Köbi Kuhn

Kuhn stayed 16 years with FC Zürich, captaining them to the Swiss Super League six times, as well as the Swiss Cup five times. He also played for Zürich in European Cup semi-finals in 1963 and 1977. Internationally he won 63 caps, and as a 22-year-old played one game at the 1966 World Cup, before being sent home in disgrace, and later banned for 12 months from the national team, for breaking a curfew.

After retiring as a player, Kuhn returned to FC Zürich in 1979 to take charge of their youth set-up. He was later caretaker manager of the club for two short spells between May 1983 and July 1984, as the club searched for a permanent successor to Daniel Jeandupeux. In 1995, he left the club and took a youth-coaching position at the Swiss FA. He led the national under-18 side to an impressive showing at the 1997 European Championships, and later guided the U21s towards qualification for the finals of their respective European Championships for the first time. Kuhn was promoted to coach of the senior national team in June 2001, replacing the Argentine Enzo Trossero. Kuhn had been approached to become Trossero's assistant, but turned down the offer. With no real senior coaching experience, his appointment as head coach was first not universally applauded, but he has led the Swiss to Euro 2004 and the second round of the 2006 World Cup. Since Kuhn took part in the 1966 World Cup as a player, Switzerland had qualified for just one World Cup, in 1994, and one Euro finals, in 1996. Kuhn spent seven years as coach of the national team, and utilised many of the youth players he had worked with at youth level, ultimately helped building a successful football generation that would be later inherited by Ottmar Hitzfeld. He is second in all-time matches coached for the Swiss team, behind Karl Rappan.

Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006

After out-qualifying Russia and the Republic of…

Kuhn is considered one of Switzerland and FC Zürich's greatest players of all time. Possessing good close control and a reading of the game which allowed him to start attacks and create chances for his teammates, Kuhn served as a creative force for Zürich and the Swiss national team from the 60s to the 70s. In the 1975-76 title-winning season, coach Friedhelm Konietzka put Kuhn in the sweeper role, where he could start attacks from deep. Kuhn was also recognized for his tenacity and leadership.

Kuhn was born to a family of seven children, and as a child, he watched matches in the stands of Letzigrund and Hardturm, the stadiums of Zürich clubs FC Zürich and Grasshoppers Club Zürich, with his father, who was a carpenter. He idolized Real Madrid striker Ferenc Puskás.