January 2008	<ref name="Coleman appointed Sociedad boss"/><ref name="Coleman resigns as Sociedad boss"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Coventry City	19 February 2008	4 May 2010	<ref name="Managers: Chris Coleman"/>
AEL	26 May 2011	10 January 2012	<ref name="Managers: Chris Coleman"/>
Wales	19 January 2012	17 November 2017	<ref name="Chris Coleman unveiled as Wales manager"/><ref name=WalesOut/><ref name="Managers: Chris Coleman"/>
Sunderland	19 November 2017	29 April 2018	<ref name="Managers: Chris Coleman">Template:Cite web</ref>
Hebei China Fortune	10 June 2018	15 May 2019	Template:Cn
Atromitos	7 January 2022	10 October 2023
AEL Limassol	25 May 2024	27 November 2024
OH Leuven	2 December 2024	11 June 2025
Asteras Tripolis	7 October 2025
Total			—

Honours

Player

Swansea City

• Football League Fourth Division play-offs: 1988<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Welsh Cup: 1988–89, 1990–91<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/>

Crystal Palace

• Football League First Division: 1993–94<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/>

Fulham

• Football League First Division: 2000–01<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/>
• Football League Second Division: 1998–99<ref name="Hugman2001-02"/>

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1988–89 Third Division, 1990–91 Third Division, 1997–98 Second Division, 1998–99 Second Division, 1999–2000 First Division, 2000–01 First Division
• Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 1994

Manager

Individual

• Football League Championship Manager of the Month: February 2009<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

• Template:Soccerbase