Murat Yakin

Yakin spent the longest spell of his career playing for his hometown club Basel, where he was the defensive linchpin, captain and libero of a team which enjoyed domestic and relative European success. He won the Swiss Super League on five occasions (1995, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005), and the Swiss Cup three times (1994, 2002, 2003). He recalls the 2002–Champions League second leg qualifying match on 28 August 2002 against Celtic in St. Jakob-Park as the "match of his life". Basel won the game 2–0, with Yakin scoring the second goal in the 22nd minute as Basel qualified 3–3 on the away goals rule for the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League group stage. In 2003, he played in the FIFA "Match against Poverty" in Basel, on Ronaldo's team which won 4–3 against Zinedine Zidane's. Yakin was capped 49 times for the Switzerland national team, representing his country at UEFA Euro 2004.

Early career

Yakin was appointed coach of Thun in 2009, after a time as a youth coach at Grasshoppers and head coach of Frauenfeld. Yakin led Thun to promotion in his first year as manager there, winning the Swiss Challenge League in 2010. In his second season with the club, Thun managed to finish fifth in the Swiss Super League and earned a spot in the second qualifying round of the following season's UEFA Europa League. In May 2011, he joined Luzern for a reported 200,000 Swiss francs. He took over from Christian Brand, who was made caretaker after the sacking of Rolf Fringer.

Basel

On 15 October 2012, Yakin was appointed as the new manager of Basel. Under his management, Basel won twice, home and away, against Chelsea in the 2013–14 Champions League group stage. He praised the supporters in the stadium, saying that they pushed the team to win through the 90 minutes. He was also delighted to have received praise from then Chelsea manager José Mourinho. On 17 May 2014, Basel announced Yakin was no longer with the club after he guided them to two domestic titles in as many years.

Spartak Moscow

On 16 June 2014, Yakin was appointed as manager of Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow. According to Russian media, the deal was a long-term contract with Yakin earning an annual salary of 1.6 million euros ($2.18 million). On 30 May 2015, after only one season with the club, his contract with the club was terminated after a mutual agreement.

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Yakin is the elder brother of Hakan Yakin, who was also a professional footballer with successful stints at Grasshoppers, Basel, and Young Boys and represented Switzerland at international level also. Yakin is of Turkish descent.

As a player

Grasshoppers Nationalliga A: 1994–95, 1995–96 Swiss Cup: 1993–94 Basel Nationalliga A/Swiss Super League: 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05 Swiss Cup: 2001–02, 2002–03 Individual

Swiss Young Player of the Year: 1994 Axpo Swiss Super Leaguer Player of the Year: 2002

As a manager

Thun

Swiss Challenge League: 2009–10 Basel

Swiss Super League: 2012–13, 2013–14 Individual

Swiss Super League Manager of the Year: 2013–14, 2017–18