Mark Christian Wotte (born 16 December 1960) is a Dutch football manager and former player. Wotte has managed teams in the Netherlands, Egypt, Qatar, England and Romania, and has also worked for the Scottish Football Association.

Mark Wotte
Personal information
Full name Mark Christian Wotte[1]
Date of birth (1960-12-16) 16 December 1960 (age 63)
Place of birth Enschede, Netherlands
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
Sportclub Enschede
FC Twente
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1980–1981 FC Vlaardingen 33 (4)
1981–1982 Feyenoord 4 (0)
1982–1983 FC Den Haag 32 (1)
1983–1986 SVV 69 (3)
Total 138 (8)
Managerial career
1983–1988 VV Rijswijk
1992 ADO Den Haag
1994–1996 FC Lisse
1996–1998 ADO Den Haag
1998–2000 Utrecht
2000–2000 Den Bosch
2000–2002 Netherlands U19+U-21
2002–2004 Willem II Tilburg
2006 Ismaily
2006–2007 RKC Waalwijk
2007–2008 Al Ahli
2009 Southampton
2010 Universitatea Craiova
2010–2011 Ismaily
2011–2014 Scottish FA (performance director)
2015–2020 Moroccan FA (under-23 coach)
2020 Al Wahda
2022–2023 Syria U23
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

edit

Wotte played for Sportclub Enschede and FC Twente Academy, The Netherlands U.17's, and 1st Team Football for Feyenoord, FC Vlaardingen, FC Den Haag and SVV in his native Netherlands.[2] Injuries ended his career in 1986.[2]

Coaching and managerial career

edit

In 1996, Wotte was named manager of ADO Den Haag, where he stayed for two seasons, before signing for Utrecht (1997–2000). He later worked for Den Bosch, Willem II, the Royal Dutch Football Association, Feyenoord (technical director), and Ismaily in Egypt. He left Ismaily on 16 December 2006 due to family reasons, to return to the Netherlands to coach RKC Waalwijk before moving to Qatar to manage Al Ahli.

Southampton

edit

Having initially been linked with Southampton in 2005,[3] Wotte joined the club as part of the new management team in 2008, with particular responsibility for the development of Southampton's youth squad. He was appointed manager on 23 January 2009, replacing Jan Poortvliet.[4][5] Southampton drew 2–2 against Norwich City in his first game in charge.[6]

Defeats against Sheffield United and Bristol City left the Saints in relegation trouble. Wins against Preston North End, Cardiff City and Ipswich Town gave Southampton hope, but the club went into administration, due to financial problems. Unable to steer them to safety, Southampton were relegated to League One, where they would start with the 10 point deduction at the start of the following season. Wotte left the club after it was taken over by Markus Liebherr in the summer of 2009.[7]

Universitatea Craiova

edit

Wotte signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with Romania's Liga I team Universitatea Craiova on 7 January 2010. He led the team on a good run, which contained victories against Rapid București, Vaslui, Poli Iași, Brașov and Astra Ploiești. However, after losing two home games, he was suspended on 10 May 2010 for 30 days, despite saving the team from relegation, being four points clear above the relegation zone. Following the suspension, Wotte got in a conflict with the Craiova's owner and left the club. In 2015 the CAS of FIFA decided the dismissal was injustice.

Ismaily

edit

Wotte returned to Egyptian club Ismaily in June 2010. He coached his first competitive game on 18 July, in a game against Algerian side JS Kabylie in the 2010 CAF Champions League. After the public uproar in Egypt early 2011 causing temporarily postponing of The Egyptian League Wotte stayed until April managing the team before returning to the Netherlands.

Scottish FA

edit

Wotte was named as the first Performance Director and Technical Director of National Teams of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) on 23 June 2011.[7] Wotte left the SFA in October 2014, having implemented most of the recommendations of a review conducted by Henry McLeish.[8][9]

Morocco FA

edit

On 1 December 2015, Wotte joined the Royal Moroccan Football Federation. He worked as the football federation's National Youth Teams Coach. He signed a four-year contract until 2020. He was responsible for players born 1997-1998 and 1999 with teams U20 and the Olympic Team U23. [10]

In July 2017, he won for the first time since 2001 the football tournament at the 2017 Francophone Games in Abidjan by beating the home country CIV in the Final with the Morocco U20 team.[1] In 2018 he won also gold medals with Morocco U15/16 in Algeria and Tunesia.

Al Wahda

edit

In July 2020, Wotte signed a contract with Abu Dhabi side, Al Wahda,[11] however due to the UAEFA postponing the Pro-League competition and after one training match, he was dismissed in September of the same year.[12]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Cote d'Ivoire – Maroc" (PDF). Microplustiming.com. 30 July 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Profile – Mark Wotte". SaintsFC.co.uk. 21 December 2005. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  3. ^ "Wotte 'set for switch to Saints'". BBC Sport. 21 December 2005.
  4. ^ "Poortvliet resigns as Saints boss". BBC Sport. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Chairman's statement". Saintsfc.co.uk. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Norwich 2–2 Southampton". BBC Sport. 27 January 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Mark Wotte is Scotland's first performance director". BBC Sport. 23 June 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
  8. ^ Mark Wotte moves on from Scottish FA, Scottish Football Association Archived 18 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Scotland: Mark Wotte quits as SFA performance director, BBC Sport
  10. ^ "Morocco snap up Dutchman Wotte". Supersport.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Ex-SFA performance director Mark Wotte lands manager's job in UAE with Al Wahda". GlasgowTimes. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Trainer Mark Wotte na één oefenduel al afgeserveerd". De Telegraaf. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
edit