There are five days of the championship remaining and Neuchâtel Xamax can no longer hope for much in the football Challenge League. The “rouge et noir” welcome Wil this Tuesday at the La Maladière stadium.
Tied on points with Aarau in third place in the standings, but with a match in hand, Xamax has a comfortable margin of sixteen points ahead of bottom-placed Baden. If successful, it will be mathematically assured of its maintenance. These are figures that Yoan Epitaux and his teammates don’t really dwell on. Injured since February, the Jura defender was back on the bench on Friday in Schaffhausen. And last week, his contract was also extended for the future financial year 2024–2025: “Clearly, I feel it as a liberation,” admits this former junior from Les Bois, in Franches-Montagnes. “I have my contract for next season and I will be able to completely focus on my recovery after my injury.”
Yoan Epitaux remains in two seasons which he considers mixed, marked by two major injuries, the second being according to him the consequence of the first. The Jura player fractured his fibula in September 2022. He returned to play eight months later, contributing to the rescue of Xamax in the Challenge League: “I certainly returned to competition too early, I absolutely wanted to play again to help the team and ensure our maintenance. Yoan Epitaux suffered a second injury, inflammation in his knee, which has kept him away from the field since last February. Today, he is back on the field.
Aged 23, Yoan Epitaux will already begin his fifth season with Neuchâtel Xamax during the next financial year 2024–2025. /mne
