Pierluigi Tami took over as director of the Swiss national team in July 2019. He has now announced that he will step down in two years' time and devote himself to other projects.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- National team director Pierluigi Tami announces his resignation as of summer 2026. He has expressed his wish to the SFA to leave the association in two years' time.
- "I have new projects ahead of me. I have other ideas," said Tami at a media conference on Monday.
- Until then, however, he wants to focus fully on the Swiss national team - in order to achieve the goal of qualifying for the World Cup in North and Central America.
"I've explained to the association how I see my future. I have new projects ahead of me. I want to stay in this role until the 2026 World Cup, then I want to do something else," explained Pierluigi Tami at the Swiss national team's media conference on Monday.
He wants to stay in football, but not with the Swiss Football Association. Tami does not want to go into more detail about his planned retirement. "I have other ideas. The important thing is that I stay focused now. I also communicated my wish to the association at an early stage so that they can plan the future and find a solution."
"In Serbia, it's all about the three points for us"
Until then, however, the 63-year-old wants to concentrate fully on the national team. In addition to the long-term, major goal of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, Murat Yakin's team needs to get back on track in the Nations League. They lost their first matches against Denmark and Spain. Now comes the away game in Serbia on Saturday, before a rematch against the Danes in St.Gallen on Tuesday.
"The goals haven't changed. Of course we want to stay in League A of the Nations League, but to do that we need points. Preferably in the next game in Serbia," says Tami. After the heated duels against the Serbs in 2018 and 2022, the focus is once again on emotions. But that's not an issue for the national team director: "That's an old story. Now it's about three points. We want to concentrate on the sport."
Tami on Knäbel as a presidential candidate
The Swiss Football Association must therefore look for a new director for 2026 following Tami's announced retirement. First, however, is the election of the new SFA President in 2025. And as of today, Monday, it is clear that Peter Knäbel will also be a candidate alongside Sandro Stroppa, the president of the amateur league.
Knäbel was technical director at the SFA between 2009 and 2014 and knows Tami, who coached the U21 national team at the time, very well. "It's a nice thing when there are two candidates and not just one. It's an opportunity for the association to choose the best candidate," says the national team director. "I know Knäbel very well, he is a completely different candidate to Stroppa."
And who is he for? "Adrian Arnold! (Head of media for the national team)," laughs Tami. "No, they're both strong candidates with different ideas."