Murat Yakin ( ; born 15 September 1974) 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 ...

coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national team. In 2021, following stints as manager at Swiss clubs including

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

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 ...

and Sion, he was appointed as coach of the Swiss national team, guiding them to qualification for

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

and

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Playing career

Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown club

, where he was the defensive linchpin, captain and libero of a team which enjoyed domestic and relative European success. He won the

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 ...

on five occasions (1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005), and the

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 ...

three times (1994, 2002, 2003). He recalls the 2002–Champions League second leg qualifying match on 28 August 2002 against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

as the "match of his life". Basel won the game 2–0, with Yakin scoring the second goal in the 22nd minute as Basel qualified 3–3 on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

for the

2002–03 UEFA Champions League The 2002–03 UEFA Champions League was the 11th season of UEFA's premier European club association football, football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding in 1992, and the 48th European Cup tournament overall. The competi ...

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. In 2003, he played in the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

"Match against Poverty" in Basel, on Ronaldo's team which won 4–3 against

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; ; ''Zineddin Lyazid Zidan''; ; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as an attacking midfi ...

's. Yakin was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

49 times for the Switzerland national team, representing his country at

UEFA 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 association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

Coaching career

Early career

Yakin was appointed coach of

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

in 2009, after a time as a youth coach at

and head coach of

Frauenfeld Frauenfeld (Alemannic German, Alemannic: ''Frauefäld'') is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Thurgau, Thurgau in Switzerland. The official language of Frauenfeld is (the Swiss variety of Standard) Swiss Standard Ge ...

. Yakin led Thun to promotion in his first year as manager there, winning the

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 ...

in 2010. In his second season with the club, Thun managed to finish fifth in the

and earned a spot in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

of the following season's UEFA Europa League. In May 2011, he joined

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

for a reported 200,000 Swiss francs. He took over from Christian Brand, who was made caretaker after the sacking of Rolf Fringer.

Basel

On 15 October 2012, Yakin was appointed as the new manager of Basel. Under his management, Basel won twice, home and away, against Chelsea in the 2013–14 Champions League

. He praised the supporters in the stadium, saying that they pushed the team to win through the 90 minutes. He was also delighted to have received praise from then Chelsea manager

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

. On 17 May 2014, Basel announced Yakin was no longer with the club after he guided them to two domestic titles in as many years.

Spartak Moscow

On 16 June 2014, Yakin was appointed as manager of

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

side Spartak Moscow. According to Russian media, the deal was a long-term contract with Yakin earning an annual salary of 1.6 million euros ($2.18 million). On 30 May 2015, after only one season with the club, his contract with the club was terminated after a mutual agreement.

Return to Schaffhausen

On 17 June 2019, it was confirmed, that Yakin had returned to

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

, as their new manager having left Sion previously that year.

Switzerland national team

On 9 August 2021, Yakin was appointed as the manager of the Switzerland national team. In the 2022 World Cup qualification,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

held reigning European champions

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to a goalless draw, thereby ensuring that Switzerland qualified for the tournament and Italy had to play in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In gratitude, he sent 9.3 kg of

Swiss chocolate Swiss chocolate (; ; ) is chocolate produced in Switzerland. Switzerland's chocolates have earned an international reputation for high quality with many famous international chocolate brands. Switzerland is particularly renowned for its milk cho ...

to the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...

. In the

, he led Switzerland to finish second in their group, to qualify to the round of 16, where they lost 6–1 to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. At the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament, Yakin guided Switzerland through to the Round of 16 knockout stage where they recorded a famous 2–0 victory against defending champions

. They were subsequently knocked out of the quarter-finals in a penalty shootout loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, after a 1–1 draw.

Personal life

Yakin is the elder brother of

Hakan Yakin Hakan Yakin (; born 22 February 1977) is a Swiss professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Swiss Challenge League side FC Schaffhausen. He spent the majority of his ...

, who was also a professional footballer with successful stints at

, and Young Boys and represented

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at international level also. Yakin is of Turkish descent.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

;Grasshoppers * Nationalliga A: 1994–95, 1995–96 *

: 1993–94 ;Basel * Nationalliga A/

: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05 * Swiss Cup: 2001–02, 2002–03 Individual * Swiss Young Player of the Year: 1994 * Axpo Swiss Super Leaguer Player of the Year: 2002

As a manager

Thun *

: 2009–10 Basel * Swiss Super League: 2012–13, 2013–14 Individual *

Manager of the Year: 2013–14, 2017–18

References

External links

* *
Murat Yakin
on the website of FC Basel
Article detailing Murat's connection with two of his passions: kebabs and Turkish rap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yakin, Murat 1974 births Living people Swiss sportspeople of Turkish descent Swiss men's footballers Footballers from Basel-Stadt Men's association football defenders Switzerland men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers FC Concordia Basel players FC Basel players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players VfB Stuttgart players Grasshopper Club Zurich players Swiss football managers Russian Premier League managers FC Frauenfeld managers FC Thun managers FC Luzern managers FC Basel managers FC Basel non-playing staff FC Spartak Moscow managers FC Schaffhausen managers Grasshopper Club Zurich managers FC Sion managers Switzerland national football team managers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate football managers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate football managers in Russia 2022 FIFA World Cup managers UEFA Euro 2024 managers