Murat Yakin is the successor of Vladimir Petkovic

Vladimir Petkovic’s successor as head coach of the men’s senior national team has been chosen: on Monday morning Murat Yakin signed a contract that is valid until the end of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers with an option to extend. The 46-year-old from Basel joins the Swiss Football Association (SFA) with immediate effect, leaving the Challenge League club Schaffhausen.

Just three and a half weeks before the first meeting of the «Born» after UEFA EURO 2020, the manager was decided to head up the team for the official international match in Basel against Greece on September 1. The committee with Director of National Teams Pierluigi Tami, SFA Central President Dominique Blanc, SFA Director of Football Development Patrick Bruggmann and SFL President Heinrich Schifferle presented Yakin as the ultimate candidate to the SFA Central Committee, who approved the proposal.

Despite his relatively «young» age (the last time a coach had undertaken the role of coach at a younger age was in 1996, when Rolf Fringer was 39 years old) Murat Yakin is very experienced in coaching. Following the end of his successful playing career in Switzerland (champion and cup winner with Grasshopper Club Zurich and FC Basel), in the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, in the Turkish league with Fenerbahçe Istanbul and in 49 international matches for Switzerland (4 goals), Yakin started as a coach at Concordia Basel.

Stepping up, Yakin coached Frauenfeld and the GC Under-21 team before joining FC Thun and then FC Luzern. With the Bernese, he also celebrated promotion from the Challenge League to the Super League, and in the 2011/12 season, he led the Central Swiss to the Cup Final and second place in the league. Yakin won two Swiss championships with FC Basel (2013 and 2014), and FCB also reached the semifinals and quarterfinals of the UEFA Europa League once and once under the leadership of his former captain. The other clubs Yakin has coached are Spartak Moscow, FC Schaffhausen, GC, Sion and, as of June 2019, Schaffhausen again.

It is almost 17 years after his 49th and last official match for Switzerland (on October 9, 2004 in Israel, a World Cup qualifier) that Yakin returns to the SFA. The former central defender and libero is now looking forward to his new job: «Nati was already a matter of the heart for me as a player. It is a great honor and pleasure to be able to represent our country as the coach of the «Nati». I am convinced that we will qualify for the World Cup with this great team and celebrate more successes.»

Pierluigi Tami is also fully convinced that he has chosen the right candidate. «Murat Yakin has a strong personality with extensive international experience as a player and as a coach. He is a young and modern Swiss coach with a clear idea of the game, has a high technical soccer competence and has clear goals.»

For SFA Central President Dominique Blanc Yakin is the correct choice ‘as he represents our Swiss path. Modern with his own ideas and brave, as well as concepts. He represents the continuity in our national team but at the same time he will also advance it to have a successful future».