Mario Eggimann (born 24 January 1981) is a Swiss former

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 defender. He also earned caps for the Swiss national team.

Club career

Born in

Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...

, Switzerland, Eggimann began his career with local side FC Küttigen before moving to bigger local rivals

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss professional football club based in Aarau. Founded in 1902, the club competes in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from the Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was form ...

where he began his professional career making his professional debut in 1998. He played at Stadion Brugglifeld for

until 2002 when he headed to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to play in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

. In the 2006–07 season Eggimann was made

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

were champions of the 2. Bundesliga. In March 2008, Eggimann exercised a clause in his contract by moving to

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

for €1.4 million. He signed a contract until June 2013. After the end of the 2014–15 season, Eggimann did not receive an extension of his expiring contract with

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

, having only earned 17 caps caused by multiple injuries since his arrival in 2013. In October 2015, Eggimann announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Eggimann was captain of the Swiss U21 national team. On 7 September 2007, he played first for the

Swiss national football team The Switzerland national football team (, , , , ) represents Switzerland in men's international football. The national team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. Switzerland's best performances at the FIFA World Cup have been three ...

coming on as a

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

substitute for Johan Djourou in a 2–1 victory against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The match was part of a tournament in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, comprising

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

as well as

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Eggimann was selected by then-coach

Köbi Kuhn Jakob "Köbi" Kuhn (12 October 1943 – 26 November 2019) was a Swiss football player and manager. During his playing career he played primarily for FC Zürich and won 63 caps for Switzerland, one of which was at the 1966 FIFA World Cup in Engl ...

prior to

Euro 2008 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 ...

but did not make the final squad. He has been selected by

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player and a former manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

for the

2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

Personal life

On 20 February 2008, Eggimann became a father for the first time to a baby girl.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eggimann, Mario 1981 births Living people People from Brugg Men's association football defenders Swiss men's footballers FC Aarau players Hannover 96 players Karlsruher SC players 1. FC Union Berlin players Hannover 96 II players Swiss Super League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Switzerland men's international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 2010 FIFA World Cup players Swiss-German people Footballers from Aargau 21st-century Swiss sportsmen