Raphaël Wicky (born 26 April 1977) is a Swiss football coach and a former player. He is currently the manager of Swiss Super League club BSC Young Boys. He was a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

who could also play in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

and was known for his combative style. His playing career was spent mostly in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

with

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, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, as well as a brief spell in Spain's Segunda División with Atlético Madrid. He earned 75 caps for Switzerland between 1996 and 2008, playing at two European Championships and the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

. As a manager, he won the Swiss Super League and Swiss Cup double with

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in 2017, and also spent two years in Major League Soccer with the Chicago Fire.

Club career

Born in

Leuggern Leuggern is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History The remains of a Roman era Rhine fortifications watchtower have been discovered in Felsenau. The modern municipality of Leuggern is first menti ...

in the canton of Aargau, Wicky started his career with

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

, and went on to represent

. n 25 January 2001, he joined Atlético Madrid, then in the Segunda División. After only 11 games in Spain, he returned to the

on 6 December 2001, signing for

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

until the end of the season with the option to extend until June 2005. He returned to Sion on a three-year contract on 23 August 2007, after losing first-choice status with Hamburg under manager Huub Stevens following a period of injury. Wicky signed on a free transfer with

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based Major League Soccer side

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...

in February 2008. Wicky made his debut as a substitute in Chivas' season opener against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

on 30 March. His season was cut short due to ankle injury, making just five appearances in his first MLS season. He underwent surgery to repair the injury in July 2008 and was placed on the team's season-ending injury list on 15 September. On 26 January 2009, Chivas USA announced that they had re-signed Wicky to a one-year deal. Five weeks later, on 3 March, he announced his retirement from professional football, citing "personal reasons."

International career

Internationally, Wicky was part of the Swiss national teams at

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

and

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

as well as at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. In 75 appearances, he scored one goal, to open a 3–1 win away to the Faroe Islands in qualification for the last of those tournaments on 4 June 2005.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wicky goal.''

Managerial career

Upon retiring, Wicky coached the youth teams of

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the ...

in 2009 and a year later

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

. In 2013, he moved into the youth ranks of

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

. He became first-team manager on 21 April 2017, replacing

Urs Fischer Urs Fischer (born 2 May 1973) is a Swiss-born contemporary visual artist living in New York City. Fischer’s practice includes sculpture, installation and photography. Education and early career Born to two doctors as the second of two children ...

after a boardroom change. Days later, the team wrapped up an eighth consecutive league title, and on 25 May won the Swiss Cup with a 3–0 victory over

at the

Stade de Genève Stade de Genève, also called Stade de la Praille, is a stadium in Lancy, Canton of Geneva. It has a capacity of 30,084. Overview The stadium was completed in 2003 by Zschokke Construction S.A. after nearly three years of construction. Normall ...

. On 26 July 2018, having finished as runner-up in the domestic league and having been eliminated in the semifinal of the cup as well as having started the new season poorly, with elimination by PAOK in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, he was sacked. On 8 March 2019, Wicky was named the head coach of the United States Under-17 Men's National Team. On 27 December 2019, he was named the head coach of Major League Soccer side Chicago Fire. He missed the MLS Cup playoffs by one point in 2020, and was fired on 30 September 2021. On 2 June 2022, his return to the Swiss Super League as the new head coach of BSC Young Boys was announced.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

FC Sion * Swiss Championship: 1996–97 * Swiss Cup: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97 Werder Bremen *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 1998–99; finalist 1999–2000 * DFB-Ligapokal finalist: 1999 * UEFA Intertoto Cup:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Hamburger SV *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

: 2003 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005 *

third place: 2005–06

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wicky, Raphael 1977 births Living people Swiss-German people People from Zurzach District Association football midfielders Swiss footballers Switzerland international footballers FC Sion players SV Werder Bremen players Atlético Madrid footballers Hamburger SV players Chivas USA players Swiss Super League players Segunda División players Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate soccer players in the United States Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Spain Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swiss football managers FC Basel managers Chicago Fire FC coaches Major League Soccer coaches Swiss expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Sportspeople from Aargau BSC Young Boys managers