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🇭🇷 Croatia /Sports

Croat Takes Charge of Swiss Football: “Switzerland Will Reach a European Championship or World Cup Semifinal by 2030”

From Večernji List · () Croatian

Translated from Croatian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources New plan
  • Marinko Jurendić has become chief sports officer of the Swiss Football Association, overseeing its national teams.
  • The Swiss citizen, who also holds Croatian citizenship, previously worked as a player, coach and sporting director.
  • He predicts that Switzerland will reach a European Championship or World Cup semifinal by 2030.

Marinko Jurendić has taken on a new role at the top of Swiss football, becoming chief sports officer of the Swiss Football Association. The 48-year-old Swiss citizen, who was born in Bosnia and also holds Croatian citizenship, will oversee the country’s national teams.

The appointment follows the consolidation of sporting responsibilities within the association. Switzerland’s football program produced a quarterfinalist at the 2026 World Cup and currently ranks 14th in FIFA’s standings, one place below Croatia.

Jurendić previously played for several Swiss clubs, including Thun, a recent opponent of Dinamo. He later moved into coaching and managed Switzerland’s under-16 national team.

His career also includes sporting director roles at Zürich, where he won the Swiss title in 2022, and at German Bundesliga club Augsburg. In his new position, he has set an ambitious target for the Swiss national team: “Switzerland will reach a European Championship or World Cup semifinal by 2030.”

Switzerland will reach a European Championship or World Cup semifinal by 2030.

· Marinko JurendićHe set an ambitious target for Swiss national-team football.
About this summary

Originally published by Večernji List in Croatian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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