As a player, Ribbeck had a career spanning most of the 1950s into the early 1960s with SSV 1904 Wuppertal, which has since merged with TSG Vohwinkel to form Wuppertaler SV.

[1] His first coaching position he held at the age of 30 in 1967–68, when he took Rot-Weiss Essen to the second place in the western division of Germany's Level 2 league and thus to the promotion tournament, where the club ended up losing out against Hertha Berlin.

Leverkusen beat Austria Wien, Toulouse, Feyenoord, Barcelona and Werder Bremen to reach the two-legged final against RCD Espanyol.

[1][2] Ribbeck joined FC Bayern Munich in March 1992, replacing Søren Lerby, as the team unexpectedly found themselves fighting relegation.

Instead, Jupp Derwall was selected and it was not until 20 years later on 9 September 1998[5] that Ribbeck emerged from retirement to take over the Germany national team when other candidates had declined.

Ribbeck had insisted that Matthäus would earn his 150th cap, while threatening any rebellious national team members with a fine or exclusion from the squad.