Lucien Favre

Lucien Favre (born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Nice.

Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Servette, with whom he also won the championship.

As a manager, he won the Swiss Cup and the Swiss championship with Servette and Zürich.

In Germany, Favre also managed Hertha BSC and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

At club level, Favre played for Lausanne-Sports, Neuchâtel Xamax, Toulouse and Servette, earning a reputation as a skillful and intelligent playmaker.

Notably, he scored his first and only international goal on his debut, netting in Zürich against the Netherlands on 1 September 1981 in the same game, in which both Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard also made their first appearance for their respective country.

When Pierre-Albert Chapuisat destroyed his knee in 1985, he could not play for eight months.

It's still considered one of the worst fouls in Swiss footballing history.

Favre earned his last cap for Switzerland against Portugal in a 3–1 away loss on 26 April 1989 played in Lisbon.

Favre announced his retirement in 1991.

Favre amassed 24 caps for the Switzerland national team.

Favre's coaching career started in 1991 as the under-14 assistant manager with Echallens.

The following year, he took over the under-17 team before being appointed manager of the first team in 1993.

Under his leadership, Favre's young squad surprisingly earned promotion to the Nationalliga B.

The promotion is still the most outstanding achievement in the club's history.

After four years with Echallens, Favre was named Academy Manager of Neuchâtel Xamax.

The move allowed him to experience the overall operation of a professional club.

In January 1997, Favre was appointed manager of Yverdon Sport, who was struggling at the bottom of the Nationalliga B at that stage.

In 1999, he guided his side to the Nationalliga A.

The following season, they unexpectedly achieved fifth-placed finish in the table, still Yverdon's best ranking in the top-flight to date.

In the summer of 2000, Favre decided to join Servette, 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 5–2 league win against Neuchâtel Xamax, a victory in the Swiss Cup final in 2001, as well as a superb run in the UEFA Cup, after finishing fifth.

Servette eliminated Slavia Prague, Real Zaragoza and Hertha BSC (with a 3–0 away win in Olympiastadion), before going out against Valencia (0–3 and 2–2) in the last 16.

in the 2001–02 Swiss Cup, Servette forfeit a match 3–0.

In 2003, Favre was appointed Zürich manager.

His first match as Zürich manager was a 2–1 loss to Basel.

In the 2003–04 season, Zürich finished in fifth place, one place below a 2004–05 UEFA Cup spot, and lost in the semi–finals of the Swiss Cup 6–5 to Grasshoppers.

He won the Swiss Cup in 2005 beating Luzern in the final.

The following season, Zürich ended their 25-year wait for a league title with a dramatic final day victory against Basel to win the Swiss Super League.

They were also knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the first round.

During the 2006–07 season, Zürich were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round.

On 29 May 2007, after securing another Swiss title, he was awarded the Swiss Manager of the Year award for the second year in a row.

On 1 June 2007, German Bundesliga club Hertha BSC announced that Favre had agreed to sign a three-year deal as its head coach.

He started the 2007–08 season with a 3–0 win against SpVgg Unterhaching in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.

During the 2008–09 season, he guided Hertha to an excellent fourth-place position, having at his disposal just the 13th-largest budget of the 2008–09 Bundesliga.

Hertha played in the UEFA Cup and were eliminated in the group stage.

In February 2009, one of the highlights of his spell in Germany was the brilliant tactical display of Hertha against Bayern Munich in a full Olympiastadion (almost 75,000 spectators).

This performance allowed them to beat the erstwhile reigning German champions 2–1 to take Hertha temporarily top of the Bundesliga.

Favre extended his contract for an additional year.

The 2009–10 season, however, did not look as promising for Hertha – its increasing financial difficulties prevented them from recruiting efficiently.