.jpg) Koller managingAustria in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marcel Martin Koller[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1960-11-11)11 November 1960 (age 65) | ||
| Place of birth | Zürich, Switzerland | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1970–1972 | FC Schwamendingen | ||
| 1972–1978 | Grasshoppers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1978–1997 | Grasshoppers | 428 | (59) |
| International career | |||
| 1982–1996 | Switzerland | 57 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1997–1998 | FC Wil | ||
| 1999–2002 | St. Gallen | ||
| 2002–2003 | Grasshoppers | ||
| 2003–2004 | 1. FC Köln | ||
| 2005–2009 | VfL Bochum | ||
| 2011–2017 | Austria | ||
| 2018–2020 | Basel | ||
| 2022–2025 | Al Ahly | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Marcel Martin Koller (born 11 November 1960) is a Swiss professionalfootballmanager and former player who was most recentlythe head coach ofAl Ahly in theEgyptian Premier League.
Born inZürich, Kollerplayed his entire career for Swiss clubGrasshoppers Zürich. In these 24 years he won seven Swiss championships and five Swiss cups. Koller was capped 56 times for theSwiss national team, scoring 3 goals. He was part of the Swiss squad atEuro 1996.
Koller's career as coach started at the Swiss clubFC Wil in the 1997–98 season. He led his club to a promotion place in theSwiss Challenge League. In January 1999 he went toFC St. Gallen in theSwiss Super League. One year later the club won its first championship for almost 100 years. Also on European level FC St. Gallen would celebrate successes: in theUEFA Cup the Swiss side would eliminate English top clubFC Chelsea. Koller was voted Swiss manager of the year 2000.
On 9 January 2002, he went to his old love,Grasshoppers Zürich. Koller won his second championship as a coach in the2003 Season. After failing to qualify for the Champions League (againstAEK 1–0/1–3) and a losing streak in the league he resigned on 3 October 2003.[2]
The next step in his career was a move to GermanBundesliga. Koller's first station in Germany was1. FC Köln.[3]However, this spell was not a very successful and took only seven months. Koller took the club in a desperate position and could not improve the results. In his term the club only won four matches and relegated eventually to2. Bundesliga. During this period he gave young talents the opportunity to debut on the highest level. The most prominent example is German internationalLukas Podolski. 1. FC Köln ended at last position. Koller was sacked after the season ended.[4]
From 23 May 2005 on, Koller was the coach of German sideVfL Bochum.[5] The club was relegated into theSecond Bundesliga the season before and its coachPeter Neururer was sacked as a result. Koller got the challenge to lead the club directly back to the highest level. Already five matches before the end of the season VfL Bochum was sure of its return to theBundesliga.
The goal of season 2006–07 was to stay in the Bundesliga. VfL Bochum did not start very well and many supporters demanded the dismissal of the coach. But the board kept faith in the coach and Koller's contract was even extended in that difficult period. VfL Bochum bought a few new players in the winter break and started a winning streak. Highlights were two memorable home victories against arch rivalsBorussia Dortmund (2–0) andFC Schalke 04. (2–1). Bochum even had a winning streak of four away victories in a row at the end of the season, a new club record. Already two rounds for the end of the season VfL Bochum was sure of survival in the Bundesliga. Eventually the club finished at the 8th place, the third best season for Bochum ever.
The VfL Bochum lost three important players in the summer break 2007 so that most observers were rather skeptical about the club in the coming season. But the club played a solid season and ended, without too much relegation troubles, in the midfield. However, at the beginning of the season 2008–09 Koller defined 45 points as target. Surprisingly Bochum did not have to sell key players and could even afford some relatively spectacular transfers. With the return of former key playersPaul Freier andVahid Hashemian, and the purchase of the talentsDaniel Fernandes and Austrian internationalChristian Fuchs Koller called his team the best team he had at Bochum ever. Nevertheless, the club came into relegation troubles and could save itself rather late in the season. At the end Bochum finished 14th in that season. Again many supporters asked during the season for the dismissal of the coach. Especially the release of crowd pleaserTomasz Zdebel in the winter break caused many frictions with the fans.
Due to the relatively poor results in the season before, Koller started under great pressure in the2009–10 season. With only four points out of the first six matches VfL Bochum started again rather disappointing and the public pressure grew continuously. After a 2–3 home defeat byFSV Mainz more than two thousand supporters gathered at the stadium to demand his dismissal. As a reaction one day later, at 20 September 2009 Koller was sacked as head coach of VfL Bochum.[6]
On 4 October 2011, Koller was appointed as the new manager of theAustria national team.[7] Koller officially started on 1 November 2011.[8] He was in charge of Austria when it reached the final phase of a European championship for the first time by the qualifying groups (the only previous participation at a final phase being in 2008 as co-hosts). In 2016 the national team reached its highest position ever (10th) in theFIFA World Rankings.
From August 2018 to August 2020, Koller was the head coach ofFC Basel, where he won the2018–19 Swiss Cup.[9]
On 9 September 2022, Koller signed a two-year contract with Egyptian clubAl Ahly.[10] On 28 October 2022, he won his first title with Al Ahly after beatingZamalek SC 2–0 in the2021–22 Egyptian Super Cup atHazza bin Zayed Stadium inAbu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates.[11] On 10 April 2023, he won his second title after beatingPyramids FC 2–1 in the2021–22 Egypt Cup final.[12]
On May 5, 2023, he won his third title at the club by defeating Pyramids FC 1–0 in the Super Cup. Following this victory, he secured theAfrican Champions League on June 11, with a 3–2 aggregate win againstWydad AC.[13] A month later, on July 15, his club triumphed in the2022–23 Egyptian Premier League, finishing the season with only one defeat. He then led the team to win the2023–24 CAF Champions League againstEspérance de Tunis, extending their record in the competition to 12 titles.[14]
On 26 April 2025, Koller was sacked following a 1–1 home draw againstMamelodi Sundowns in theAfrican Champions League semi-finals, which led to the team's elimination on away goals.[15]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| FC Wil | 1 July 1997[16] | 30 June 1998[16] | 41 | 15 | 16 | 10 | 63 | 49 | +14 | 036.59 |
| St. Gallen | 1 January 1999[17] | 8 January 2002[17] | 129 | 59 | 34 | 36 | 230 | 170 | +60 | 045.74 |
| Grasshoppers | 9 January 2002[18] | 2 October 2003[18] | 75 | 40 | 18 | 17 | 163 | 102 | +61 | 053.33 |
| 1. FC Köln | 2 November 2003[3] | 16 June 2004[4] | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 24 | 40 | −16 | 016.67 |
| VfL Bochum | 23 May 2005[5] | 20 September 2009[6] | 152 | 55 | 39 | 58 | 214 | 215 | −1 | 036.18 |
| Austria | 1 November 2011[8] | 31 December 2017 | 54 | 25 | 13 | 16 | 81 | 58 | +23 | 046.30 |
| Basel | 2 August 2018 | 31 August 2020 | 101 | 61 | 19 | 21 | 214 | 114 | +100 | 060.40 |
| Al Ahly | 9 September 2022 | 26 April 2025 | 161 | 106 | 37 | 18 | 289 | 108 | +181 | 065.84 |
| Total | 737 | 365 | 181 | 191 | 1,278 | 856 | +422 | 049.53 | ||
Grasshoppers
St Gallen
Grasshoppers
Vfl Bochum
Basel
Al Ahly
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| International | |
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| People | |
