Alain Sutter (born 22 January 1968) is a Swiss former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is currently the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

of Grasshopper Club Zurich.

Playing career

Born in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Sutter played youth football for

SC Bümpliz 78 SC Bümpliz 78 is a football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football ...

, before beginning his professional career in 1985 with

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

, one of Switzerland's most storied clubs. After spending the 1987–88 season on loan at

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

, he was ready to take his place in the Grasshoppers first team, where he remained until the 1993–94 season, when he decided to move to Germany to play with 1. FC Nürnberg. After Sutter's impressive performances during the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, Germany's most successful club,

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, quickly signed the midfielder where he played for one season, before moving again this time to

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions ...

. In 1997, he transferred to

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

in the United States, where he signed for the Dallas Burn (now

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

). He played one season in Dallas but his tenure there was cut short when, during training in early 1998, he stepped awkwardly in a hole of the practice field (the Burn was using the facilities of a high school at that time) and the injury forced him to retire. He ended his career with 68

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and five goals for the Swiss national team.

Retirement

Sutter was a football expert and commentator for Swiss television from 1998 to 2017. He became the

of FC St. Gallen on 3 January 2018. On 5 May 2025, he was appointed as sporting director of Grasshopper Club Zurich.

Controversies

Sutter was the main force behind a controversy in 1995. Before an important match for the Swiss team, he unfolded a banner to protest against France testing the atom bomb.

Honours

Grasshoppers * Swiss Championship: 1989–90, 1990–91 *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

: 1988–89, 1989–90 * Swiss Super Cup: 1989 Bayern Munich *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1995–96 Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

International

International goals for Switzerland :''Score and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.''

Published works

* *

References

External links

* * 1968 births Living people Footballers from Bern Swiss men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Switzerland men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Europa League–winning players Major League Soccer All-Stars 1. FC Nürnberg players FC Bayern Munich footballers SC Freiburg players FC Dallas players Grasshopper Club Zurich players BSC Young Boys players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Swiss expatriate men's footballers Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Swiss expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 20th-century Swiss sportsmen {{Switzerland-footy-midfielder-stub