Ludovic Magnin

Ludovic Magnin

250px Magnin lining up for Switzerland in 2006
Personal information
Full name	Ludovic Magnin
Date of birth	(1979-04-20) 20 April 1979
Place of birth	Lausanne, Switzerland
Height
Position(s)	Left back
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)
2010–2012	FC Zürich	56	(1)
Total		347	(9)
International career‡
2000–2010	Switzerland	63	(3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 September 2012 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 June 2010

Ludovic Magnin (French pronunciation: ​[maɲɛ̃]; born 20 April 1979 in Lausanne) is a former Swiss football defender.

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 four 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 returned to his native country in January 2010, joining FC Zürich. With 103 games and two goals within four and a half years, Magnin had a successful stint for VfB.

On 27 August 2012, Magnin announced that he decided to end his playing career. Having suffered a back injury before the 2012–13 season, he expected to play until the end of the season, but shortly after admitted that it is impossible to remain as a player. He also mentioned that he would serve as an assistant coach of FC Zürich junior team.

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 UEFA Euro 2004.

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 profile at Fussballdaten
• Ludovic Magnin at National-Football-Teams.com