Michaud started his football in the youth teams of Basel. He was brought up to the first team as Béla Sárosi was coach. He transferred for one and a half years to FC Lausanne-Sport, but returned for the second half of the 1959–60 season after Jenő Vincze became Basel's new coach. He played for Basel for thirteen seasons and won the Swiss Cup twice and the championship three times under coaches Georges Sobotka and Helmut Benthaus. Michaud's first Cup win was in 1962–63 and the first championship title was achieved in Basel's 1966–67 season. In that same season Michaud also won the double with Basel. In the Cup final in the former Wankdorf Stadium on 15 May 1967 Basel's opponents were Lausanne-Sports. Helmut Hauser scored the decisive goal via penalty. The game went down in football history due to the sit-down strike that followed that penalty goal. With the score at 1–1 after 88 minutes play, referee Karl Göppel awarded Basel a controversial penalty. André Grobéty had pushed Hauser gently in the back and Hauser let himself drop theatrically. After the 2–1 lead for Basel the Lausanne players subsequently refused to resume the game and they sat down demonstratively on the pitch. The referee was forced to abandon the match. Basel were awarded the cup with a 3–0 forfait. During his time with Basel Michaud played a total of 355 competitive games and scored 22 goals, including Championship and Cup as well as European Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup and Fairs Cup. He retired from his playing career after the 1969–70 season after winning his third championship. He stayed with the club and became technical director for the period that Benthaus remained trainer.
Following his playing career Michaud acted as assistant to trainer Louis Maurer of the Swiss national team. After Maurers early retirement as manager, in November 1970, Michaud took over as manager. He was team manager from April 1972 to May 1973. His first game as coach was on 26 April 1972 in a friendly match against Sweden which ended in a 1–1 draw. His final game in charge was on 9 May 1973 as Switzerland played a 0–0 draw against Turkey. Michaud's balance as seven times nation team trainer was one win, five draws and one defeat, four goals for, but seven against. René Hüssy followed Michaud as national team coach. Michaud stayed with the national team, he was delegation leader of the Swiss national team and later senior member in the Committee of the National League.
