Football Season Guide

Servette

In


Michael Gonçalves (def) (Wil), Vincent Sasso (def) (Belenenses), Varol Tasar (att) (Aarau - back from loan), Gael Ondoua (mid) (Anzhi)

Out


Alexandre Alphonse (sp) (att) (retired), Kwadwo Duah (sp) (mid) (Wil), Daniel Follonier (r) (mid) (contract expired), Sally Sarr (sp) (def/mid) (released)

After two campaigns of near-misses, Servette won the Challenge League at a canter last time around and will return to the top flight after a five-year absence. The Geneva club endured some difficult times during their absence from the top flight; even ending up playing a season in the regional leagues after being denied a Challenge League licence. However, they got new owners in 2015 and things started to get better after that. While the majority of newly-promoted sides enter their Super League campaigns hoping for their players to adjust to the top flight, this is really not the case with Servette, who are littered with players proven in the top flight; with Steven Lang, Steve Roullier and Sebastien Wuthrich all among those proving themselves as decent players in the top flight. They have had a rather uneventful summer transfer window. Daniel Follonier has joined Luzern after rejecting their offer of a new contract, but they have otherwise kept core of their squad together. What will be interesting to see is how their manager Alain Geiger will cope with his new role, as he returned to Switzerland after a ten-year absence to take over at Servette last season and will now return to the top flight for the first time in thirteen years.

Target


While Servette are a relatively big club and are as well-equipped to compete in the top flight as any newly-promoted side in recent memory, they will enter the season with modest expectations, with the main goal being to avoid the drop.