We know Swiss football

The official autumn season in Swiss Axpo league finished last Sunday. Let's check how we are doing with our initial predictions for the season 09/10.

St Gallen
Players in : Fabian Frei (Basel), Mario Frick (Siena), Kristian Nushi (Aarau)
Players out : Yago Bellon, Moustapha Dabo , Juan Pablo Garat, Alex Tachie-Mensah , Thomas Weller
Coach: Uli Forte
“ We no longer need to win every time ” -  claimed Forte. Last season despite the prolonged competition from Lugano the team managed to secure immediate return in the Super league with 25 wins, 3 draws and only 2 defeats. As the club still struggle with financial problems, the newcomers are only 3 , one of them signed on free transfer. But that will not be a huge issue if “Espen” keep their last year’s performance. And if they learn how to deal with the unavoidable future setbacks, we can see them just in the middle of the table at the end of the season.

Basel
Players in: Çagdas Atan (Energie Cottbus), Sabri Boumelaha (Concordia BS), Adilson Cabral (Sevilla Atlético), Massimo Colomba (Grasshopper), Antonio Da Silva (Karlsruhe), Alexander Frei (Borussia Dortmund), Samuel Inkoom (Asante Kotoko), Dominik Ritter (Concordia BS), Pascal Schürpf (Concordia BS),
Players out: Eren Derdiyok, Adelino Eduardo, Ivan Ergic, Fabian Frei, Jürgen Gjasula, Ronny Hodel , Jayson Leutwiler, Eduardo Rubio , Yann Sommer, Oliver Stöckli
New Coach: Thorsten Fink
After the last disappointing season the pressure in Basel is enormous. Head coach is now Thorsten Fink, the famous Bavarian player, who yet has to prove his coaching abilities. He was sacked by his previous club Ingolstadt 04 as with his help the German team was relegated to the 3rd division. Samuel Inkoom and Cagdas Atan will bring confidence in the defense line, and from Antonio Carlos Da Silva is expected to become the leading playmaker of the team. But nothing can be compared to the euphoria that was produced by the return of Alex Frei to his home team. Over 100 journalist and a dozen tv and radio stations witnessed his first words “ I am here to help Basel to win the championship “. Undoubtedly Frei could inspire the whole team, but Infobettor puts in question their champion’s intension. The  negligence defense, the inexperienced coach  and lack of guts in important moments will be serious barrier to their goal.

Grasshopper
Players in : Vullnet Basha (Lausanne), Lorenzo Bucchi (Bellinzona),Paulo Menezes (Aarau), Vincenzo Rennella (Lugano), Luiz Da Silva Rogerio (Aarau),  Yann Sommer (Basel)
Players out : Raul Bobadilla (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Massimo Colomba (Basel), Eldin Jakupovic , Roland Linz (Braga), Feliciano Magro , Alessandro Riedle (VfB Stuttgart), Scott Sutter (Young Boys)
New Coach : Ciriaco Sforza
First of all we have to point out that Grasshopper’s finance situation is not very stable as two major sponsors are no longer with the club. The results of the friendly games  were also not very good . Comparing  the players, that have been brought to those who left ,  we can honestly say that the team loss some of its class. Although that the board qualified last season as a “disaster ” it will be a success if the young boys of Ciriaco manage to reach the same place as the previous year.

FC Luzern
Players in : Cristian Florin Ianu (Aarau), Hakan Yakin (Al-Gharafa)
Players out : Kwabena Asamoa-Frimpong (Young Boys), Milan Gajic (Zürich), Ezequiel Scarione
Although Luzern made few purchase this summer, the team was qualified as a transfer winner by a survey amongst the Swiss fans. The reason is obvious – Hakan Yakin.  President Walter Stierli claimed for him “I am really happy that we got him. He is magnificent  with the ball ”. It is also a big advantage that the board managed to retain most of the last year squad, so be prepared for some good results from that club.

Sion
Players in : Tariq Chihab (NE Xamax), Moustapha Dabo (St. Gallen), Kevin Fickentscher (Chaux-de-Fonds), Aleksandar Mitreski (Nürnberg), Emile Mpenza (Plymouth Argyle), Andris Vanins (Ventspils), Abdoul Yoda (Servette),
Players out : Jocelyn Ahoueya, Julien Brellier, Carlos Manuel Kali, Damien Germanier, Essam El Hadary,  Michele Morganella, Virgile Reset
The team made some really good acquisitions this summer so we expect to be 1 – 2 places ahead than the last season.

BSC Young Boys
Players in: Kwabena Asamoa-Frimpong (Luzern), Matar Coly (Al Wahda), Adriano De Pierro, Emiliano Dudar (Bellinzona), David Frey (Thun), Aron Liechti (Biel), Issam Mardassi (CS Sfaxien), Alexandre Pasche (Lausanne), Christian Schneuwly (Biel), Scott Sutter (Grasshopper)
Players out : Felix Bastians (Freiburg), Thomas Häberli (Rücktritt), Baykal Kulaksizoglu, Guillermo Pereyra, Miguel Portillo, Christian Schwegler (Red Bull Salzburg), Carlos Varela (NE Xamax)
Young Boys has always had champion ambitions. This year may be is the most suitable for achieving this although they didn’t make any big transfers or conduct any extraordinary preparation for the season. The biggest advantage of the Bern boys is that the other two contestants – Basel and Zurich don’t look so strong. The team managed to extend the contracts of some of its key players including Seydou Doumbia, who in his first season scored  20 goals and made 10 assists. The transfer motto of the club this summer was “ We want to buy class players, but for less money”. However they managed to bring more depth in the team. We keep our fingers crossed for them as we are big fans of their attacking  football.

Xamax
Players in:), Fatadi Abdulla Baba (Al-Kharitiyath), Admir Aganovic (Dender), Mario Gavranovic (Yverdon), Omar Ismaeel (Al- Muharraq), Andrejs Kostjuks, Frédéric Page (Aarau), Damien Tixier (Le Havre), Carlos Varela (Young Boys),
Players out: Chahir Belghazouani, Tariq Chihab (Sion), Ivan Furios, Stephane Garcia , Mickael Nicoise, Alexandre Quennoz, Richmond Rak , Martin Steuble, Hussain Sulaimani (Al Nasr), Johnny Szlykowicz (Lausanne), Niklas Tarvajarvi, Maxime Vuille
New Coach: Pierre-Andre Schurmann
 Xamax has been very  active on the market this summer. Carlos Varela will really add value and skills to the squad. The new coach Schurmann is well respected specialist with proven track of coaching experience. That’s why Xamax will be far way from the relegation zone.

FC Zurich
Players in : Milan Gajic (Luzern), Andres Javier Vasquez, Johan Vonlanthen (Red Bull Salzburg)
Players out : Remo Staubli (Schaffhausen)
Zurich,last year’s champion  is very homogeneous and class team. The club retained the same squad from the previous season. Exception is playmaker Abdi, who will probably move to Udinese, but  Swiss international Johan Vonlanthen is ready to replace him. The Swiss press puts Zurich as a favorites but that is not granted for sure, as this year team’s prime goal is entering in the most prestigious European scene – Champions League.

Aarau
Players in: Serghei Alexeev (Iskra-Staly Rybnitsa), Loris Benito (Team Aargau U21), Artur Ionita (Iskra-Staly Rybnitsa), Michael Ludäscher (Baden), Tobias Müller (Wohlen), Michele Polverino (Vaduz), Martin Stoll (Karlsruhe)
Players out: Francisco Guerrero (APEP Pitsilia), Cristian Florin Ianu (Luzern), Paulo Menezes (Grasshopper), Mario Mutsch (Metz), Kristian Nushi (St. Gallen), Daniel Oprita, Frédéric Page (NE Xamax), Luiz Da Silva Rogerio (Grasshopper), Daniel Tarone (Baden)
New Coach : Jeff Saibene
Aurau is the main contestant for relegation this season. They lost a whole bunch of key players and that  will inevitable affect the team.

Bellinzona 
Players in : Paolo Carbone (Chiasso), Maurizio Ciaramitaro (Salernitana), De Odirlei Gaspar (Vaduz), Idelfonso Lima Sola (Triestina), David Sugar (Roma)
Players out : Luigi Beghetto (Rücktritt), Vincent Bernardet, Lorenzo Bucchi (Grasshopper), Drissa Diarra (Lecce), Emiliano Dudar (Young Boys), Frank Feltscher (Lecce), Stefano Milani (Locarno), Jocelyn Roux (Thun)

Bellinzona is a decent side, but they have serious problems in the defense line. This season they again rely on their home appearance to stay clear from relegation.