Youth teams Born in
Lausanne, Magnin started his career at
FC Echallens, where he played until 1996. He spent one season at
Lausanne Sports before joining second-tier
Yverdon Sports.
Switzerland and Germany In 1999, he made his professional debut for Yverdon Sports. In the summer of 2000, he transferred to
Ticino side
FC Lugano, then playing in the first-tier
Axpo Super League. In the beginning of 2002, Magnin made his biggest career move by joining
Bundesliga side
Werder Bremen for the transfer sum of approximately 1 million
Swiss Francs. He won the double of Bundesliga and
DFB-Pokal with the
Northern German side in 2004, but had bad luck with many injuries and played only 45 games in four years in Bremen. In 2005, he transferred to
Southern Germany, to
Swabian side
VfB Stuttgart. There
Ludo, as he is being called by Stuttgart fans, became a first-team regular within the first season and was a key player for his team in the following 2006–07 season, when he became German champion for the second time in his career. In early 2008, he extended his contract until June 2010. When his starting position in the team began to erode in the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Magnin decided to leave Stuttgart in order to keep his chances of playing for the Swiss national squad at the
2010 World Cup. Therefore, he returned to his native country in January 2010, joining
FC Zürich. Magnin made 103 appearances scoring two goals in four and a half years at
VfB. On 27 August 2012, Magnin announced that he had decided to end his playing career. Having suffered a back injury before the 2012–13 season, he expected to play until the end of the season, but shortly after admitted that it was impossible to remain as a player. He also mentioned that he would serve as an assistant coach of FC Zürich junior team. ==International career==