FC Kaiserslautern in the 1980s he won two caps with the West Germany national team under coach Franz Beckenbauer; Foda played against Argentina and Brazil in late 1987.

[4] Foda joined FC Basel's first team during the winter break of their 1996–97 season under head coach Karl Engel.

Foda played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the St. Jakob Stadium on 2 March 1997 as Basel won 1–0 against Zürich.

[18] Foda resigned from the position in March 2022, following their failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after the defeat to Wales in Cardiff.

[19] On 8 June 2022, he was announced as the new head coach of Swiss champions FC Zürich, replacing André Breitenreiter.

[22] His son Sandro (born 1989) first appeared professionally with Sturm Graz in 2007, when his father was head coach.