Alexander Bade

Alexander Bade (born 25 August 1970) is a German football coach and former professional footballer who is the goalkeeping coach of Premier League club Newcastle United.

He played as a goalkeeper and made 176 league appearances during a professional career spanning from 1991 to 2009, including two spells with 1. FC Köln.

After retiring from playing, Bade worked for nine years as goalkeeping coach at Köln. He has subsequently held coaching and football-development positions in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Saudi Arabia.

Playing career

Bade was born in West Berlin and began playing football with Tennis Borussia Berlin. He joined the youth system of 1. FC Köln in 1988 and was promoted to the senior squad in 1991.

Following Köln's relegation from the Bundesliga in 2006, Bade joined VfL Bochum. He spent one season with Bochum before moving to SC Paderborn 07 in 2007.

Bade made his only appearance for Dortmund against Schalke 04 on 10 February 2008, replacing the injured Ziegler at half-time.

Coaching career

1. FC Köln

After retiring as a player in 2009, Bade joined the coaching staff of 1. FC Köln. He worked primarily with the club's goalkeepers and later became part of the first-team coaching structure.

Bade remained at Köln for almost nine years and worked under several head coaches. From 2013 to 2017, he was part of Peter Stöger's coaching staff as the club won promotion to the Bundesliga in the 2013–14 season and later qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League.

His contract with Köln was terminated at the end of January 2018 following the appointment of Andreas Menger as the club's new goalkeeping coach.

Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Stöger became Austria Wien's head coach and appointed Bade as the first-team goalkeeping coach. Bade continued to hold responsibilities within the club's sporting department while joining a coaching staff that also included assistant coaches Gerhard Fellner and Jochen Fallmann.

The Austrian Football Association records Bade as Austria Wien's goalkeeping coach from 21 August 2020 until 30 June 2021.

Ferencváros

In June 2021, Bade followed Stöger to Hungarian champions Ferencváros. He joined the first-team staff as an assistant coach alongside Gerhard Fellner and long-serving club coach Csaba Máté.

Although Bade had previously worked as a specialist goalkeeping coach, Ferencváros described his position as a first-team or field coach rather than goalkeeping coach.

Viktoria Köln

In November 2022, Bade returned to coaching when he was appointed goalkeeping coach of Viktoria Köln. He joined the staff of head coach Olaf Janßen and succeeded Georg Koch, who moved into the position of team manager.

Bade remained with the 3. Liga club until August 2023, when he left to join Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League. Viktoria appointed Michael Kraft as his replacement.

Al-Ahli

In August 2023, Bade joined Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli as goalkeeping coach after being recruited by newly appointed head coach Matthias Jaissle. He became part of a coaching staff that also included assistant coaches Alexander Hauser, Engin Yanova and Florens Koch.

As goalkeeping coach, Bade worked with international goalkeepers including Édouard Mendy and Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi. During his three seasons at the club, Al-Ahli established themselves among the leading teams in Saudi Arabia and won the AFC Champions League Elite in consecutive seasons, defeating Kawasaki Frontale in the 2025 final and Machida Zelvia in the 2026 final. The club also won the 2025 Saudi Super Cup.

Newcastle United

On 6 August 2026, Bade joined Premier League club Newcastle United as goalkeeping coach following the appointment of Matthias Jaissle as head coach. He was one of six members of Jaissle's coaching staff to move from Al-Ahli to Newcastle, alongside assistant coaches Alexander Hauser, Engin Yanova and Florens Koch, and performance analysts Maximilian Fischer and Steffen Konrad.

His appointment reunited him with Jaissle, with whom he had previously worked at Al-Ahli. Bade became responsible for the development and preparation of Newcastle United's first-team goalkeepers as part of the club's new coaching structure.

Honours

Player

1. FC Köln 2. Bundesliga: 2002–03, 2004–05

Coach

1. FC Köln 2. Bundesliga: 2013–14 (promotion)

Al-Ahli AFC Champions League Elite: 2024–25, 2025–26 Saudi Super Cup: 2025