Let ex-Bayer Singh make his debut
©Bibiana Gold Stars FC
At home in Switzerland, at home in the world. A sentence that is more than just an empty phrase for Fritz Schmid. He has been committed to football for decades – not just as a coach, but as an ambassador for the game in cultures that sometimes differ greatly from one another. Malaysia, New Zealand and Ghana are on the Swiss’s CV. Most recently, in 2025/26, he led the Ghanaian first division club Bibiani Gold Stars FC to the runner-up position as head coach. At Transfermarkt, the 66-year-old talks about his experiences in international football.
It’s obvious that he doesn’t really know who to root for at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico: Schmid has already been active in some participating countries. The 66-year-old smiles when he talks about it and refers to a statement that has grown close to his heart: “Nelson Mandela once said that sport has the power to change the world and unite people. It speaks the language of youth, a universal language that everyone understands. In this sense, I like to say: In this universal language, football is the most spoken dialect.”
The years abroad have fundamentally changed his view of football and life, as he reveals: “As a coach, you are forced to adapt by foreign cultures, different languages and the constant pressure to perform. You learn to get involved in new things, to work under unusual conditions and at the same time to remain true to your own convictions. Good work pays off in results everywhere in the world – and that gives you security.”
The distance from home is certainly difficult. “Being on your own as a ‘Farang’ in Asia or ‘Obruni’ in Ghana – i.e. as a foreigner – breaks up your usual routines and certainties. You become more relaxed, develop a more sober perspective on what’s important and learn to appreciate the value of real relationships and your own origins in a way that you would probably never find so profound in your home comfort zone,” states Schmid, who was born in Winterthur.
Schmid had everything a coach could want in Switzerland. While many colleagues spend their entire professional lives in their home country, he decided to make a radical change in the midst of a successful career. By 2009, he had developed a good reputation as a close confidant of Christian Gross at FC Basel, who won three championships and three cups during his era. “The real architect of Basel’s success was Christian Gross, supported by a strong president in the person of Gigi (Gisela; editor’s note) Oeri. I am still grateful to both of them to this day that I was able to experience and help shape this great FCB era.” He bases his decision to leave the comfort zone in Swiss football on a deep-seated drive: “I have always felt the urge to explore my limits. Stepping into the unknown requires flexibility and courage. But it always also offers the opportunity to discover new skills and grow beyond yourself.”
Fritz Schmid’s journey: via Austria to Malaysia and New Zealand
In 2011, Schmid followed Marcel Koller as assistant coach to the Austrian national team and saw the rise of two players of international stature at the ÖFB: Marko Arnautovic and David Alaba. Schmid has a lot of confidence in the national team at this World Cup: “For me, Austria is one of those teams that are good for a surprise – assuming a favorable tournament run and a bit of luck. Back then, Marcel Koller’s clear philosophy paved the way for the attractive offensive football that characterizes the team under Ralf Rangnick today.” What distinguished the two exceptional talents? “Even as young players, Alaba and Arnautovic had an extraordinary game intelligence and inner conviction that set them apart from others. Both had this absolute will to assert themselves – and that is ultimately what makes players legends,” says the 66-year-old.
The world became truly strange for the first time in 2014: Schmid started as technical director at the Malaysian Football Association. A commitment that lasted over four years and would have a lasting impact on him. He describes the beginning as an apprenticeship in patience: “Starting in a foreign culture in which you, as an outsider, are inevitably viewed critically, requires sensitivity. You walk a fine line between the necessary adaptation and maintaining your own identity. In terms of sport, the main challenge was the mediocre results of the national team, over which you as the technical director have no direct influence. While the national coach stands for immediate results, the technical director thinks in longer cycles. Solid coaching training and sustainable development of young talent “They don’t bear immediate fruit, but they are the only basis for lasting success,” explains the football teacher.
Schmid sees the impact of his work today in the progress that the Malaysian association was able to achieve under his successors: in coach training and youth development, but also in women’s football. “I can certainly claim to have initiated and structurally initiated significant developments. The fact that this work was continued and expanded is ultimately a good testament to its sustainability,” says Schmid.
Fritz Schmid talks about ex-Bayern talent Sarpreet Singh
In 2018 he moved to Oceania, where he looked after the New Zealand senior national team and the U23 team. His tasks: a rejuvenation treatment, a new playing philosophy and a generational change. Away from the region’s physical kick-and-rush football, towards a controlled, possession-oriented style with a European signature. Players like Liberato Cacace, goalkeepers Michael Woud and Max Crocombe as well as Sarpreet Singh, who later made the jump to FC Bayern Munich, made their debut under Schmid. “Sarpreet distinguished himself early on at Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. A agile left-footer with excellent technique, high game intelligence and the ability to combine and dribble creatively between the lines. The fact that Bayern Munich became aware of him after his performances at the U-20 World Cup in Poland was no longer a surprise for those familiar with his development,” says Schmid, describing his impressions. According to Schmid, the All Whites go into the tournament as clear outsiders. In a group with Iran (the meeting ended 2-2), Egypt and favorites Belgium, progressing would be difficult – “but the primary and realistic goal should be the first World Cup victory in history. Qualifying for the round of 16 would actually be a small sensation.”
Sarpreet Singh was under contract with FC Bayern between 2019 and 2023 and also played in Germany for Jahn Regensburg, Hansa Rostock and 1. FC Nürnberg
From the oceanic continent, Schmid’s path led to Africa with a short stopover in the youth department of GC Zurich: In 2022, Schmid took over Kotoku Royals FC and led the club to historic promotion from Division 1 to the Ghana Premier League. In the 2025/26 season he took over Bibiani Gold Stars FC and, as runner-up, narrowly missed out on the championship title. What immediately grabbed him in Ghana was the way football is lived there. “The deep roots of football in Ghanaian society are reflected above all in how closely sporting events are merged with religious rituals. The government and religious leaders call on people to pray for the success of the Black Stars. Prayers and songs are also an integral part of everyday life in the clubs. Before and after every training session, before every game, everyone holds hands in a circle, players and supervisors say the prayers – for Christians and Muslims alike. This is not a production, this is is living culture,” states Schmid.
Schmid assesses the Ghanaian national team’s chances as follows: “In the group with England, Croatia and Panama (1-0 win at the start; editor), the Black Stars are considered outsiders, but have the quality to reach the knockout round. Provided that the team quickly ignores the media unrest in the area and Carlos Queiroz manages to give the squad a clear signature despite a short preparation time. He has to do without some top performers, the individual class in the However, the squad is enough to surprise one or two of the favorites.”
One detail in the World Cup squad stands out: Benjamin Asare from Hearts of Oak, only one player from the local Ghana Premier League made it into the squad. A declaration of bankruptcy? Schmid doesn’t see it that way. “Historically, the proportion of domestic league players in the national squad has always been low. The discrepancy compared to the international leagues is obvious; it is primarily explained by the fact that the best talents move abroad at an early stage, which weakens local competition in the long term. The pace and tactical training in European leagues are simply more mature. This is less a declaration of bankruptcy than a structural problem that many other aspiring football nations are also familiar with.”
The veteran has mixed feelings about the expansion of the World Cup participant field: “With 48 participants and 104 games, there is a real risk of sporting dilution. In addition, the physical strain on players, who are already playing more and more games in their clubs, is increasing to a worrying level – not counting the climatic conditions in the host cities. It remains to be seen whether the principle of inclusion propagated by FIFA actually translates into a sustainable development of the sport in the long term football in the respective countries – or whether the smaller nations, as blatant outsiders, remain merely decorations for the big spectacle,” assesses Schmid, who still considers football with all its cultures and dialects to be the most beautiful language in the world.
By Henrik Stadnischenko