Geneva Football: Chênois shaken by power wars

Immediate withdrawal of a team from the veterans’ championship, general assembly supervised by security agents, letters to the Swiss Football Association… But what is happening at CS Chênois?

For several months, the Left Bank football club has been divided by internal conflicts against a backdrop of power struggle. A situation which pits the current management, in place for fifteen years, against a group which could well see itself succeeding it.

It all starts in October 2024, when players from one of the senior teams (i.e. those over 30) ask CS Chênois to organize an extraordinary general meeting. The letter is signed by 21 players, as stipulated in the club’s statutes which require at least 20 member initials to convene such a gathering.

“According to its statutes, the club must organize a general meeting per year, within six months after the end of the championship,” recalls Arsène*, player in the senior team and signatory.

However, the last general meeting closing the accounts for the 2021-2022 season dated from March 2023. The financial years of the last two seasons had therefore not yet been validated. “We found it scandalous that a committee would allow itself to go beyond the basic statutory rules when almost all of the club’s income comes from municipal subsidies and member contributions.”

Team withdrawn from the championship

A month later, by mail, the CS Chênois committee informed the group that their request was refused. His explanation: many signatories would not have the status of member. The president, Ivano Bisetto, however, tells them that an ordinary general meeting will be organized soon.

In the same missive, the players learn that the club has also decided to withdraw their team from the championship “with immediate effect”. A decision communicated at the beginning of December 2024 by the Geneva Cantonal Football Association (ACGF) which will have cost CS Chênois a 500 franc fine.

The reason? Too many unpaid contributions. “There were only ten out of 27 who had not yet paid,” says Arsène annoyed. In addition, several people had received confirmation by email from the technical director, Patrick Schmid, which stipulated that we had until December 31 to pay the contributions.

A version that the club – which only speaks through its lawyer and only on this point – denies. “On the contrary, only nine players had paid their contributions,” retorts M^e Claudio Fedele. And this, even though the invoices to be paid within thirty days had been sent on August 8. Payment deadlines of December 31 had only been granted to two players who had requested it.

If the club denies that it is a punishment, for certain players, the timing is not a coincidence. “I paid all the missing contributions from my own pocket the same day,” says Arsène. However, our team has still not been reinstated.”

AG sous surveillance

At the same time, management is finally planning the date of its next ordinary general meeting on Monday, December 23 at 2 p.m. According to Arsène, no player from the club would have received a summons. “I came across the date by chance,” he says. However, according to the statutes, paying members are normally invited and have the right to vote.”

On this afternoon before the holidays, 22 teammates went there. A few days earlier, five of them, including Arsène, sent the club a letter indicating their willingness to submit their candidacy for the CS Chênois steering committee, which must be re-elected at the general assembly.

But when they enter the room, two security agents prevent them, under the pretext that they are “not on the list”. “Yet, they let two coaches, the manager of the refreshment bar as well as his wife and son, even though none of them were members according to the statutory rules! We questioned the Swiss Football Association (ASF) as well as a lawyer who assured us that we were members until June 30, 2025 because we had paid our contributions. And this, even if our team was withdrawn from the championship, relates Arsène. Obviously, the committee and the current president were re-elected by a handful of people selected by them.

The club’s management indicates, through its council, that it will not make any comments regarding this general meeting and the conditions in which it was held. “For me, it is clear that the president and the technical director were afraid that we would present a new committee so they ousted us,” says Arsène.

The “real face of management”

If CS Chênois refuses to express itself further, some voices report a maneuver led by a vexed “putschist” who would like to take power of the club after having had his requests to enter the committee refused.

“When I expressed my wish to join the committee to develop a training project, the president and the technical director made it clear to me that the committee, in fact, was the two of them,” remembers Arsène. Our request for an extraordinary meeting will certainly have revealed the true face of a management in place for more than fifteen years and which seems to appropriate the club, forgetting the fundamental principles of association law and the central role of its members.

The players concerned are now demanding that the general meeting of December 23 be declared void and that a new date be quickly proposed. They also hope that their team will return to the championship as quickly as possible.

The members of the senior team are also awaiting a reaction from the municipalities. They notably contacted Jean-Luc Boesiger, president of the intercommunal council bringing together Thônex, Chêne-Bourg and Chêne-Bougeries.

“What matters to us is above all that the club has healthy finances, that the general assembly took place and that it was organized in compliance with the statutes of CS Chênois,” comments Jean-Luc Boesiger, also advisor. administrative office of Chêne-Bourg. It seems that this is the case but I will meet the club management soon to discuss it.

Léa Frischknecht is a PR journalist in the Geneva section. After a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Geneva, she obtained her master’s degree at the Academy of Media and Journalism at the University of Neuchâtel.More info

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