Vladimir Petkovic, the coach who took Switzerland to the quarter-finals of the last Euro, will join the Girondins de Bordeaux and Ligue 1 for the next three seasons, the Swiss Football Federation (ASF) and the Bordeaux club announced on Tuesday.

“After seven years at the head of the Swiss national team, Vladimir Petkovic asked the Swiss Football Association (ASF) to terminate his current contract in order to take up a new challenge in French football.

The ASF acceded to this request and reached an agreement with the national coach and his new employer, the Girondins de Bordeaux, to terminate his contract, ”the ASF announced in a press release.

"The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the agreement," adds the federation.

National coach Vladimir Petkovic is leaving ASF to join the Girondins de Bordeaux.

Thank you for these seven years of success and good luck in Bordeaux!



👉 https://t.co/AeHvUVv9wn pic.twitter.com/vEwynnzrGU

- 🇨🇭 Nati (@nati_sfv_asf) July 27, 2021

Recognized for his work with the Nati

“We are sad that Vladimir Petkovic is leaving us,” said ASF President Dominique Blanc, “but we are very grateful to Vlado for the extremely good and successful seven years he has given us as a coach. national ”.

"I would like to thank the officials of the Association for having granted my wish and for letting me go for a new challenge," said Vladimir Petkovic, quoted in the same press release.

“It was seven wonderful years with the Nati, which I will never forget,” he added.

Under the leadership of the 57-year-old coach, the "Nati" made a historic journey during the last Euro, failing only in the quarter-final against Spain on penalties (1-1 ap, 3-2 tab), after eliminating the French, reigning world champions, in the eighth.

#WelcomeVladimir 🇨🇭 pic.twitter.com/BhzQWuVq5y

- FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) July 27, 2021

Lopez's strong first choice

On the Gironde side, the new president Gerard Lopez welcomed the arrival of Petkovic, recognized to be a fine psychologist and to play well his teams, whose last club experience dates from 2013, at Lazio Rome with which he won the Italian Cup, his only trophy on a bench.

"We are so proud to be able to recruit Vladimir," Lopez wrote in a statement.

He has the perfect profile to be part of a long-term project with the club (…) Recruiting such a coach with such an aura and such a CV is also proof of our ambition for this season.

"

Bordeaux, which finished 12th in the last championship, is aiming for the first half of the table for the coming season and Europe within three years.

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