Background
He is half Dutch as his mother is from the Netherlands.
He is half Dutch as his mother is from the Netherlands.
Degen started his youth football with local club Football Club Oberdorf. In 1996 he transferred to the youth teams of Football Club playing in their U-18 and U-21 teams. He started his professional career at Football Club Aarau in 2000 but returned to in 2003.
Degen moved to Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2006.
He played his debut for Mönchengladbach on 14 October 2006 in the game against VfL Wolfsburg and scored his first goal for his new club in that game. However, after the club"s relegation in the Bundesliga season 2006-2007 into the 2.
Bundesliga, Borussia manager Jos Luhukay loaned him out to his former club, for the 2007-2008 season. On 22 August 2008, he returned to Switzerland on a permanent deal with Bachelor of Science Young Boys.
Degen spent four seasons in Bern playing 106 league matches and scoring 17 goals.
On 31 May 2012, announced that they had signed Degen on a contract up until June 2015 together with is brother Philipp. He started his first game for his team following his return against Servette Football Club on 13 July and scored the winning goal to the 1–0 victory. In the 2012-2013 Union of European Football Associations Europa League advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning Union of European Football Associations Champions League holders Chelsea, but were knocked out being beaten 2–5 on aggregate.
They also reached the final of the 2013-2014 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by Zürich after extra time.
In the 2013-2014 Champions League season in the group stage finished the group in third position to qualify for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. After the season Degen retired from professional football.
Degen was selected for the Swiss 2006 World Cup squad. However, he only played in the warm-up games.
Degen was left out of the squad to play at Union of European Football Associations Euro 2008.