With the World Cup now done and dusted, it's time to get back to business. Welcome back Xamax! With their return, I've once again been to all 9 Super League stadiums. New season starts on 21 July. Los geht's!! Allons-y!!
My Predictions 1 - Young Boys 2 - Basel 3 - St. Gallen 4 - FC Zurich 5 - Luzern 6 - Thun 7 - Xamax 8 - Lugano 9 - Sion 10 - Grasshopper Club Zurich
My Predictions 1 - Young Boys 2 - Basel 3 - St. Gallen 4 - FC Zurich 5 - Luzern 6 - Xamax 7 - Lugano 8 - Sion 9 - Thun 10 - Grasshopper Club Zurich I think that Basel has lost too much to challenge YB. I agree that GCZ seems to be the team who is relegated. I would not be surprised if two BCL teams are promoted.
My Predictions 1 - Young Boys 2 - Basel 3 - Xamax 4 - St. Gallen 5 - Grasshopper 6 - FC Zurich 7 - Luzern 8 - Lugano 9 - Thun 10 - Sion No chance GCZ will be relegated... Look for a big season from Xamax!
21 July Basel - FCSG 1-2 Late goal gets the win for FCSG. Luzern - Xamax 0-2 Great way for Xamax to start the RSL season. 22 July FCZ - Thun 2-1 Sion - Lugano 1-2 Not a great start for Sion, CC has banned a reporter from the Neuchatel Newpaper from entering the stadium. YB - GCZ 2-0 Xamax 3 YB 3 Lugano 3 FCSG 3 FCZ 3 Thun 0 Basel 0 Sion 0 GCZ 0 Luzern 0
Leading goalscorers: 12 with 1 Leading assists: 12 with 1 Attendance: Basel (1) 25,648 YB (1) 21,369 FCZ (1) 9,310 Luzern (1) 8,905 Sion (1) 8,300 Lugano FCSG Thun Xamax GCZ
Bad news for Xamax - Starting central defender Igor Djuric is out for an extended period of time due to an knee injury suffered on Wednesday during training. An exact timetable is unknown at this point, too much swelling, but it looks like a long time.
And the first managerial casualty of the season is ... Raphael Wicky of Basel! Two matches and he was fired. Alexandre Frei will head up the team on an interim basis, while being assisted by Marco Schallibaum.
28 July GCZ - FCZ Limmat Derby really early this season. Xamax - Basel Will the newly promoted further the misery of Basel start? 29 July Lugano - YB FCSG - Sion Thun - Luzern
July 28 Grasshopper 0 - 2 FC Zuerich Xamax 1 - 1 Basel July 29 Lugano 0 - 2 Young Boys St. Gallen 2 - 4 Sion Thun 2 - 1 Luzern
YB pulls 5 points clear of Basel already. YB 6 FCZ 6 Xamax 4 Sion 3 Thun 3 FCSG 3 Lugano 3 Basel 1 Luzern 0 GCZ 0 Wow, those are some very different standings than we have come to accept.
Leading goalscorers: 2 - Cedric Itten - FCSG 2 - Anto Grgic - Sion 3 - Adrian Winter - FCZ Leading assists: 2 - Tomi Domgjoni - FCZ 2 - Charles-Andre Doudin - Xamax Attendance: Basel (1) 25,648 YB (1) 21,369 GCZ (1) 16,400 - Good crowd for the first Derby match of the season. Xamax (1) 12,000 - Full house for the first match in RSL, vs Basel and tribute to former club President who died. FCSG (1) 11,262 FCZ (1) 9,310 Luzern (1) 8,905 Sion (1) 8,300 Thun (1) 5,153 Lugano (1) 4,126
Leading candidates, according to Blick, Le Matin, etc for the Basel job. Marcel Koller - he would be very expensive and is also talking to the Israel National Team. He could be the first to win the Swiss Title (albeit maybe not this season) with three clubs. Ralph Hasenhuul - the former RB Leipzig manager Martin Schmidt Roberto Di Matteo - CL winner, would he come back to Switzerland? Kubilay Turkyilmaz wants Vladimir Petkovic as Basel's manager. That would allow Koller too be the NT manager.
4 Aug Basel - GCZ Can Basel recover from dismal match against PAOK? They should beat GCZ right? Luzern - Lugano Can Luzern overcome the injury bug to get something from this match? 5 Aug Sion - Xamax A Swiss Romand Derby FCSG - Thun - FCSG needs to bounce back from a very disappointing trip to Norway. YB - FCZ This could be a really good one.
4 Aug Basel - GCZ 4-2 Luzern - Lugano 4-2 5 Aug Sion - Xamax 3-0 - Xamax learns that the RSL will be a challenge FCSG - Thun 3-2 YB - FCZ 4-0 Very different result than expected. YB shown that they are a clear level above FCZ. YB 9 Sion 6 FCSG 6 FCZ 6 Basel 4 Xamax 4 Thun 3 Luzern 3 Lugano 3 GCZ 0
Leading goalscorers: 3 - Cedric Itten - FCSG 3 - Anto Grgic - Sion 2 - 8 players have two goals Leading assists: 3 - Miralem Sulejmani YB 2 - 6 players have 2 assists Attendance: Basel (2) 25,481 YB (2) 22,098 GCZ (1) 16,400 . Xamax (1) 12,000 FCSG (2) 11,267 Sion (2) 9,550 FCZ (1) 9,310 Luzern (2) 8,360 Thun (1) 5,153 Lugano (1) 4,126[
GCZ have been hot trash to start the season. They scored their only two goals of the season after Basel went down to 10 men, and they failed to convert 2 penalties which would have leveled the game. I know it's early days, but they look like they're going to be running uphill all year. Basel really took their foot off the gas once they were up 4-0, and it almost cost them. They got way too lazy, and if they let it keep happening, they could be in for a long season, as well. YB are the class of the league right now. Their masterclass performance against FCZ showed how good they really are, and the fact that haven't given up a goal in 3 matches so far shows how good their defense is. Sion has quietly put together two straight solid performances. Jacobacci has them playing well after their initial rough start against Lugano. The real test comes against Basel, so I think that will be a statement game for them.
What's the deal with GCZ...not just this season but for the last several seasons? They look ok on paper why are they so mediocre? They were once so dominant in Switzerland...it can't simply be because they don't have a home is it?
Money. They aren't generating much in revenue, and the money is drying up. They've been relying on loans and developing youth, but it's just not happening right now. There are concerns that if they get relegated that they may not come back up for a few years just because the finances aren't in good shape. They're not on the verge of going the route that Servette and Xamax went, but they're operating on a very thin budget.
That is sad as they were one of the great Swiss clubs and at one time the most identifiable Swiss club.
GCZ does not get all of the revenue streams at their current stadium. From what I understand, concessions etc are split between FCZ and GCZ for the GCZ home games, but FCZ gets all of it for their home games. They seem to really have fallen into a no-mansland. Their youth players are not developing like they had, they do not have the money to buy younger players, and then resell them. Their youth system from what I have read is a mess.
FC Basel defender Eray Cumart has been suspended for this weekends match due to his red card against GCZ.
I thought their was a proposed new stadium to be built to house both GCZ and FCZ would the clubs be equal partners in this? Would this allow for a better revenue stream for GCZ?