Salzburg, Steyr and Grazer AK Manninger started his career as a youth player for
SV Salzburg in 1993. He was promoted to the first-team squad at the start of the 1995–96 season. After his debut, and lone appearance of the season, he was sent on loan at
Vorwärts Steyr, and played his first top-level game away against
Grazer AK. At the start of 1996–97 season, he signed for Grazer AK, making his debut in the
UEFA Cup second-round game against
Inter Milan at the
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan. He made twenty-four appearances in his lone season with Grazer AK, before a high-profile transfer to
Arsenal in the
Premier League, where he was understudy to the experienced
David Seaman.
Arsenal, Fiorentina and Espanyol During the
1997–98 season, Seaman was injured and Manninger covered for him, enjoying a spell of six clean sheets in a row in the league, a joint club record. The last of these was against
Manchester United at
Old Trafford, where Arsenal won 1–0. In March 1998, he was named
Premier League Player of the Month. However, Manninger had to make way for Seaman once the Englishman returned from injury. Despite only having played seven games in the
1997–98 FA Premier League season (ten was then required to automatically qualify for a winners' medal), Manninger was granted special dispensation for a medal, as his contribution to Arsenal's title win was considered to be significant enough. He also made five appearances in Arsenal's FA Cup run. The highlight for Manninger came in the quarter-final replay at
West Ham United. The game went to penalties and he saved
Eyal Berkovic's spot kick to help Arsenal through to the semi-finals. He was on the bench as Arsenal won the
1998 FA Cup Final to complete the double. Manninger continued to deputise for Seaman for the next three seasons. He made sixty-four appearances over four seasons for Arsenal. After the Gunners bought
Richard Wright in 2001, In July 2002,
Espanyol signed Manninger on a four-year deal for £960,000. However, he was released after just two months at Espanyol without making a first team appearance, with Manninger claiming that the Barcelona-based club had reneged on the contract.
Torino, Bologna, Siena and Salzburg Manninger subsequently joined Italian side
Torino in
Serie A in January 2003, and remained with them until the end of the season. At the start of the 2003–04 season, he signed for
Bologna, where he spent two seasons largely used as an understudy. He had a short loan spell with
Brescia in July 2004, but was subsequently loaned to
Siena for the
2004–05 Serie A season during which Manninger made nineteen appearances in the league for the
Robur. In July 2005,
Red Bull Salzburg re-signed Manninger from his parent club Bologna, and during season 2005–06 he made sixteen appearances.
Return to Siena, Udinese and Juventus Manninger returned to Siena, in Serie A, this time on a permanent basis for the 2006–07 season. He started the season as the club's first choice keeper, but he was injured and replaced by Greek international
Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, who retained the first team goalkeeper's jersey once Manninger was fit again. He was first choice again at the start of 2007–08 season, ahead of Eleftheropolous, and
Anssi Jaakkola. In a two-year spell at Siena, Manninger made nearly 70 appearances. In July 2008, as a non-contract player, he returned to Austria for another spell with Red Bull Salzburg, but before the season started, he had signed for
Udinese, where he replaced the Juventus-bound
Antonio Chimenti. However, in a career of brief moves, he stayed with the north east Italian club for just two weeks, before being signed by
Juventus as backup for
Gianluigi Buffon and Chimenti in August 2008. A long-term injury to Buffon resulted in Manninger playing for the first XI from early October 2008 through to late February 2009. During his tenure with Juventus, Manninger made thirty-five appearances in all competitions, drawing praise in the media for his performances. Following an injury to Buffon during the
2010 FIFA World Cup, Juventus signed
Marco Storari from
AC Milan in the summer of 2010, and Manninger was demoted to the role of the club's third–choice goalkeeper. He was released at the end of the
2011–12 season, following Juventus's league title victory.
Augsburg After four months without a club, Manninger signed for
Bundesliga club
FC Augsburg to cover for an injury to regular first-choice goalkeeper
Simon Jentzsch. and was released at the end of his contract in June 2016 after having made 38 appearances in all competitions for the German side during his time with the team, 36 of which came in the Bundesliga.
Liverpool During July 2016, Manninger trained with
Liverpool to maintain match fitness and on 22 July 2016, he signed a short-term contract with the Merseyside club and made two appearances in
pre-season friendlies. On 25 May 2017, he announced his retirement from football at the end of his contract. ==International career==