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20 February 2008
MURI – Ottmar Hitzfeld has been confirmed as the next Switzerland coach.
The Bayern Munich coach will take charge of the Swiss team July 1 after leaving his current job at the end of the season, the Swiss Football Association said Tuesday.
Hitzfeld will succeed Koebi Kuhn, who is stepping down after the European Championship being played in Switzerland and Austria in June.
The 69-year-old Hitzfeld began his coaching career in Switzerland and won two league titles with Grasshoppers before returning to his native Germany.
Hitzfeld then became only the second man to win European Cup titles with different clubs, achieving the feat with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern in 2001.
He accepted a two-year contract, aiming to lead Switzerland to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
[Copyright ap 2008]