Stephan Keller (born 31 May 1979) is a Swiss

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and a former player. Most recently he was the head coach of FC Aarau in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League 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 winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

Club career

Europe

Keller is a defender, born in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, who played 13 years youth career for

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 ...

. He made his debut in professional football by being part of the

Neuchâtel Xamax , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France ...

squad in the 1999–2000 season. Keller spent the majority of his career playing for various clubs in the

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 ...

before moving to Germany to play for

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

team Rot-Weiß Erfurt. After spending half a season there he moved to the Netherlands, where he spent four years playing in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

playing for

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

and

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

respectively.

Sydney FC

After four years in the Netherlands, Keller moved to Australia to play for

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. On 26 July, he made his debut for Sydney FC in a friendly match against Newcastle Jets. He re-signed with Sydney FC for the

2010–11 A-League The 2010–11 A-League was the 34th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the sixth season of the Australian A-League soccer competition since its establishment in 2004. The home and away season began on 5 August 2010 and concluded on 13 ...

season. He scored his first goal for Sydney FC in the Round 5, 3–1 loss to Adelaide United at the

Sydney Football Stadium The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...

. Following a poor second season and Champions League campaign from Sydney FC, Keller was released along with several other players.

Netherlands

Keller returned to Europe and sparked interest from former

Eredivise The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

. However, in a shock move Willem II signed Keller on a two-year contract, snatching him from under the nose of his former employee. After being dropped to the reserves during the back half of the 2011–12 season, Keller and Willem II mutually terminated his contract with the club after he was told he was surplus to requirements, following the club's promotion to the

for the

2012–13 Eredivisie The 2012–13 Eredivisie was the 57th season of Eredivisie, since its establishment in 1955. It began on 10 August 2012 with the first match of the season and ended on 26 May 2013, with the last matches of the European competition and relegation ...

season.

Managerial career

Keller joined FC Aarau before the 2017–18 season as assistant manager to

Ton Verkerk Ton Verkerk (born 15 March 1955) is a retired Dutch football goalkeeper and later manager. References 1955 births Living people Dutch men's footballers FC Den Bosch players K. Beringen F.C. players Willem II (football club) players ...

. He was caretaker manager following Verkerk's dismissal.

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player who last worked as head coach for Basel. He played as midfielder or forward. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football skill playing with Nordstern Basel and t ...

was installed as new manager the following season and Keller stayed with the club as his assistant. Keller was named the manager at FC Aarau on 10 July 2020 following the dismissal of Rahmen. His contract goes through 30 June 2023. On 1 November 2022, after a six game winless streak in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

, he was dismissed from his position of head coach at Aarau.

Honours

Sydney FC * A-League Premiership: 2009–10 *

A-League Championship A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professionalism in association football, professional men's association football, soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Austral ...

: 2009–10

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Stephan 1979 births Living people Footballers from Zürich Swiss footballers Association football central defenders Switzerland international footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players FC Zürich players FC Aarau players SC Kriens players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players RKC Waalwijk players De Graafschap players Swiss Super League players Eredivisie players 2. Bundesliga players Sydney FC players Swiss football managers Swiss Challenge League managers FC Aarau managers Swiss expatriate footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia