We are delighted to announce that Maurizio Jacobacci will take charge of our team. The 63-year-old was born in the Swiss capital, Bern, to Italian parents. As a player he made more than 300 appearances in the Swiss top flight, including five seasons with BSC Young Boys. The former pacey winger enjoyed his greatest successes with Neuchâtel Xamax during the club's golden era. In a memorable campaign, the Swiss side reached the quarter-finals of the 1985–86 UEFA Cup, where they faced eventual winners Real Madrid. In the second leg, Xamax defeated the Spanish giants 2–0, with Jacobacci scoring one of the goals. Although Madrid ultimately advanced, the match remains one of the greatest European victories in the club's history. A year later, in the 1986–87 season, Jacobacci celebrated the Swiss league title as a Xamax player.
He began his coaching career in 2000 with Swiss record champions Grasshoppers, where he worked as an assistant coach until 2003. During that period the Zurich side won the Swiss championship twice – titles that remain the last in the club's history to this day. He later worked as a head coach in Switzerland, Austria, France and Germany.
Jacobacci won the Swiss third division with FC Schaffhausen in the 2012–13 season and later coached top-flight side FC Sion, where players such as current Manchester United footballer Matheus Cunha and Internazionale and Italy standout Federico Di Marco developed under him. With Lugano in the early 2020s he finished just one point short of the bronze-medal place that would have meant Europa League qualification. Interestingly, alongside Swiss legend Reto Ziegler – who also played for Juventus and Fenerbahçe, among others – he also coached several Hungarian players there, including our former NB I top scorer Filip Holender, our academy graduate Bálint Vécsei and Ákos Kecskés. In the 2020s he also served as head coach of French second-division side Grenoble and 1860 Munich.
The Italian connection is certainly not an unfamiliar concept in Kispest – after Hungarians, Italians have supplied the most coaches in the club's history. The first Italian coach was Aldo Dolcetti in 2005, followed later by Massimo Morales, Pietro Vierchowod, Giuseppe Sannino and Marco Rossi, the current head coach of the Hungarian national team.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate the team, the staff, the coaches and everyone who played a part in the club returning to the NB I after three years. As for me, it is an enormous privilege and honour to be here and to work as a coach at a club with such a great history and significance. I would like to thank the owner and the sporting director for their trust. I promise to put all my knowledge and experience at the service of the club so that we can achieve our goals. I hope the supporters will accept us – I am aware that we also have to earn their trust. At the same time, I hope they will give the team and the staff the chance to work very well together and build a successful future. The team will need their support greatly – just as it did last season. I can hardly wait for the season to begin!” – Jacobacci told our official website.
