Ludovic Magnin


Ludovic Magnin is a Swiss former footballer and current manager. He is the manager of FC Zürich. He played as a left-back for the Switzerland national team, Yverdon Sport, FC Lugano, Werder Bremen, VfB Stuttgart, and FC Zürich.

Playing club career

Youth teams

Born in Lausanne, Magnin started his career at Echallens, where he played until 1996. He spent one season at Lausanne Sports before joining second-tier Yverdon Sports.

Professional career: Switzerland and Germany

In 1999, he made his professional debut for Yverdon Sports. In the summer of 2000, he transferred to Ticino side FC Lugano, then playing in the first-tier Axpo Super League.
In the beginning of 2002, Magnin made his biggest career move by joining Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for the transfer sum of approximately 1 million Swiss Francs. He won the double with the Northern German side in 2004, but had bad luck with many injuries and played only 45 games in four years in Bremen.
In 2005, he transferred to Southern Germany, to Swabian side VfB Stuttgart. There Ludo, as he is being called by Stuttgart fans, became a first-team regular within the first season and was a key player for his team in the following 2006–07 season, when he became German champion for the second time in his career. In early 2008, he extended his contract until June 2010. When his starting position in the team began to erode in the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Magnin decided to leave Stuttgart in order to keep his chances of playing for the Swiss national squad at the 2010 World Cup. Therefore, he returned to his native country in January 2010, joining FC Zürich. With 103 games and two goals within four and a half years, Magnin had a successful stint for VfB.
On 27 August 2012, Magnin announced that he had decided to end his playing career. Having suffered a back injury before the 2012–13 season, he expected to play until the end of the season, but shortly after admitted that it is impossible to remain as a player. He also mentioned that he would serve as an assistant coach of FC Zürich junior team.

International career

Magnin has acquired 61 caps and scored three goals for the Swiss national team since his debut in 2000. He has been called up to the 2008 European Football Championship, where he has inherited the captaincy due to an injury to Alexander Frei and was the vice-captain after Frei. He also participated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2004.
Magnin was initially omitted from the Swiss squad for the 2010 World Cup but was later called up to replace the injured Christoph Spycher.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.13 February 2002Tsirion Stadium, Limassol1–02–1Friendly
2.8 October 2005Wankdorfstadion, Bern1–11–12006 World Cup qualifier
3.11 September 2007Wörtherseestadion, Klagenfurt1–03–4Friendly

Coaching career

On 20 February 2018, Magnin became new head coach of FC Zürich.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Werder Bremen
;Stuttgart