Renato Steffen

Renato Steffen's route to the top of the Swiss Super League ran through a falling-out. He left FC Aarau's youth academy after a conflict with his under-16 coach, dropped down to SC Schöftland and FC Solothurn, and only rebuilt his career from there through FC Thun. At Young Boys the turnaround became visible: a bicycle kick against Aarau won him the league's Goal of the Season for 2014–15.

Basel gave him back-to-back Super League titles and a Swiss Cup before he moved to the Bundesliga in January 2018. He stayed four seasons, a regular starter under Oliver Glasner and Niko Kovač, before returning home to Lugano in 2022.

His Switzerland career was repeatedly interrupted by injury: he missed Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and the 2018 World Cup, and a torn ankle ligament in 2021 kept him out for four months. Fitness allowed him to make the squads for the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024, and in between came the night that defined his international record. Against Belarus in March 2023, he scored a hat-trick in a single half of a Euro 2024 qualifier — the first time a Swiss player had managed three goals in one half since 1960, in a 5–0 win.

He was named Swiss Super League Player of the Year in 2024, adding to Team of the Year selections from 2014–15 and 2017–18, and shared the league's assists crown in 2022–23. A pneumothorax in late 2025 was the latest setback in his career.