Max Abegglen

Who was Max Abegglen?

Max "Xam" Abegglen was a Swiss football player. He played for FC Lausanne until 1923 when he transferred to Grasshopper Zurich. He was the brother of André 'Trello' Abegglen and Jean Abegglen, both also players of the Swiss national team.

Abegglen played for the Swiss national team 68 times, scoring 34 goals. He was the sole leading goalscorer for the team until Kubilay Turkyilmaz's 34th goal in his 62nd and final international in 2001. Their records were broken on 30 May 2008 with Alexander Frei's 35th goal.

Abegglen scored a hat-trick in his first international, against Italy in Berne on 19 November 1922. His only other hat-trick was in the Football at the 1924 Summer Olympics on 24 May 1924, with three in a 9–0 win over Lithuania. The Swiss won the silver medal after losing the final 3–0 to Uruguay. Abegglen missed the 1934 FIFA World Cup. In his final match, he was captain as Switzerland lost 1–0 to Nazi Germany on 2 May 1937.

The club Neuchâtel Xamax, twice Swiss champions in the 1980s, is named after "Xam" Max Abegglen.