The contract of Murat Yakin and his assistant was extended. The national coach’s risky gamble paid off – the association had to meet his demands.
Murat Yakin will remain coach of the national football team; the Swiss Football Association (SFV) announced this on Friday afternoon. At the same time, the contract with Yakin’s assistant Giorgio Contini was also extended. These are logical, consistent and good decisions. Anything else would have been surprising after the successful European Championship in Germany in recent weeks; the Swiss played attractive football there.
The SFV will not communicate details of the contract extension until Monday. It can be assumed that the collaboration has been fixed for the time being until the 2026 World Cup – possibly with a clause for a further contract extension if Switzerland qualifies for the World Cup in North America in two years.
The coach is the big winner
The association has thus taken the pressure off the debate about Murat Yakin’s future. The coach is the big winner of the last few months because he managed a spectacular turnaround after an unsatisfactory and turbulent international year in 2023. Yakin has not only reconciled with captain Granit Xhaka, but has also formed a strong leadership duo with the most important Swiss footballer this year. And the appointment of his confidant Contini as assistant proved to be a hit because Contini is an ideal complement to Yakin thanks to his language skills and communicative nature.
Murat Yakin played a high-stakes game in the spring when he did not extend his contract, which was due to expire at the European Championships. In recent days, he has therefore been able to negotiate from a position of strength, especially since his market value has risen significantly since the European Championships. It does not matter whether there were actually very attractive financial offers from Saudi Arabia, for example – the SFV was forced to accept Yakin’s demands. The coach has made a name for himself as a popular figure in the weeks of the European Championships with tactical measures and his casual demeanor.
The greatest compliment to Yakin’s work is that one could even have imagined Switzerland becoming European champions after their strong performances. The elimination in the quarter-finals against England after a penalty shootout was the bitter end of a strong European Championship campaign that, for once, ran smoothly.
The Yakin/Contini duo will cost the Swiss Football Association significantly more in the future than the estimated combined wage bill of around one million Swiss francs per year. But Yakin’s departure would have damaged the SFV’s reputation, even if theoretically successful Swiss coaches such as Lucien Favre, Urs Fischer or Raphael Wicky had been available.
As much as Yakin deserves to remain national coach, every honeymoon is followed by everyday life. In the autumn, the Swiss selection will play against Spain, Denmark and Serbia in the Nations League. And in 2025, World Cup qualification is on the agenda. Yakin will have to moderate a number of personnel issues. How much will he still rely on the ageing artist Xherdan Shaqiri? Which players will he include in the team’s necessary rejuvenation process? What are his solutions in attack?
And what happens at the goalie position?
And above all: What is happening in the goalie position? Gregor Kobel has been waiting a long time to become number 1 – but is Yann Sommer, the long-standing regular goalkeeper in the national team, really retiring at the age of 35? And if not: Will Yakin continue to override the performance principle in goal or will Kobel, one of the world’s best goalkeepers, be given a fair chance?
In any case, Yakin will still be needed in European Championship form. The times when the coach was heavily criticized are not long ago. His remarkable comeback shows how quickly the wind can change in football. Yakin was not convincing last year, especially in terms of communication – and this could quickly be remembered if things do not go as planned in the autumn.