Michael Rico Lang (born 8 February 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

club Basel and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

St. Gallen, Grasshopper

Lang began his professional career at FC St. Gallen in the

. He played his first league match at age 16, making him one of the youngest debut players in the Swiss Football League. In the summer 2011 he signed a four-year contract with

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

, the Swiss record football champion. In the 2012–13 season he won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

with the club in the final against FC Basel. The Grasshopper club played two years in a row the qualification for the Champions League. But they lost their games against Olympique Lyon (2013) and OSC Lille (2014).

Basel

On 1 June 2015, Lang joined Basel on a free transfer. He made his first team league debut on 19 July 2015 in the 2–0 home win against Vaduz. He scored his first goal for his new club just one week later on 25 July during the away game against his old club Grasshopper Club. It was the last goal of the game and Basel won 3–2. Under trainer Urs Fischer Lang won the

championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season and again at the end of the 2016–17 Super League season. For the club this was the eighth title in a row and their 20th championship title in total. They also won the

for the twelfth time, which meant they had won the double for the sixth time in the club's history. Lang scored his first Champions League goal in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage home game on 27 September against Benfica. It was the first goal of the game that Basel won 5–0. Following this, on 22 November, in the home game against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

he scored the winning goal in the 89th minute as Basel won 1–0. In the knockout phase, when playing

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Lang again scored the winning goal in the 71st minute as Basel won 2–1 and ended a 15-month unbeaten home run of their opponent.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

In June 2018, Lang joined

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

for the 2018–19 season having agreed a four-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Basel was reported as €2.8 million. On 29 August 2019, Lang joined

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

on a season-long loan deal for the

2019–20 Bundesliga The 2019–20 Bundesliga was the 57th season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football competition. It began on 16 August 2019 and concluded on 27 June 2020. Bayern Munich were the defending champions, and won their record-extending 8th cons ...

season with an option to buy included.

International career

Lang with Switzerland in 2015 Lang made his first senior international appearance for

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 14 August 2013 in the friendly against Brazil. He came on as a second-half substitute for

Stephan Lichtsteiner Stephan Lichtsteiner (; born 16 January 1984) is a Swiss former professional footballer. An attacking right-back or wing-back, he was known for his energetic runs down the right wing, as well as his stamina and athleticism, which earned him the ...

as the team won 1–0 at St. Jakob-Park. He scored his first goal in his second appearance later on 11 October in the 2–1 win against Albania in match 9 of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification Group E; this win clinched Switzerland's place at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. Lang was called by manager Ottmar Hitzfeld in the squad of 23 players for the final tournament. He played his first and only match of the campaign in the final

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting) Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were a ...

game against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, entering in the final 13 minutes. Switzerland was eventually knocked out of the tournament by Argentina in the round of 16. He was part of the squad for the 2016 European Championships where the team achieved the best result reaching round of 16. He was included in Switzerland's 23-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

. He was sent off in Switzerland's 1–0 defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the round of 16 for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity in the 90+4th minute, becoming the only player in to tournament to be sent off in the knockout stage In May 2019, he played in

2019 UEFA Nations League Finals The 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of ...

, where his team finished 4th.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:. ''Switzerland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lang goal.''

Honours

Grasshopper *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Basel *

: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

: 2016–17

References

External links

Profile on the Swiss Football League homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Michael 1991 births Living people Association football defenders Swiss men's footballers Switzerland international footballers Switzerland youth international footballers Swiss expatriate footballers FC St. Gallen players Grasshopper Club Zürich players FC Basel players Borussia Mönchengladbach players SV Werder Bremen players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Germany People from Arbon District Sportspeople from Thurgau