Lausanne-Sport rehires Ludovic Magnin as coach after dismissing Luka Elsner

A return after a short spell

Lausanne-Sport announced on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, that Ludovic Magnin will return as head coach with immediate effect, on a contract running to 30 June 2028. The announcement came one day after the club released Luka Elsner, who had taken charge in the summer and lasted only five months. Elsner's exit followed a 4-5 defeat to FC Thun on Sunday, 1 November, in which Lausanne gave up a 4-1 lead before the 70th minute. Le Temps reports that the separation was agreed by mutual consent, after a result that it describes as the sign of a deeper problem. Magnin, 47, is a native of the canton of Vaud and had been without a club since FC Basel dismissed him in January 2026.

The club's statement set out its goal in plain terms:

“In a very difficult sporting situation, Lausanne-Sport now has a single objective: to secure its survival in the Super League.”

Familiar ground at a club at the foot of the table

Lausanne sit last in the Super League with six points from twelve matchdays, four behind Grasshopper Club Zürich in the penultimate place. According to N-tv, the club chose a coach who knows its environment, its routines and the expectations placed on the team at the Tuilière. Magnin is expected to bring quick stability to a squad that N-tv describes as unsettled. His first match in his second spell is on Saturday evening, 7 November, when Lausanne meet GC at the Letzigrund in Zürich, a duel that Blick calls a Kellerduell. Blick also points out the irony that the match takes place in Zürich, where Magnin began his coaching career at FC Zürich.

His first spell and his time at Basel

Between 2022 and 2025, Magnin led Lausanne back into the top flight, won promotion in 2023 and kept the club up the following season. N-tv reports that 2025 brought the club its first European place in 15 years, while Blick says the side finished fifth that year, its best Super League placing since the league was introduced in the 2003/04 season. Magnin then left for FC Basel in the summer of 2025 and managed 33 matches before his dismissal in January 2026, a spell Blick describes as mediocre. As a player he won the German championship with both Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart. His only trophy as a coach so far is the Swiss Cup, won with FC Zürich in 2018, according to Blick.

What comes next

Magnin's contract runs to 30 June 2028, which means his mandate reaches well beyond the current relegation fight. The club's own wording makes avoiding relegation the sole priority for the season's remaining matchdays. Lausanne's immediate task is to turn a team that has collected six points from twelve rounds into one that can close a four-point gap on Grasshopper. The Letzigrund match against GC will show quickly whether the change of coach brings any immediate effect on results.