Murat Yakin

Murat Yakin (Turkish: Murat Yakın [mʊ'ɾɑt jɑˈkɯn]; born 15 September 1974) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He is the manager of the Switzerland national team.

Murat Yakin

Yakin in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Murat Yakin[1]
Date of birth	(1974-09-15) 15 September 1974 (age 51)
Place of birth	Basel, Switzerland
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position	Centre back
Team information
Current team	Switzerland (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1997	Grasshoppers	101	(17)
1997–1998	VfB Stuttgart	23	(2)
1998–2000	Fenerbahçe	26	(3)
2000	Basel	23	(2)
2000–2001	1. FC Kaiserslautern	9	(0)
2001–2006	Basel	91	(24)
Total		273	(48)
International career
1994–2004	Switzerland	49	(4)
Managerial career
2006–2007	Concordia Basel (assistant)
2007	Grasshoppers (assistant)
2008	FC Frauenfeld
2008–2009	Grasshoppers (B team)
2009–2011	Thun
2011–2012	Luzern
2012–2014	Basel
2014–2015	Spartak Moscow
2016–2017	Schaffhausen
2017–2018	Grasshoppers
2018–2019	Sion
2019–2021	Schaffhausen
2021–	Switzerland
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

In 2021, following stints as manager at Swiss clubs including Basel, Grasshoppers and Sion, he was appointed as coach of the Swiss national team, guiding them to qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024.

Playing career

Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown club Basel, 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 on five occasions (1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005), and the Swiss Cup three times (1994, 2002, 2003). He recalls the 2002–Champions League second leg qualifying match on 28 August 2002 against Celtic in St. Jakob-Park 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 for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League group stage.^[2]

In 2003, he played in the FIFA "Match against Poverty" in Basel, on Ronaldo's team which won 4–3 against Zinedine Zidane's.^[3]

Yakin was capped 49 times for the Switzerland national team, representing his country at UEFA Euro 2004.^[4]

Coaching career

Early career

Yakin was appointed coach of Thun in 2009, after a time as a youth coach at Grasshoppers and head coach of Frauenfeld.^[5] Yakin led Thun to promotion in his first year as manager there, winning the Swiss Challenge League in 2010.^[6] In his second season with the club, Thun managed to finish fifth in the Swiss Super League and earned a spot in the second qualifying round of the following season's UEFA Europa League.^[6]

In May 2011, he joined Luzern for a reported 200,000 Swiss francs.^{[citation needed]} He took over from Christian Brand, who was made caretaker after the sacking of Rolf Fringer.^[7]

Basel

On 15 October 2012, Yakin was appointed as the new manager of Basel.^[8] Under his management, Basel won twice, home and away, against Chelsea in the 2013–14 Champions League group stage. 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.^[9][10] 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.^[11][12]

Spartak Moscow

On 16 June 2014, Yakin was appointed as manager of Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow.^[13] 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).^[12]

On 30 May 2015, after only one season with the club, his contract with the club was terminated after a mutual agreement.^[14]

Return to Schaffhausen

On 17 June 2019, it was confirmed, that Yakin had returned to Schaffhausen, as their new manager having left Sion previously that year.^[15]

Switzerland national team

On 9 August 2021, Yakin was appointed as the manager of the Switzerland national team.^[16] In the 2022 World Cup qualification, Northern Ireland held reigning European champions Italy to a goalless draw, thereby ensuring that Switzerland qualified for the tournament and Italy had to play in the playoffs. In gratitude, he sent 9.3 kg of Swiss chocolate to the Irish Football Association.^[17][18] In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he led Switzerland to finish second in their group, to qualify to the round of 16, where they lost 6–1 to Portugal.^[19] 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 Italy. They were subsequently knocked out of the quarter-finals in a penalty shootout loss to England, after a 1–1 draw.

Personal life

Yakin is the elder brother of Hakan Yakin, who was also a professional footballer with successful stints at Grasshoppers, Basel, and Young Boys and represented Switzerland at international level also.^[20] Yakin is of Turkish descent.

Career statistics

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 October 1996	Helsinki, Finland	Finland	3–1	3–2	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	11 October 1997	Zurich, Switzerland	Azerbaijan	3–0	5–0	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.	21 August 2001	Basel, Switzerland	Austria	3–1	3–2	Friendly
4.	12 October 2002	Tirana, Albania	Albania	1–0	1–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification

Managerial statistics

As of match played 18 November 2025^[21]

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Thun	1 July 2009	1 July 2011	74	35	23	16	138	85	+53	047.30
Luzern	1 July 2011	19 August 2012	46	19	16	11	64	46	+18	041.30
Basel	15 October 2012	19 May 2014	99	56	28	15	172	91	+81	056.57
Spartak Moscow	16 June 2014	30 May 2015	32	13	8	11	43	44	−1	040.63
Schaffhausen	21 December 2016	28 August 2017	25	19	2	4	66	24	+42	076.00
Grasshoppers	28 August 2017	10 April 2018	26	9	7	10	34	29	+5	034.62
Sion	17 September 2018	7 May 2019	28	9	7	12	38	45	−7	032.14
Schaffhausen	17 June 2019	9 August 2021	77	22	26	29	97	117	−20	028.57
Switzerland	9 August 2021	Present	55	24	19	12	94	61	+33	043.64
Total			462	206	136	120	744	542	+202	044.59

Honours

As a player

Grasshoppers

• Nationalliga A: 1994–95, 1995–96
• Swiss Cup: 1993–94

Basel^{[citation needed]}

• Nationalliga A/Swiss Super League: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05
• Swiss Cup: 2001–02, 2002–03

Individual^{[citation needed]}

• Swiss Young Player of the Year: 1994
• Axpo Swiss Super Leaguer Player of the Year: 2002

As a manager

Thun^{[citation needed]}

• Swiss Challenge League: 2009–10

Basel^{[12][citation needed]}

• Swiss Super League: 2012–13, 2013–14

Individual

• Swiss Super League Manager of the Year: 2013–14,^[22] 2017–18^[23]