Köbi Kuhn

Köbi Kuhn
Kuhn (2006)
Personnel
Surname	Jakob Kuhn
birthday	October 12, 1943
place of birth	Zurich - Wiedikon ,  Switzerland
date of death	November 26, 2019
Place of death	Zollikerberg ,  Switzerland
Size	175 cm
position	midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1960-1977	FC Zurich	554 (103)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1962-1976	Switzerland	63 (5)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1983	FC Zurich
1983-1984	FC Zurich
1995-2001	Switzerland U-21
2001-2008	Switzerland
1 Only league games are given.

Jakob “Köbi” Kuhn (born October 12, 1943 in Zurich - Wiedikon ; † November 26, 2019 in Zollikerberg , municipality of Zollikon ) was a Swiss football player and coach. From 2001 to 2008 he was the coach of the Swiss national football team .

Player career

Köbi Kuhn as a FCZ player (1963)

At the age of seventeen he was discovered by Edi Nägeli , the president of FC Zurich, and signed for the first team. He received 125 francs a month as a player, 40 francs for every win, and five francs for every training session he attended.

During his entire career as an active footballer, Kuhn played in midfield at FC Zurich , apart from a two-month trip to city rivals Grasshoppers Club . From 1962 to 1977 he won the Swiss championship six times and the Swiss Cup five times . For the national team, he completed 63 internationals .

His great loyalty to FC Zurich prevented an international career, which kept his level of fame within national boundaries. The national team was able to qualify twice for the World Cup with Kuhn ( 1962 in Chile and 1966 in England ), but lost all games on both occasions, albeit narrowly.

Kuhn was in the 1966 0: 5 defeat against Germany (1st group game) together with another top performer of the team ( Werner Leimgruber ), as he was not set up as a punishment by coach Alfredo Foni for violating the " Zapfenstreich " before the game has been. With FC Zurich, he reached the semifinals of the European Cup at the beginning and the end of his career ( 1964 , eliminated against Real Madrid and 1977 , eliminated against FC Liverpool ).

Coaching career

Köbi Kuhn in the training camp of the Swiss national team before the Euro 08

Before his appointment as national coach, he worked successfully as a youth coach at FCZ and later with the U21 national team . He has nominated many young players in recent years and did not shy away from parting with established players who threatened to endanger this harmony (such as Ciriaco Sforza ). Time and again he placed his trust in young players like Tranquillo Barnetta , Valon Behrami and Philippe Senderos , who thanked him with excellent performances.

Coach of the so-called A-Team since 2001, Kuhn achieved his first goal: As group winners, the team qualified for the 2004 European Championship in Portugal, where they entered the group stage after two defeats (against France and England ) and one draw (against Croatia ) finished last place. With two play-offs against Turkey (2-0 in Bern ; 2: 4 in Istanbul ) he led the team to the 2006 World Cup in Germany in November 2005 , where it reached the round of 16. In recognition of this, the unofficial "Köbi-Kuhn-Platz WM 2006" was inaugurated on November 19, 2005 with the approval of the City of Zurich in Wiedikon, the home of Köbi Kuhn. In October 2006, Kuhn announced that he would be stepping down as national coach after the 2008 European Championships . On December 17, 2006 he was voted Swiss Trainer of the Year and on January 13, 2007, Swiss Coach of the Year .

On June 15, 2008, he played his last game as coach of the national team. Switzerland won the last group game against Portugal 2-0. After the final whistle, the resigning coach was celebrated with a banner from the team that read “Merci Köbi” and the fans chanted “Köbi National”. Despite the departure of the Swiss national team, this led to an emotional end to the EM 2008 for the hosts. Kuhn's successor was Ottmar Hitzfeld .

Private life

Jakob Kuhn grew up in a family of seven. With his father, a carpenter, he attended many games in the Hardturm and in the Letzigrund. Even as a child he was enthusiastic about football and admired Ferenc Puskás , the Hungarian star striker of the 1950s.

For the SVP he ran for the parliament of the city of Zurich and later for the parliament of the canton of Zurich; he lacked only a few votes for the latter office. With a financial commitment, the "Köbi Kuhn Insurance", he lost over a million francs. In 1987 bankruptcy was opened over him.

His wife Alice, whom he married in 1965, supported him as a manager and consultant. She passed away in 2014 after suffering a stroke . His daughter Viviane died four years later, at the age of 46, of complications from a mental illness and drug addiction. His mother reached the age of 103. He was married to Jadwiga Cervoni, a native of Poland, for the second time.

In 2013, Kuhn was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia . In 2019, Kuhn was treated in the intensive care unit of the Triemli Hospital in Zurich for a lung disease and blood poisoning . He died on November 26th at the age of 76 in Zollikerberg Hospital.

literature

• Peter Birrer, Albert Staudenmann: Köbi Kuhn. The Swiss national soccer team pays homage to their coach. Wörterseh Verlag, Gockhausen 2006, ISBN 978-3-033-00689-8 .
• Ulrich Kuhn-Hellmessen (ed.): European Championship 2004. The heroes of Portugal. With Köbi Kuhn's diary. Sports publisher Europa Medien, Zurich 2004.
• Jakob Kuhn in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ex-national team coach Köbi Kuhn is dead. Retrieved on November 26, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Fredy Wettstein: Obituary: Switzerland recognized itself in Köbi Kuhn. In: Tages-Anzeiger. November 26, 2019, accessed November 27, 2019 . 
3. ↑ https://www.schweizer-illustrierte.ch/stars/schweiz/haben-koebi-kuhn-unter-dem-scheffel-seiner-frau, accessed on July 25, 2020.

Web links

Commons : Jakob Kuhn  - Collection of Images

• Statistics FC Zurich
• Köbi Kuhn at swissinfo