GENEVA, May 31 — A surprise choice when appointed to take over the Switzerland post from the widely respected Ottmar Hitzfeld in 2014, former charity shop worker Vladimir Petkovic trod an unlikely path to international management.
Born in the former Yugoslavia, Petkovic began his playing career with his home town team FK Sarajevo before emigrating to Switzerland in 1987, turning out mostly in the lower leagues before retiring 12 years later.
He juggled coaching with a full-time job in a shop run by Caritas, the Catholic charity for the poor, from 2003 to 2008, leading Bellinzona, in the country’s Italian-speaking Ticino region, to promotion to the top flight and a cup final.
He landed his first prominent managerial role at Young Boys, and a short spell in Turkey followed, before Lazio came calling in 2012, with Petkovic guiding the club to the Coppa Italia in his debut season after victory over city rivals Roma in the final.
Lazio owner Claudio Lotito admitted Petkovic’s Caritas experience factored into his hiring, explaining at the time that he wanted his players “to be nourished spiritually”.
However, the goodwill ran out the following campaign when Lotito learned Petkovic was in negotiations for the Swiss job and he was promptly dismissed.
After it became apparent then-Austria coach Marcel Koller could not be lured back home to succeed Hitzfeld in the wake of the 2014 World Cup, Petkovic was handed the challenging task of replacing a man who had won seven Bundesliga crowns and a pair of Champions League titles.
His arrival was greeted with little fanfare, but the choice of Petkovic, who defines himself as both Swiss and a Bosnian Croat, was symbolic of the squad’s multi-cultural make-up.
The 54-year-old, drawing upon a generation of talent often with roots in Switzerland’s Balkan migrant community, has steered the nation to back-to-back major finals — a 2-0 defeat by Portugal last October the lone blemish on an otherwise exemplary record since losing to Poland on penalties at Euro 2016. — AFP
