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Wicky announced as new U.S. U-17 National Team head coach

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The U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team has a new leader.

The federation announced Raphael Wicky as the new U-17 head coach on Friday. The 41-year-old former Swiss international most recently coached at FC Basel in 2017-18, when they made it into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League. He holds a UEFA Pro License and has a wealth of experience as a professional player and coach.

“We are very pleased with the hiring of Raphael, not only because of his impressive player background, but also as a youth and professional coach,” Nico Romejin, U.S. Soccer Chief Sport Development Officer said. “He impressed us with his knowledge of the player pool and his commitment to contribute to the overall Youth National Teams program to develop our next generation of National Team players.”

Wicky earned 75 caps with the Swiss National Team, including appearances in the 2006 World Cup. He also has experience playing in the 1996 and 2004 European Championships. His club career includes stops at FC Sion, Werder Bremen, Hamburg, and Chivas USA.

“It’s an exciting moment to join U.S. Soccer,” Wicky said. “As a coach, it excites me to be a part of the process and working to help players grow. I’ve  been following U.S. Soccer for more than 10 years now, and with the growth of the sport in the United States, I’m really excited to come in and help develop the program.”

As a coach, he got his start at FC Servette in the Swiss second tier before moving to Basel, where he led the U-18. U-19, and U-21 sides before taking over the first team in 2017.

Wicky will hold his first training camp with the U-17s in the first week of April before May’s Concacaf U-17 Championship in Bradenton, Florida, where he hopes to qualify for the U-17 World Cup.

Comments

    • This. The good ol’ boy network has been one of the many issues with the US youth setup. No idea how this will work out, but at least they are trying to do something different.

      Reply

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