Football Season Guide

After a few years of unexpected stability, Sion have gotten back to their old ways over the last couple of years, being rather inconsistent and frequently changing their managers. They spent the late stages of the previous season battling against the drop and finished the campaign with a caretaker coach in charge. Despite securing their safety, caretaker Christian Zermatten did not remain in charge, with Stephane Henchoz, in charge of their regional rivals Xamax in the second half of the previous season, taking over. Sion were widely seen as underachievers last time around and their controversial chairman Cristian Constantin has reportedly given Henchoz free reign to shape the squad the way he feels necessary. His first task was to conduct a clear-out and as many as seven players have left and unsurprisingly so, with the Sitteners having a bloated squad next time around. The Sitteners have made a habit out of signing players outside of Switzerland and it is no surprise that their summer signings Patrick Luan, Konan Oussou and Jean Ruiz are all complete unknowns at Super League level. They made two other signings later in the transfer window, with Michael Facchinetti being a well-known player in the Swiss top flight, while veteran Valon Behrami returns to Switzerland after more than 15 years and is certainly the biggest name among the summer arrivals. It needs to be noted that Sion had no real incentive to battle for Europe last time around, having been handed a two-year European ban by UEFA back in 2018. Their ban expires at the end of the upcoming campaign, so there will be no administrative obstacles for them to play in Europe next time around.