Marcel Koller
Marcel Koller (born 11 November 1960 in Zürich) is a former Swiss football (soccer) player. His playing position was defender. He is now head coach of the Austria national team.[1]
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 November 1960 | ||
| Place of birth | Zürich, Switzerland | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Manager (former Defender) | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Austria | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1972–1980 | Grasshopper-Club Zürich | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1997 | Grasshopper-Club Zürich | 428 | (59) |
| National team | |||
| 1982–1996 | Switzerland | 56 | (3) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1997–1998 | FC Wil | ||
| 1999–2002 | FC St. Gallen | ||
| 2002–2003 | Grasshopper-Club Zürich | ||
| 2003–2004 | 1. FC Köln | ||
| 2005–2009 | VfL Bochum | ||
| 2011– | Austria | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only | |||
Career
Player
He played all his time as a professional football player for Grasshoppers Zürich in the Swiss league. In 24 years he won seven Swiss championships and five Swiss cups. He played also 56 times for the Swiss national football team. He shot 3 goals and was a member of the team for the 1996 UEFA European Championship.
Coach
Koller's career as coach started at the Swiss club FC Wil in the season 1997/98. In January 1999 he went to FC St. Gallen in the Swiss Super League. The next year the club won the championship for almost 100 years. In the UEFA Cup the Swiss team could eliminate English top club FC Chelsea. Koller was voted Swiss manager of the year 2000. From 2002 till 2003 he managed his former club Grasshoppers Zürich. His first club abroad was in the German Bundesliga where he managed 1. FC Köln. Being not successful he resigned after seven months. At this time Lukas Podolski made his first match in the Bundesliga.
From 2005 on he was coach of the VfL Bochum in the 2.Bundesliga. They promoted to the Bundesliga. The next year was planned to stay in the league. The club finished this year in 8th place, the third-best season for Bochum ever. After poor results at the beginning of the 2009/10 season, Koller was dismissed.
On the 4th of October 2011, Koller was declared as the new coach of the Austrian National Team (ÖFB). It was announced that he signed a contract until December 2013. After his nomination, there was heavy criticism against him because he was from abroad. During the long history of the team, he is the third coach who was not from Austria. He took over on the 1st of November. His first match as new coach was a friendly match versus Ukraine which the Austrian team lost.