Cédric Zesiger and the national team have not been a love story so far. After his great performances in Augsburg, the defender is now hoping to step on the gas under coach Murat Yakin.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Cédric Zesiger made it to the Bundesliga via the Super League. However, the defender has only made four international appearances for the national team so far.
- The 26-year-old has regularly been called up for the national team. In September, however, Zesiger was not nominated by coach Murat Yakin.
- Following his move to Augsburg, Zesiger has regained hope of playing a bigger role in the national team, as he explains on blue Sport.
So far, Cédric Zesiger has had a thankless role in the national team under national team coach Murat Yakin. Zesiger was in the squad for the entire European Championship campaign, the qualifiers and the finals, but only made one 90-minute appearance in 19 games - the 1.94-metre defender was substituted twice late on, otherwise the Bundesliga mercenary was on the substitutes' bench. In the fall, Zesiger was suddenly missing from the squad.
"I had a difficult phase at the end of 2024 because I didn't play much for the club. Then it's normal that you struggle more to be in the national team," said Zesiger in an interview with blue Sport, adding: "It would be stupid to think that if you don't play for the club, you'll play for the national team."
In fact, things did not go according to plan for the Bernese Seelander in Wolfsburg. While Zesiger was still a starter at the start of the season, he only played a cumulative 71 minutes for the club from October to mid-January.
But since the winter transfer to Augsburg, everything seems to be going well. He has never lost with the Fuggerstädter and has never conceded a goal with Zesiger on the pitch. If he keeps a clean sheet tomorrow after the game against his former employers Wolfsburg, Zesiger will even break a Bundesliga record. "At the moment things are going well, I'm full of confidence and have a lot of minutes in my legs," Zesiger sums up.
Opening a new chapter in the national team
He now has the international matches against Northern Ireland and Luxembourg coming up. "Because things are going well at the club, I'm hoping to get some minutes in the national team," says Zesiger. The 26-year-old has big plans: "I've been with the team for a while and know the team and the processes, so I also want to take the next step in the national team."
Zesiger is also a prime example of how quickly things can happen in football. At the end of December, he described Yakin's lack of an autumn call-up to blue Sport as "a slap in the face". He called the ten minutes of playing time in 2024 "frustrating". Now his "ambivalent feeling" about the national team could soon be history.
With the loss of defensive boss Manuel Akanji, one position is already free. It is therefore quite possible that Zesiger will have more than his previous four international caps to his name by the end of March. But other players are currently on the losing side, as blue Sport editor-in-chief Andy Böni explains.
