Jump to content

Lucien Favre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RuyalarKizi (talk | contribs) at 16:17, 8 February 2013. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Lucien Favre
Favre with Mönchengladbach in 2011.
Personal information
Full name Lucien Favre
Date of birth (1957-11-02) 2 November 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth Saint-Barthélemy, Switzerland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Borussia M'gladbach (Coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1979 Lausanne 30 (3)
1979–1981 Neuchâtel Xamax 51 (14)
1981–1983 Servette 59 (28)
1983–1984 Toulouse 35 (7)
1984–1991 Servette 134 (20)
Total 309 (72)
International career
1981–1989 Switzerland[1] 24 (1)
Managerial career
1991–1995 Echallens
1997–2000 Yverdon Sports
2000–2002 Servette
2003–2007 Zürich
2007–2009 Hertha BSC
2011– Borussia M'gladbach
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lucien Favre (born 2 November 1957 in Saint-Barthélemy, Switzerland) is a football manager and former Swiss international player. He is currently head coach of Bundesliga team Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Playing career

During his playing career, Lucien Favre made a total of 24 appearances for Switzerland, scoring his one and only goal on his debut against the Netherlands. At club level, he played for Lausanne-Sports, Neuchâtel Xamax, Toulouse FC and Servette FC, earning a reputation as a skillful and intelligent play-maker. He announced his retirement in 1991.

International career

24 caps (1 goal on his debut against Netherlands, in the same game both Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard also made their first appearance for their country). First cap : Switzerland v Netherland 2-1, on September 1, 1981 in Zürich Last cap : Portugal-Switzerland 3-1, on April 26, 1989 in Lisbon.

Coaching career

FC Echallens

Lucien Favre’s coaching career started in 1991, as U-14 assistant manager with FC Echallens. The following year he took over the U-17’s, before being appointed manager of the first team in 1993. Under his leadership, his young squad surprisingly got promoted to the Nationalliga B (second tier of Swiss football, now called Challenge League). This promotion is still the outstanding achievement in the club’s history.

Neuchâtel Xamax FC

After four years with FC Echallens, Lucien Favre was named Academy Manager of Neuchâtel Xamax FC. This move allowed him to experience the overall operation of a professional club.

Yverdon-Sport and Servette FC

In January 1997 Lucien Favre was appointed manager of Yverdon-Sport FC who were struggling at the bottom of the Nationalliga B at that stage. In 1999 he guided his side to the Nationalliga A (top tier of Swiss football, now called Swiss Super League). The following season they unexpectedly achieved 5th placed finish in the table, which is still the Yverdon-Sport FC's best ranking in the top-flight to date.

In the summer of 2000 Favre decided to join Servette FC, a long-established club based in Geneva where he had already won the league as a player. The highlights of his spell in Geneva were a victory in the Swiss Cup final 2001, as well as a superb run in the UEFA Cup. Servette FC eliminated Slavia Prague, Real Zaragoza and Hertha BSC (with a 3-0 away win in the Berlin Olympic Stadium), before going out against Valencia CF (0-3 and 2-2) in the last 16. Three months later Valencia CF won the 2001-02 Spanish La Liga under the leadership of Rafael Benitez.

FC Zurich

In 2003 Favre was appointed FC Zürich manager. He won the Swiss Cup in 2005 beating FC Luzern in the final. The following season, FCZ ended their twenty-five year wait for a league title with a dramatic final day victory against FC Basel to win the Swiss Super League. On 29 May 2007, after securing another Swiss title, he was awarded the title of best Swiss manager for the second year in a row.

Hertha BSC (Berlin)

On 1 June 2007, the German Bundesliga club Hertha BSC announced that Lucien Favre had just agreed to sign a three year deal as manager.

During the 2008-09 season he guided Hertha BSC to an excellent 4th place position, having at his disposal the 13th biggest budget of the Bundesliga. In February 2009, one of the highlights of his spell in Germany was the brilliant tactical display of Hertha BSC against FC Bayern Munich in a packed Olympic Stadium (almost 75,000 spectators). This performance allowed them to beat the erstwhile reigning German champions 2-1 and Hertha BSC went to the top of the Bundesliga. Favre extended his contract for an additional year.

The 2009-10 season did not look as promising because Hertha’s increasing financial difficulties prevented them from recruiting efficiently. Furthermore, three of the best players left in the summer: Josip Šimunić, Andriy Voronin and Marko Pantelic. At the end of September 2009, Hertha BSC were struggling in the league and Favre was relieved of his duties by the club.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On February 14, 2011 he was named as the successor of Michael Frontzeck as head coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach.[2] He took over when the team was sitting at the bottom of the league with only 16 points after 22 match days. He instigated an immediate improvement in form and although the club still struggled, they eventually managed a narrow win against VfL Bochum in a two-legged relegation play-off to secure their place in the Bundesliga.

The following season the team surpassed all expectations by finishing in 4th place thereby qualifying for the early stages of the Champions League. The team's brand of fluid, counter-attacking football impressed pundits and press alike and was typified by an emphatic double win over Bayern Munich both home and away.

Coaching philosophy

Lucien Favre’s teams play a dynamic, quick and attacking minded football where ball possession and change of tempo alternate. This attractive style of play has brought results in every club he has managed. Furthermore, Favre is very skillful tactically, leaving his opponents struggling to penetrate his well-organized sides.

Lucien Favre is also well known for his ability to develop talented young players and introduce them into the first team. Under his leadership, Blerim Džemaili, Almen Abdi, Steve Von Bergen and Gökhan Inler made their debut with the Swiss national team before signing for foreign clubs. In 2007 FC Zürich became Swiss champions with an average age of twenty-one years and a half. He is also credited with raising the game of German starlet Marco Reus whose fine performances procured a call up to the German national team and a high-priced move to league champions Borussia Dortmund.

Managerial statistics

As of 3 February 2013
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
FC Echallens
Neuchâtel Xamax 30 November 1996
Yverdon-Sport 1 December 1996 30 June 2000
Servette FC 1 July 2000 30 June 2002 72 29 21 22 040.28
FC Zürich 1 July 2003 30 June 2007 110 61 24 25 055.45
Hertha BSC 1 July 2007 28 September 2009 94 40 20 34 042.55
Borussia Mönchengladbach 14 February 2011 Present 82 38 25 19 046.34
Total 358 168 90 100 046.93

Honours

Player

Manager

References

  1. ^ RSSSF
  2. ^ Favre soll Gladbach retten

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucien_Favre&oldid=537242900"