For its return to the Swiss elite, Sion was the nice surprise at the start of the championship as evidenced by its 7th place which today earns it the leader of the second group. What will it be in 2025? In an extraordinarily dense hierarchy, does the newly promoted Valais have the right to aim for something other than maintaining the initial objective?
The arrival this Saturday at 6 p.m. of Grasshopper – the opportunity to relegate Zurich to 14 points, which is far from negligible – followed by a delicious triptych (trips to Basel and Lugano then reception of Servette) will allow us to better situate its true potential.
While awaiting the verdict on the pitch, Didier Tholot does not wish to change the course he set for himself at the start of the season. “I’m not going to act like Guy Roux,” he had fun when talking about the recovery to the media. But when you have a distant goal, you have to hold on to it. I therefore prefer to stick to precise objectives, defined from the start, namely maintenance. Once this has been mathematically obtained, if possible more quickly than the last times, we will have the ambition to look for something else. Will we have the group for this? Will we have the character we need to claim more?
While the first answers will come this Saturday, the coach’s realistic and understandable approach matches the speech of sports director Barthélémy Constantin. He doesn’t intend to skip ahead either: “If Sion remains a historically great club for Swiss Football,” he asserts, “we must not forget where we come from. The priority is to ensure maintenance, to stabilize the club. Anything more we can take, we’ll take. But everything in its time.”
Although he deplores the loss of his captain, Tholot did not try to retain Joël Schmied (who left for Cologne for a little over 2 million francs), aware that this type of situation is part of the game and modern business. this time of the season. “Somehow,” he smiles, “it’s also proof that we worked well.” Especially since the arrival of Hajrizi fills him: “He’s a local guy, who has the right mentality and shares the club’s values.”
In Tourbillon, beyond the people who can change, the state of mind remains elevated to a cardinal virtue. Didier Tholot watches over it as an uncompromising guardian of the temple. “It should show the strength of the group and the respect we owe it. Everyone has an individual ambition but it must come through the collective. It is this collective that will bring everyone into the light.”
Since promotion, the coach has insisted on refusing to fail, which also amounts to establishing a culture of winning. Hating defeat also means pushing back your barriers, including mental ones. “Matches are won by the will we put on the pitch to win them,” assures Tholot. For having betrayed the rules established by not showing up for the resumption of training on January 2, Mohcine Bouriga, who remained in Morocco without having received authorization (editor’s note: the attacker considered it unnecessary to make a round trip on the pretext that Sion was flying to his country the next day), was sanctioned. “You’re not here, you pay! That’s what he did. He also went 4 days without a ball. The matter is now settled.”
Because all this remains eminently fragile, nothing lasts indefinitely, does the coach fear that the balance found before the break may no longer work? “There is always a small risk of relapse but this does not mean that we should look for excuses.”
Recently, however, Sion has experienced several small annoyances. In addition to the departure of its captain less than a week before the resumption, the Valais club had to deal with the false Baltazar affair (editor’s note: the Brazilian defended himself on social networks from having extended his contract, which would be contrary to reality, which his managers did not fail to remind him of), the current blockage linked to the renewal of Gora Diouf’s contract. A context further weighed down by the suspension of Lavanchy and the injury of… Baltazar.
-Didier Tholot doesn’t care, brushing it all aside with an energetic wave of the hand. “The only downside was having to prepare all week on synthetic. We will only find grass for the match.” A match that is not crucial but nevertheless likely to refine Sedun’s ambitions on the occasion of this first outing of the year. And since you only have one chance to leave a good first impression, you might as well not miss it.
Hajrizi: “It’s like coming home”
Schmied left, his replacement did not take long. A sign that the club had anticipated, it was not one but two central defenders who arrived this week at Porte d’Octodure. Sion formalized this Friday the signing until June 2027 of the Italian Federico Barba, 31, arriving from Como, 108 Serie A matches on the clock. It’s not nothing.
Barba’s arrival had been preceded, 48 hours earlier, by that of Kreshnik Hajrizi, back home. Trained at FC Sion then quickly left for YB, the man had broken out in the Lugano jersey (87 matches) before having an unfortunate experience in Poland since last summer.
On loan from Widzew Lodz, the Sierrois, whose brother Avdula terrorizes 2nd league defenses with FC Chippis, seems to be coming back to life. “It’s the perfect place to regain my confidence,” he agreed this Friday at the time of his presentation. It’s like I’m coming home. I’ve been here two days but it feels like 5 years.”
Hajrizi does not intend to dwell too much on his Polish misadventure, which he does not regret in any way. “Simply,” he said, “certain things were not respected. There, they have their players. I wasn’t really able to show my qualities…” The Kosovar international (4 caps) has six months to make up for lost time.
Here he is about to discover Tourbillon with the FC Sion jersey. “When you wear this jersey, you don’t have the right to disappoint.” Ironically, it was in Tourbillon, against the same Sion, that he scored with Lugano on August 28, 2021 the first of his four goals scored in the Super League. “I of course hope to score others but with Sion this time. I’m here to help the team. Let’s go game by game. I am convinced that we can do something great.”
In Valais, Hajrizi found familiar faces, notably Jan Kronig (ex-YB). “I also played with Reto and Numa in Lugano,” he recalls. Clearly, the world is small. “Some wrote me messages even before I signed. I spoke with Kololli for example.”
