Hediger has to go
©IMAGO
The traditional Swiss club FC Zurich made a coaching change before the start of the relegation round in the Super League and immediately confirmed the new head coach for the coming season. Former Bundesliga coach and Austrian national coach Marcel Koller will take over the FCZ from the summer. Until then, the previous assistant coach Carlos Bernegger should secure the class, while Dennis Hediger has been relieved of his duties.
Zurich is reacting to the downward trend of the past few weeks: there have been ten defeats in four games since the turn of the year, six of them since the beginning of March. In the table that means 10th place out of 12, seven points separate the FCZ from local rivals Grasshopper Club Zurich. After 33 match days of the regular season, the first six teams in the championship group compete in Switzerland, the last six fight against direct relegation to 12th place and the barrage (relegation) against the runners-up in the Challenge League in 11th place. On five match days, each team in the relegation round plays against the others once.
Hediger only took over the office in October from former Ten Hag assistant Mitchell van der Gaag, who was hired in May. In 24 games he only averaged 0.88 points. The 39-year-old had previously worked in the FCZ youth team for several years. Bernegger (57) came in March as another assistant for Hediger. The 57-year-old is a long-time confidante of Koller and worked with him over 20 years ago at the Grasshoppers and later at FC Basel 1893 and most recently at Al Ahly FC in Egypt until spring 2025.
Koller began his coaching career with the Grasshoppers in 1992 as an assistant coach and then took over the team as head coach in his third position in 2002. In 2000 he became champion with FC St. Gallen and in 2003 with GC. After many years abroad at 1. FC Köln, VfL Bochum and as an ÖFB coach, he returned to his homeland for two years in 2018, where he won the Swiss Cup with FC Basel in 2019. However, they parted ways in August 2020 and moved to Cairo in 2022. Koller won eleven titles there, including the CAF Champions League twice.
