Ludovic Magnin (; born 20 April 1979) is a Swiss football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Lausanne-Sport. He played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the Switzerland national team,

Yverdon Sport Yverdon-Sport FC is a Swiss football team from the town of Yverdon-les-Bains. The club plays in a green and white strip, and were promoted from the Swiss 1. Liga Promotion, the third tier of Swiss football after winning in the 2020–21 season. ...

FC Lugano FC Lugano is a Swiss football club based in Lugano. The club was refounded as AC Lugano in 2004 as a result of relegation and the financial situation of FC Lugano, which was founded in 1908. In 2008, the club reverted to its original name, FC Lu ...

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

, and

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

Club career

Youth teams

Born in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, Magnin started his career at FC Echallens, where he played until 1996. He spent one season at

Lausanne Sports FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

before joining second-tier Yverdon Sports.

Switzerland and Germany

In 1999, he made his professional debut for Yverdon Sports. In the summer of 2000, he transferred to

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

side

, then playing in the first-tier

Axpo Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season. ...

. In the beginning of 2002, Magnin made his biggest career move by joining

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

for the transfer sum of approximately 1 million

Swiss Francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

. He won the double of Bundesliga and

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

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 Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

, to Swabian side

. 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 , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. Therefore, he returned to his native country in January 2010, joining

. Magnin made 103 appearances scoring two goals in four and a half years at ''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 was 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

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s and scored three goals for the Switzerland national team since his debut in 2000. He has been called up to the

2008 European Football Championship The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, 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 The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

and the

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. Magnin was initially omitted from the Switzerland squad for the

but was later called up to replace the injured Christoph Spycher.

Managerial career

FC Zürich

On 20 February 2018, Magnin was announced as the new head coach of Swiss Super League club

, replacing Ulrich Forte. His first trophy as a manager was the 2017–18 Swiss Cup, where Zürich beat Young Boys in the final on 27 May 2018. He was dismissed after more than two seasons in charge after a poor start to the 2020–21 season, which saw the club bottom of the league after three matchdays.

Rheindorf Altach

On 30 December 2021, Magnin became the new head coach of Austrian Football Bundesliga side Rheindorf Altach, who were bottom of the league. He signed a contract until 2023. On 20 May 2022, after a crucial 2–1 win over WSG Tirol, Altach avoided relegation by finishing one point ahead of Admira Wacker Mödling.

Lausanne-Sport

Three days after heeding Rheindorf Altach from relegation, Magnin was announced as the new head coach of his hometown club Lausanne-Sport, who had recently been relegated to the Swiss Challenge League.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Magnin goal.''

Managerial

Honours

Player

Werder Bremen *

: 2003–04 *

: 2003–04 VfB Stuttgart *Bundesliga: 2006–07

Manager

FC Zürich * Swiss Cup: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnin, Ludovic 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Lausanne Association football fullbacks Swiss men's footballers Switzerland international footballers Switzerland under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players FC Lugano players Yverdon-Sport FC players FC Lausanne-Sport players SV Werder Bremen players VfB Stuttgart players FC Zürich players Swiss expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss football managers FC Zürich managers FC Lausanne-Sport managers Austrian Football Bundesliga managers Swiss expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Austria Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Austria