Now it's offcial: Ottmar Hitzfeld will take over as coach of the Swiss national side on 1 July 2008, on a two-year contract.


The Swiss Football Association confirmed the deal on Tuesday.
The Bayern München coach will be in charge through to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He takes over from Kobi Kuhn, who will coach Switzerland through the 2008 European Championships they co-host with Austria in June.

Two weeks before signing his name to the contract, Hitzfeld had commented, "It would be great. The pressure and expectations would be high in Switzerland as well, but manageable."

The Swiss are up against Greece, Israel, Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg in qualifying.

Back to the roots

After almost 25 years as a club coach, this will be Hitzfeld's first stint in charge of a national team. But Switzerland is far from pastures new for the 59-year-old, who coached SC Zug, FC Aarau and Grasshoppers Zürich before moving to the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund (1991-97) and FC Bayern (1998-2004 and since February 2007).

At Dortmund, Hitzfeld won two Bundesliga titles as well as taking the side to victory in the Champions League. In Munich, he has totalled - to date - five championships, two DFB Cups, one Champions League and one World Club Cup title - a list he aims to add to before handing over the reins to Jürgen Klinsmann this summer.