The Switzerland head coach was our guest of honour on Sunday for a very special night to bring the curtain down on the groundbreaking FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ and look ahead to next year’s FIFA World Cup 26™. There were fun, fascinating and insightful moments with Yakin before the focus shifted to the big match between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea FC.

As always, the latest event in our Football Summer series delivered right from the start, kicking off with Yakin’s exploration of our FIFA Club World Cup pop-up exhibition – which can be visited until 17 August. When asked about the new tournament, Yakin expressed his excitement: "I'm thrilled about this new format. There's nothing better than being able to watch football every night.”

This was followed by a vibrant live talk centred on the FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA World Cup, in which the 50-year-old shared insights from his daily routine as national team manager, the current status of the Swiss national team and their recent training camp in the USA - after which he took the chance to visit two matches of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

“The training camp and the visit to the FIFA Club World Cup were important, because it provided us with the opportunity to get a first-hand experience of the stadiums, the organisation, and also the travel, time-zones and different climates in the United States. That was very insightful, especially looking forward to the FIFA World Cup 26™. But of course, we have to qualify first, because one thing is clear - the FIFA World Cup 26™will be an incredible tournament,” said the multiple Swiss top-flight champion.

At the conclusion of his talk, Yakin went on to answer a few questions from visitors, and took the opportunity to reach out to the young members of the audience, advising them not to simply dream of playing for the national team one day: “You need hard work, training and discipline to reach the top. Dreaming alone is not enough. You may also need a little bit of luck, but in the end it comes down to hard work.”

The rousing speech was followed by a meet-and-greet session, where the Swiss Coach spent some one-on one time with the visitors, taking selfies and signing autographs.

Throughout his career Yakin played for Grasshoppers, Stuttgart, Fenerbahçe, Basel and Kaiserslautern across the 1990s and 2000s, winning almost 50 caps for the Swiss national team. After hanging up his boots, he coached several clubs in his homeland as well as Spartak Moscow before taking up his current role in August 2021. He guided Switzerland to the World Cup 2022 and UEFA EURO 2024, with Die Nati reaching the knockout stage at both, with his next task being to repeat the feat at the 2026 global showpiece.

Speaking of the global stage, still to come was the small matter of the FIFA Club World Cup final between reigning European champions PSG and UEFA Conference League title holders Chelsea. What an occasion it turned out to be, with the action on the pitch in New York New Jersey setting pulses racing all the way back in Zurich and across the globe. Yakin joined the fans at our Champions Lounge to feast his eyes on the match, which ended with the English side lifting the iconic trophy after prevailing 3-0.