With a two-plus-two-year contract, national team coach Murat Yakin has received the necessary confidence from the association. His assistant Giorgio Contini receives a "simple" two-year contract.
"Two plus two" is mainly known from the penalty catalog in ice hockey. With the national team coach's new contract, the expression has also found its way into football. Yakin's contract initially runs for two years, or until the end of the World Cup qualifiers. If Switzerland takes part in the tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico, Yakin's contract will automatically be extended by a further two years. If not, new negotiations will follow.
For national team director Pierluigi Tami, the development of the team over the last six months speaks for the work of both coaches. Tami was particularly impressed that the players were "not only on the same level as the English in the European Championship quarter-finals, but also physically and mentally". The task now is to confirm the progress made and take the next step. The 2026 World Cup would be Switzerland's seventh major tournament in a row.
The association does not disclose figures. According to president Dominique Blanc, the salary negotiations were conducted within the "given framework" and a little more emphasis was placed on performance and results. Yakin previously earned an estimated 750,000 francs per year. His predecessor Vladimir Petkovic earned over a million in the end. The discussions were also "very fair" on this point, Blanc noted.
What Yakin and Contini say
Yakin thanked the association for its trust and said he was very proud to be able to continue the work. "Giorgio and I will do everything we can to continue playing successfully." For the Basel native, who turns 50 in September, it is clear that there is a lot of potential in the team and that the ambitions are correspondingly high. "It still hurts that we didn't reach the final on Sunday."
Contini, who like Yakin was born in 1974, also referred to the "good path" they have taken together since February. "We thought we would get the job done," said Contini. "We're all the more pleased that it went so well." However, Contini did not want to make a big issue of the fact that the contract was written without the "plus two" in his case. "I'll do everything I can to make the coming campaign a success. We'll see what happens after that."
The chances
After a difficult qualifying campaign with many side issues, Yakin and Contini have succeeded in getting the national team to perform as a unit again at the European Championships. The players repeatedly emphasized the good atmosphere in the camp and showed some inspiring football. The turnaround is also due to the fact that Yakin and Granit Xhaka spoke out after disagreements in the fall and now appear more united than ever.
After the European Championship, the national team captain spoke out clearly in favor of Yakin staying. "We clearly want the coach to stay," he said, explaining that it would be a shame if something that has been carefully built up were to be destroyed again. Yakin had found the right line-up in every game. "He has shown under pressure that he is the right man for this team."
At the same time, the national team players emphasized the influence of assistant coach Contini, who has brought important aspects to training with his multilingualism and his fire. Switzerland have not lost since he joined the national team (four wins, five draws). This momentum must now be carried forward. If you want to go to the 2026 World Cup, you have to win your group in the European qualifiers (March to November 2025) or have the necessary luck in the play-offs (March 2026), when 16 teams will be competing for four more tickets.
The challenges
The big question is how sustainable the national team's recent positive development is. After all, the weak qualifying campaign has left its mark. The lacklustre performances were one thing, the lack of self-criticism another. It was only during the European Championship that the coach and players admitted that a lot had gone wrong in qualifying and that there was dissatisfaction in the team. At that time, Yakin in particular had repeatedly glossed over the performances and thus lost credibility. There is still room for improvement in terms of communication.
Yakin's refusal to extend his contract with the association in the spring because he was hoping for better conditions proved to be the right decision for him in hindsight. The association with national team director Pierluigi Tami, who had questioned Yakin in the fall, did not cut a good figure. Nevertheless, Yakin should not fall back into old patterns and get involved in the power games that have often accompanied him during his playing career. Otherwise the much-vaunted "new harmony" will be disrupted again.
Xherdan Shaqiri's resignation coincided with the announcement of the details of the new coaching contracts. This shows: A shake-up is imminent in the national team, as several key players are Shaqiri's age. Yakin and Contini will have to integrate more new players into the team in order to keep the national team at a high level in the long term.
