The 49-year-old has a strong record as a head coach in Austria and Germany, and had a good playing career as a defender before that.
Born in Leipzig in September 1976 in what was then East Germany, his grandfather Walter was a German international in the 1930s, so he had football in his blood.
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Rose started in the youth ranks at Rotation Leipzig, before joining Lokomotive Leipzig, where he played 58 times, scoring five goals.
From there, he moved to Hannover 96 in 2000, where he made 24 appearances in the 2. Bundesliga, helping them to promotion to the top flight.
But when this promotion came, he stayed in the second tier, moving initially on loan to Jurgen Klopp’s Mainz 05 side.
Marco Rose. (Image: David Geieregger/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)
It was there where he had the most success as a player.
Under Klopp, Mainz achieved its first promotion to the Bundesliga at the end of the 03/04 campaign, and, at the end of a two-year loan spell, Rose was signed on a permanent move in a free transfer.
From 159 total appearances for Mainz, Rose made 66 in the Bundesliga, scoring three goals and providing four assists from left back.
In the 2010/11 campaign, Rose moved into the Mainz second side, for whom he played 41 times, before he hung his boots up.
It was in the second side where he began his coaching career as a player-coach, working as an assistant from 2010 to 2012, when he got his break as a manager at Lok Leipzig.
He managed 30 games there before moving to Salzburg and taking on a role in their academy.
Working with the youth ranks, Rose impressed and first earned promotion from the U16s to U18s, before then moving into the first team for the start of the 17/18 season after Oscar Garcia left the club.
In his first campaign at the club, Salzburg won the Austrian league title and they reached the semifinals of the Europa League.
Marco Rose. (Image: Martin Rose/Getty Images)
There, they were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Marseille, having defeated the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Lazio to reach the final four.
His team lost in the final of the Austrian cup, but they carried their momentum into his second season at the helm, setting a record as they won their first ten games of the season.
Rose won his second title to make it two from two with Salzburg, also claiming the Austrian cup in his second season in charge, and they reached the round of 16 of the Europa League, where they were beaten 4-3 by Napoli.
A record of 82 wins, 22 draws and just ten defeats across his 114 matches in Austrian saw Rose snapped up by Borussia Monchengladbach for the 19/20 season.
He had a good first season as he steered Gladbach to a fourth-placed finish, after they led the Bundesliga after 14 games and were second heading into the winter break.
The following season saw Gladbach progress through the Champions League group stages before they were beaten by Manchester City in the knockouts.
It was announced that Rose would join Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season and Gladbach’s form dipped after that, seeing them finish the season in eighth.
Marco Rose. (Image: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
He would spend just one season at Dortmund, and it was a disappointing European campaign that saw Rose and the club part ways at the end of the season, despite a second-placed league finish.
There, he coached the likes of Erling Haaland, Thorgan Hazard, Marco Reus and Jude Bellingham.
He shared a good relationship with the England star, exemplified by their interaction after 1-1 draw in the Champions League between Real Madrid and RB Leipzig.
Jude Bellingham with his old coach Marco Rose. pic.twitter.com/x5Fo3m9pIF
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 6, 2024
It was Leipzig where Rose would head after Dortmund, taking over from Domenico Tedesco after the side had won two and lost four of their opening eight games.
He started life there with a bang, with a 3-0 win over his former side, before going on to win the German cup in his first season at Leipzig, beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the DFB-Pokal final.
Leipzig were beaten by league winners Bayern Munich in the super cup, and finished third in the league.
They were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City in the round of 16, following a 7-0 defeat at the Etihad after a 1-1 draw in Leipzig in the first leg.
The 23/24 season started well with silverware as Leipzig beat Bayern 3-0 in the super cup, and Rose’s side went on to finish fourth in the league and once again reach the round of 16 of the Champions League.
It was there were they were beaten by Real Madrid, as mentioned, following a 1-0 defeat at home and a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu.
The following campaign was not as much of a success for Leipzig.
They finished third from bottom of the league stage of the Champions League, with one win and seven defeats from their eight games.
With the team in a poor vein of form, Rose was sacked by Leipzig at the end of March 2025, with the club in sixth place in the Bundesliga after a 1-0 defeat to his former club Gladbach.
That was his most recent game in management and he left Leipzig with a record of 69 wins, 22 draws and 33 defeats from 124 matches.