Date of birth: 15 September 1974
Nationality: Swiss
Playing career: Grasshopper-Club, VfB Stuttgart, Fenerbahçe SK, FC Basel 1893, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, FC Basel 1893
Coaching career: FC Concordia Basel, FC Thun, FC Luzern, FC Basel 1893

• The older brother of fellow former Swiss international Hakan Yakin, Basel-born Murat was capped 49 times as a defender and midfielder. He played in the Bundesliga and Turkish Süper Lig, but enjoyed his best seasons as captain of Basel, leading them to three league titles and two Swiss Cups.

• Won back-to-back championships in a five-season spell with Grasshoppers at the beginning of his career. A campaign in Germany with Stuttgart, with whom he was a runner-up in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Chelsea FC, followed before he spent just over a season with Fenerbahçe.

• Of Turkish descent, Yakin returned to Switzerland and Basel during the 1999/2000 campaign, but was soon off again, to Kaiserslautern. Joined Basel permanently and gained the adoration of the northern club's support, registering seven goals in 32 games during the double-winning 2001/02 season and featuring in Basel's spectacular UEFA Champions League run the next term.

• Made his international debut against the United Arab Emirates in September 1994 but was overlooked for EURO '96 and further disappointments followed as Switzerland failed to qualify for the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups, as well as UEFA EURO 2000. However, he played all 270 minutes of the Nati's UEFA EURO 2004 campaign in Portugal.

• Retired from playing in 2006 and quickly moved into coaching with Concordia Basel. Having rejoined Grasshoppers in 2007 for a two-year stint as assistant coach, he was lured back into front-line management by Thun, whom he led to promotion from the second tier at the first attempt. Took charge at Luzern in 2011, securing runners-up finishes in the league and Swiss Cup, but left after only six games of the 2012/13 season and was installed as Basel coach that October.