Sporting Kansas City announced today that Raphael Wicky has been appointed as the club’s head coach, pending receipt of his P1 visa. Wicky has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club through the 2027-28 season with a club option for the 2028-29 season.
Wicky, who becomes the fifth permanent head coach in club history, will oversee the Sporting KC first team and report directly to President of Soccer Operations & General Manager David Lee.
“I am very proud to be the new head coach of Sporting Kansas City,” Wicky said. “I am really excited to get started and get to know the team, the staff and the players. In my talks with David, we instantly had a good connection and felt very aligned in terms of culture and style of play. Sporting KC has always been a team that competed to win trophies and I feel that the club has all the ingredients to get back to where it belongs – great ownership, amazing facilities, a talented academy and a beautiful stadium with fantastic fans.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Raphael as the next head coach of Sporting Kansas City,” Lee said. “Rapha’s experience both domestically and internationally, along with his success at the highest levels of the game, made him the standout candidate during our search. He is a leader and a proven winner who will bring a humble, collaborative and hard-working approach to his role and strive to build strong relationships with our players and staff. Rapha’s teams are attack-minded, high-energy and possession-oriented – all qualities that represent the style of play we want to implement here in Kansas City.”
Wicky, 48, was most recently at the helm of Swiss giants BSC Young Boys from 2022-2024, guiding the Bern-based club to the 2022-23 Super League and Cup double in his native Switzerland. Under Wicky, Young Boys posted a 51-17-20 record in all competitions, scoring 193 goals – an average of 2.19 goals per game.
Appointed in June 2022, Wicky enjoyed a brilliant maiden season with Young Boys – winning the Swiss Super League with a 21-4-11 record and finishing 16 points clear at the summit. Wicky and Young Boys completed the domestic double by winning the Swiss Cup following a 3-2 victory over FC Lugano in the final on June 4, 2023.
Young Boys began the 2023-24 season in fine form, losing just one of their first 13 league matches and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League after defeating Israeli side Maccabi Haifa in the Qualifying Round 3-0 on aggregate. Wicky departed Young Boys with 12 games remaining in the 2023-24 season, leaving the team atop the Swiss Super League standings on their way to a second consecutive title.
The Leuggern, Switzerland native has previously coached in the United States, initially leading the U.S. Under-17 National Team to a second-place finish at the 2019 Concacaf U-17 Championship before overseeing the team’s run in the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup – notably coaching Sporting KC Academy product Gianluca Busio. Wicky shifted to MLS for the following two years, serving as head coach of the Chicago Fire in 2020 and 2021.
Wicky began his coaching career in Switzerland as a youth coach with FC Thun and Servette FC before joining Swiss giants FC Basel in 2013. After coaching the club’s U-18 and U-21 teams, Wicky was named first team head coach ahead of the 2017-18 season. In his lone full season in charge, Basel posted a 29-11-9 record across all competitions and finished second in the Super League.
Basel relished playing in the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League under Wicky, beating Manchester United and Benfica in the Group Stage before being eliminated by Manchester City in the Round of 16 on aggregate despite winning the second leg 2-1 on the road – the best showing by a Swiss club in the UEFA Champions League.
Wicky enjoyed a decorated 16-year playing career, highlighted by 75 caps with the Switzerland National Team. Wicky started every match for his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and also represented Switzerland at the 1996 and 2004 UEFA European Championships.
A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Wicky started his career with FC Sion in Switzerland where he won a Swiss Super League title and three Swiss Cups from 1993-1997.
Wicky continued his success at German side Werder Bremen from 1997-2000, helping the team win the DFB-Pokal German Cup in 1999. Following a brief stint in Spain with Atletico Madrid in 2001, Wicky headed back to Germany and joined Hamburger SV where he spent the bulk of his career from 2001-2007, winning the DFL-Ligapokal German League Cup in 2003.
Wicky returned to boyhood club Sion in 2007 before ending his playing career following a season in MLS with Chivas USA in 2008.
