Lucien Favre

Lucien Favre (French pronunciation: [lysjɛ̃ favʁ]; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who most recently managed Ligue 1 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.

Club career

At club level, Favre played for Lausanne-Sports, Neuchâtel Xamax, Toulouse and Servette, earning a reputation as a skillful and intelligent playmaker. 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 announced his retirement in 1991.

International career

Favre amassed 24 caps for the Switzerland national team. 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. Favre earned his last cap for Switzerland against Portugal in a 3–1 away loss on 26 April 1989 played in Lisbon.

Managerial career

Echallens

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.