Ludovic Magnin

Ludovic Magnin

Personal information
Full name	Ludovic Magnin
Date of birth	20 April 1979 (1979-04-20)
Place of birth	Lausanne, Switzerland
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	FC Zürich
Number	23
Youth career
1987–1996	FC Echallens
1996–1997	Lausanne-Sports
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2000	Yverdon Sport	96	(2)
2000–2002	Lugano	47	(0)
2002–2005	Werder Bremen	45	(4)
2005–2009	VfB Stuttgart	103	(2)
2010–	FC Zürich	29	(1)
National team‡
2000–2010	Switzerland	63	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 October 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 10 June 2010

Ludovic Magnin (born 20 April 1979 in Lausanne) is a Swiss football defender who plays for FC Zürich.

Club career

Youth teams

Magnin started his career at Echallens, where he played until 1996. He spent one season at Lausanne Sports before joining second-tier Yverdon Sports.

Professional career: Switzerland and Germany

In 1999, he made his professional debut for Yverdon Sports. In the summer of 2000, he transferred to Ticino side AC Lugano, then playing in the first-tier Axpo Super League.

In the beginning of 2002, Magnin made his biggest career move by joining Bundesliga side Werder Bremen for the transfer sum of approximately 1 million Swiss Francs. He won the double (German Championship and German Cup) with the Northern German side in 2004, but had bad luck with many injuries and played only 45 games in 4 years in Bremen.

In 2005, he transferred to Southern Germany, to Swabian side VfB Stuttgart. There Ludo, as he is being called by Stuttgart fans, became a first-team regular within the first season and was a key player for his team in the following 2006–07 season, when he became German champion for the second time in his career. In early 2008, he extended his contract until June 2010. When his starting position in the team began to erode in the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Magnin decided to leave Stuttgart in order to keep his chances of playing for the Swiss national squad at the 2010 World Cup. Therefore, he will return to his native country in January 2010, joining FC Zürich. With 103 games and 2 goals within four and a half years, Magnin had a successful stint for VfB.

Attributes

Magnin usually plays at left back. He is known for his thunderous free kicks and his dynamic, attacking style of play at left wing. On the other hand, he has been criticized for his sometimes sloppy defending and technical deficits.

International career

Magnin has acquired 61 caps and scored three goals for the Swiss national team since his debut in 2000. He has been called up to the 2008 European Football Championship, where he has inherited the captaincy due to an injury to Alexander Frei and currently is the vice-captain after Frei. He also participated at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2004 European Football Championship.

Magnin was initially omitted from the Swiss squad for the 2010 World Cup but was later called up to replace the injured Christoph Spycher.

International goals

Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	13 February 2002	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol	Hungary	1–0	2–1	Friendly
2.	8 October 2005	Wankdorfstadion, Bern	France	1–1	1–1	2006 World Cup qualifier
3.	11 September 2007	Wörtherseestadion, Klagenfurt	Japan	1–0	3–4	Friendly

Honours

With Werder Bremen:

• Bundesliga 2003–04
• DFB-Pokal 2003–04

With Stuttgart:

• Bundesliga 2006–07

External links

• Ludovic Magnin at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Ludovic Magnin at National-Football-Teams.com