Stuart Baxter

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Personal information
Stuart Baxter
Date of birth	August 16, 1953 (1953-08-16) (age 54)
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1971–1975 1975–1976 1976–1977 1981 1982 1983 1983–1984	Preston North End Dundee United Stockport County Helsingborgs IF South Melbourne FC San Diego Sockers Örebro SK	41 (1) 0 (0) 4 (0) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 41 (5)
Teams managed
1986 1987 1988–1991 1992–1994 1995–1997 1998–2000 2001 2002–2004 2004–2005 2006 2006–2007 2008–	IF Skarp Vitória Setubal Halmstads BK Sanfrecce Hiroshima Vissel Kobe AIK F.C. Lyn Oslo England Under-19 South Africa Vissel Kobe Helsingborgs IF Finland
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stuart Baxter (born August 16, 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He is currently managing the Finland national football team. He has a son, Lee, who is also a former professional football player.

[edit] Career

Baxter, who has a Scottish father and an English mother, was born in Birmingham and began his playing career with Preston North End in 1971. He later moved north to Scotland to join Dundee United before returning to England with Stockport County. Baxter then moved to Sweden, Australia and the United States respectively with Helsingborgs IF, South Melbourne FC and San Diego Sockers. His playing career ended in 1983.

Baxter returned to Scandinavia to begin his coaching career; he worked with Örebro SK's youth team. In 1986, he was appointed manager of minor Norwegian side Idrettsforeningen Skarp. The following year he landed a larger managerial role with Portugese team Vitória de Setúbal before returning to Sweden for a three stint at Halmstads BK between 1988 and 1991. In his first year with Halmstads he guided then to promotion to the Allsvenskan but the club was relegated at the end of his tenure. Baxter moved to Japan to first coach Sanfrecce Hiroshima, between 1992 and 1994, and then Vissel Kobe, in 1997.

In 1998, Baxter was bought back to Sweden by AIK, where he guided them to the Swedish championship. Having qualified for the UEFA Champions League, Baxter took AIK into the group stages where the Swedish champions played against some of Europe's largest teams, such as FC Barcelona, Arsenal and Fiorentina. Unsurprisingly, AIK finished bottom of the group. After two years, he moved to Norwegian side Lyn Oslo.

Baxter was hired by the Football Association to coach the England Under-19 national team in 2002. After two years, he was hired as South Africa's manager. By autumn 2005, he quit this role having failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. He later had another short spell at Vissel Kobe before moving back to Helsingborgs IF, this time as manager in 2006. He took the Swedish side past the group stages of the UEFA Cup in 2007 but he resigned at the end of the year. Afterwards, at the beginning of 2008, he was appointed manager of Finland on a two-year contract.^[1]