Marco Schällibaum (born 6 April 1962) is a Swiss

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player. He was most recently the manager of

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

, whom he saved from relegation.

Playing career

As a player Schällibaum played 15 years in the Swiss first division from 1980 to 1995, playing in over 450 games for various top Swiss clubs and won three league titles. He also appeared in 50 Swiss Cup games, winning the Cup in 1983 with

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

. He also played for the Swiss national football team from 1983 to 1988, making 31 appearances.

Managerial career

Early career

After his career, he worked as an assistant coach at FC Basel. In 1999, he became head coach of BSC Young Boys, with whom he led the 2001 resurgence in the National League A and 2002 in the UEFA Cup. For the 2003–04 season he was coach at Servette Geneva. Later he was the coach at Concordia Basel. In November 2006, he coached FC Sion, but was released in the same month. On 2 April 2007, he signed a contract with the then relegation-threatened FC Schaffhausen. He could not prevent the descent, he remained coach at FC Schaffhausen in the Challenge League. On 28 April 2008, it was announced that he would leave at the end of Schaffhausen 2008–09 season. On 6 June 2008, however, it was announced that he would immediately leave FC Schaffhausen and join AC Bellinzona. On 1 November 2009 he was terminated by Bellinzona FC after a 0–5 home defeat against FC St. Gallen. On 17 May 2010, Marco Schällibaum took over as interim coach at FC Lugano for the Axpo Super League season 2009–10. Following the season Lugano extended his contract for the 2010–11 season. After leaving FC Lugano he was hired as a FIFA coaching instructor in Qatar, Mongolia and South Korea.

Montreal Impact

On 7 January 2013 Schällibaum was named as head coach of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club Montreal Impact, helping the team make the MLS playoffs in only its second season in the league. A late season collapse that saw the team limp into the post season after challenging for the Supporter's Shield (the best record in the league ) at some points during the season saw Schallibaum sacked on 18 December 2013. Schällibaum was suspended four times during the season.

Return to Switzerland

On 22 April 2022, Schällibaum was hired by

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sa ...

in the Swiss third-tier Swiss Promotion League. He left the club at the end of the season after achieving promotion to the second tier. On 13 June 2022, he signed with Yverdon-Sport. He managed to lead the club to promotion to the

and championship of the 2022–23 Swiss Challenge League. It would be the club's only fifth time gaining promotion to the Swiss top-flight. On 30 October 2023, he was surprisingly terminated by Yverdon-Sport, despite the team's good performances. At the time of his dismissal, the club sat in eight place with 16 points out of twelve games. On 10 April 2024, he was appointed as the new head coach of

, also in the Swiss Super League. He thus returns to his youth club, where he had also launched his professional career. With Grasshoppers he had won the three Swiss championships and one

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

. He took over Grasshoppers in a time of crisis, as the team had slipped to the second to last place in the league with only two games won in 2024. Unable to lift the team in placement, he nonetheless coached the team to important victories. Most importantly, he successfully managed Grasshoppers to a victory over

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss association football, football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of the Swiss football league system, following promotion from the ...

in the relegation play-off, helping them remain in the

. As a result, on 3 June 2024, his contract was extended a further two years until 2026. On 5 November 2024, Grasshoppers parted ways with Schällibaum, due to poor results. At the time of his dismissal, the club had just won one point in their last five games.

Coaching record

Honors

Manager

;Montreal Impact * Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic (1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

(1):

;Yverdon-Sport *

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

: 2022–23

References

External links

Marco Schällibaum
at Eurosport Australia
Marco Schällibaum
at Goal.com *
Marco Schällibaum
at SoccerPunter.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Schallibaum, Marco 1962 births Living people Men's association football fullbacks Swiss men's footballers Swiss football managers Switzerland men's international footballers Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Basel players Servette FC players FC Luzern players FC Basel managers BSC Young Boys managers Servette FC managers FC Sion managers AC Bellinzona managers FC Schaffhausen managers CF Montréal head coaches Major League Soccer head coaches FC Lugano managers FC Concordia Basel managers FC Stade Nyonnais managers Yverdon-Sport FC managers Footballers from Zurich 20th-century Swiss sportsmen