FC Sion

FC Sion

Full name	FC Sion
Founded	1909
Ground	Stade Tourbillon, Sion
Ground Capacity	14,500
Chairman	Christian Constantin
Manager	Laurent Roussey
League	Swiss Super League
2012–13	Swiss Super League, 6th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

FC Sion is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home games at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and the Swiss Cup in each of their twelve appearances in the final, the most recent being in 2011.

The first team is also known as Olympique des Alpes SA, as Swiss Football League (the top two levels) requires football clubs to be run as companies.

History

FC Sion were founded in 1909 by Robert Gilliard, who became club captain, and played their first game, a 3–2 win against FC Aigle, the same year.^[1] The club grew thanks to contributions from local people, and played their first competitive league fixture in 1914, again a 3–2 victory, this time against FC Monthey. In 1919 Sion formally organised its managerial structure, with Gilliard becoming Vice President, and Charles Aymon taking Presidency.^[1]

From 1932 Sion played in the fourth tier of Swiss football, where they spent much of the next twenty years, briefely interrupted by promotion to the third tier in 1944, quickly followed by relegation in 1946. In 1952 Sion returned to the third tier, and five years later gained promotion again to the National League B, followed five years later by promotion to the National League A (now the Swiss Super League) in 1962.^[1] 1965 saw the first of FC Sion's Swiss Cup wins, with a 2–1 victory over Servette FC.

The 16,263 capacity Stade Tourbillon was officially opened in August 1968, but was followed by relegation in 1969. Sion returned to the National League A at the first attempt, and secured a second victory in the Swiss Cup, winning 3–2 against Neuchâtel Xamax in 1974. Sion would go on to consistently perform well in the Swiss Cup, with victories in 1980 (vs Young Boys), 1982 (vs FC Basel), 1986 (vs Servette FC) and 1991 (vs Young Boys).^[1] This period of success also saw the renovation and expansion of the Tourbillon in 1989, and was crowned with Sion's first Swiss League Championship in 1992.

More success in the Swiss Cup followed, winning the tournament in three consecutive years from 1995 with victories over Grasshopper Zurich, Servette FC and FC Luzern. Their win against FC Luzern in 1997 secured FC Sion their only domestic double, having also won the Swiss League.^[1]

However the club quickly fell into financial trouble, and having narrowly avoided bankruptcy due to its purchase by Gilbert Kadji, the club suffered relegation in 1999. Despite returning to the top division the following season, financial problems plagued the team, culminating in relegation in 2001 and the departure of Kadji, and a denial of a professional license in 2003. The club was saved by architect and former footballer Christian Constantin, and they were re-instated into the second division in October 2003.

Constantin spent the following seasons rebuilding the club, with the club getting through twenty managers in the following eight years, including taking the role himself twice, in a bid to financially stabalise.^[2] He was rewarded in 2006 with promotion back to the Super League, as well as a victory in the Swiss Cup, becoming the first second tier team to achieve this, with a 5–3 penalty shoot-out victory over Young Boys after a 1–1 draw.

Transfer ban saga

In 2008, controversy came to Sion when they signed Essam El-Hadary, leading to a two-year "registration period" ban for Sion from June 2009, and an international playing ban for El-Hadary for four months,^[3][4] due to El-Hadary still being under contract at his former club Al Ahly.^[5] FC Sion appealed this action, but the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland confirmed the FIFA, DRC and CAS decisions in 2009 and 2010 respectively.^[6] However the lengthy legal battle (including the temporary reprieve), meant that the ban was only practically instituted first in the winter window of 2010–11 season.^[7]

Although gaining a place in the qualifying round of the 2011–12 Europa League by winning the previous season's Swiss Cup, Sion were excluded from the Europa League by UEFA after fielding ineligible players in their play-off victory over Celtic.^[8] On 2 September, the Swiss Football League rejected the registration of one more player, Brian Amofa.^[9]

On 30 September 2011, the SFL decided to provisionally qualify the six new signings, namely Stefan Glarner, Billy Ketkeophomphone, Mario Mutsch, Pascal Feindouno, José Gonçalves and Gabri García, to comply with the ongoing legal process.^[10] FC Sion also sued SFL and UEFA respectively in the Tribunal Cantonal de Valais and the Tribunal in Vaud, however both actions were dismissed.^[11][12] The club's earlier appeal was dismissed by UEFA Appeals Body on 13 September.^[13] FC Sion also sued SFL and UEFA in CAS, but withdrew the former claim. The hearing of the latter claim was set on 24 November.^[14]

On 25 October, the Discipline Commission (fr: Commission de discipline) of SFL suspended all six players for five games.^[15] It was reported that each player filed their legal claim in civil court instead of using the Swiss FA and CAS "sports court" system, which the ban was requested by FIFA.^{[citation needed]} On 27 October, as a "provisional and super-provisional measures",^[16] UEFA invited FC Sion to a match schedule consultation once UEFA lost the legal battle.^[17]

On 31 October 2011, Sion sent a complaint to the European Commission.^[18] FIFA also won the legal battle in civil court in November. Previously the civil court of Martigny and Saint-Maurice (both city of Valais) ordered FIFA to confirm the signing of those six players on 3 August, a consequence of lawsuit brought out by the players. On 16 November, the FIFA and SFL appeal was upheld in the Valais canton court.^[19]

On 15 December, CAS upheld the complaints by UEFA, affirming its right to discipline Sion according to previous agreements. CAS also lifted the provisional measures ordered by the Tribunal Cantonal of Vaud (Cour civile) on 5 October 2011.^[20] After the ruling, FIFA threatened to suspend Swiss national and club teams from international competition if FC Sion were not appropriately penalized for its ostensible rules violations.^[21] In late December 2011, the Swiss Football Association complied with FIFA's demands and penalized Sion 36 standings points (based on how many matches ineligible players were involved), moving the club to last place in the league standings and putting the club at risk of relegation if the ruling stands.^[22]

They finished the 2011–12 Season at the 9th place which qualified them to the relegation matches against FC Aarau who they defeated 3–1 on aggregate and stayed in the Swiss Super League. Had they not had 36 points deducted from their season, they would have finished in the 3rd place, which would have qualified them into the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Before the start of the 2012–13 season, they made a major coup by signing Gennaro Gattuso and Kyle Lafferty, both signed on free transfers. The team, however, had a disappointing season, which saw them change coaches three times before settling on Gattuso to finish of the season, and finished in 6th place.

Honours

FC Sion holds the distinction of having never lost a domestic Cup final, with 12 wins in 12 appearances in the Swiss Cup.

• Swiss Super League: 2 – 1991–92, 1996–97^[23]
• Swiss Cup: 12 – 1965, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2009, 2011^[23]

Stadium

FC Sion play their home games at the multi-purpose Stade Tourbillon, which has a capacity of 14,500. It was originally constructed in 1968, and was renovated in 1989 and 2012. The club also has a training centre near his office in Martigny and a youth development center in nearby Riddes.

Current squad

As of 1 February, 2014. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Andris Vaņins (Vice-captain) 2 DF Benjamin Kololli 3 DF Gabriel Cichero 6 MF Xavier Kouassi 7 FW Demetris Christofi 8 MF Vullnet Basha 9 FW Fousseyni Cissé 10 MF Ovidiu Herea 11 FW Léo Itaperuna 14 MF Pedro Ramírez 15 MF Ishmael Yartey 16 MF Matteo Fedele 17 DF Pa Modou Jagne 18 GK Steven Deana

No. Position Player 20 DF Vilmos Vanczák (Captain) 21 FW Ebenezer Assifuah 22 DF Vincent Rüfli 23 MF Dario Vidošić 24 MF Max Veloso 25 DF Jason Buaillon 26 MF Michael Perrier 27 DF Léo Lacroix 28 DF Beg Ferati 30 GK Mathieu Debonnaire 32 DF Arnaud Bühler 33 FW Cristian Ianu 34 MF Birama Ndoye

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 7 MF Sébastien Wüthrich (at FC St. Gallen until 30 June 2014) 17 FW Danick Yerly (at FC Chiasso until 30 June 2014) 18 GK Kevin Fickentscher (at FC Lausanne-Sport until 30 June 2015) 32 DF Anthony Sauthier (at Servette FC until 30 June 2014)

Staff

Management

President

• Christian Constantin

Manager

• Angelo Massimo

Director of Sport

• Blaise Piffaretti

Sports

Manager

• Laurent Roussey

Assistant Coach

• Amar Boumilat

Teamchef

• Jean-Claude Richard

Goalkeeper Coach

• Romain Crevoisier

Medical

Physic Coach

• Andrea Corrain

Advisor

• Zoran Funjak

Masseur

• Omar Boumaraf
• Henri Crettex

Doctor

• Roberto Campini

Notable players

See Category:FC Sion players.

• Gennaro Gattuso (Feb 25, 2013–March 25, 2013)

Former Personal

• (Head Coach U-17) Umberto Barberis
• (Head Coach U-18) Christian Zermatten

Former coaches

Vittorio Barberis (1947–49) Carlo Pinter (1949–51) Joseph Wuilloud (1951–52) Henri Humbert & Mathey (1952–53) Paul Allégroz (1953–54) Henri Humbert (1954–55) Jacques Guhl (1955–59) Frank Séchehaye (1959–61) Karl-Heinz Spikofski (July 1961–March 63) Lev Mantula (March 1963–July 67) Stojan Osojnak (July 1967–Nov 68) Peter Rösch (Nov 1968–July 70) Maurice Meylan (July 1970–Sept 71) Miroslav Blažević (Sept 1971–July 76) István Szabó (1976–79) Daniel Jeandupeux (July 1, 1979–June 30, 1980) Oscar Fulloné (1980–81) Jean-Claude Donzé (July 1981–Jan 88) Péter Pázmándy (Jan 1988–July 89) Yves Débonnaire (1989–90) Enzo Trossero (1990–92) Jean-Paul Brigger (July 1, 1992–Dec 31, 1992) Claude Andrey (Jan 1993–July 93) Umberto Barberis (July 1, 1993–Oct 94)

Jean-Claude Richard (Oct 1, 1994–June 30, 1995) Michel Decastel (July 1, 1995–June 30, 1996) Jean-Claude Richard (Aug 1, 1996–Aug 30, 1996) Alberto Bigon (Aug 10, 1996–Oct 19, 1997) Jean-Claude Richard (Sept 1, 1997–March 30, 1998) Jochen Dries (March 1998–Nov 98) Charly In-Albon (Nov 1998–March 99) Olivier Rouyer (March 1999–July 99) Roberto Morinini (July 1, 1999–Nov 30, 1999) Henri Stambouli (Jan 5, 2000–July 14, 2001) Laurent Roussey (July 1, 2001–June 30, 2002) Jean-Claude Richard (July 1, 2002–March 30, 2003) Charly Rössli (Jan 1, 2003–June 30, 2003) Didier Tholot (July 1, 2003–Nov 03) Didier Tholot & Guy David (Nov 2003–Jan 04) Didier Tholot, Guy David & Ami Rebord (Jan 2004–June 30, 2004) Admir Smajić (April 20, 2004–June 30, 2004) Christian Zermatten (July 1, 2004–Aug 10, 2004) Gilbert Gress (Aug 9, 2004–March 27, 2005) Gianni Dellacasa (March 27, 2005–Oct 16, 2005) Christophe Moulin (Oct 19, 2005–May 1, 2006) Néstor Clausen (July 1, 2006–Oct 1, 2006) Christophe Moulin (interim) (Oct 2006)

Marco Schällibaum (Oct 6, 2006–Nov 21, 2006) Pierre-Albert Chapuisat (Nov 21, 2006–Feb 19, 2007) Charly Rössli (Dec 18, 2007–March 25, 2008) Alberto Bigon (March 2008–May 08) Uli Stielike (July 1, 2008–Nov 3, 2008) Christian Constantin (interim) (Nov 2008–Dec 08) Christian Zermatten & Umberto Barberis (Dec 24, 2008–April 10, 2009) Christian Constantin (interim) (April 2009) Didier Tholot (April 14, 2009–May 21, 2010) Bernard Challandes (July 1, 2010–Feb 22, 2011) Laurent Roussey (Feb 22, 2011–April 23, 2012) Rolland Courbis (interim) (April 2, 2012–June 5, 2012) Vladimir Petković (May 15, 2012–June 2, 2012) Sébastien Fournier (June 1, 2012–Sept 3, 2012) Michel Decastel (Sept 4, 2012–Oct 30, 2012) Pierre-André Schürmann (Oct 30, 2012–Dec 10, 2012) Víctor Muñoz (Jan 1, 2013–Feb 25, 2013) Gennaro Gattuso (Feb 25, 2013–March 25, 2013) Luigi Riccio (interim) (March 1, 2013–March 24, 2013) Arno Rossini (March 26, 2013–May 13, 2013) Michel Decastel (May 15, 2013–Oct 21, 2013) Laurent Roussey (Oct 22, 2013–)

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Opponents	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate
1980-81	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	First round	Haugar	1-1	0-2	1-3
1992-93	UEFA Champions League	First round	Tavriya Simferopol	4-1 (h)	3-1 (a)	7-2
		Second round	Porto	2-2 (h)	0-4 (a)	2-6
2007–08	UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round	Ried	1–1	3–0	4–1
		First round	Galatasaray	3–2	1–5	4–7
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Fenerbahçe	0–2	2–2	2–4
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	Play-off round	Celtic	0–31	0–31	0–61

Notes

• Note 1: Celtic lodged protests over the eligibility of a number of the Sion players who participated in the two legs of the play-off round, which Sion won 3–1 aggregate (first leg: 0–0; second leg: 3–1). The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body accepted the protests and decided to award both matches to Celtic by forfeit (3–0). As a consequence, Celtic qualified for the UEFA Europa League group stage.^[24]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Sion.

• Official website (French)

v t e 2013–14 UEFA Europa League Playing in the round of 32 Ajax Anzhi Makhachkala AZ Basel Benfica Chornomorets Odesa Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Dynamo Kyiv Eintracht Frankfurt Esbjerg Fiorentina Genk Juventus Lazio Ludogorets Razgrad Lyon Maccabi Tel Aviv Maribor Napoli PAOK Porto Real Betis Red Bull Salzburg Rubin Kazan Sevilla Shakhtar Donetsk Slovan Liberec Swansea City Tottenham Hotspur Trabzonspor Valencia Viktoria Plzeň Eliminated in the group stage APOEL Apollon Limassol Beşiktaş Bordeaux Dinamo Zagreb Elfsborg Estoril Fenerbahçe Freiburg Kuban Krasnodar Legia Warsaw Maccabi Haifa Paços de Ferreira Pandurii Târgu Jiu PSV Eindhoven Rapid Wien Rijeka Shakhter Karagandy Sheriff Tiraspol Standard Liège St. Gallen Thun Tromsø Vitória Guimarães Wigan Athletic Zulte Waregem Eliminated in the play-off round Aktobe Astra Giurgiu Atromitos Braga Dila Gori Dinamo Tbilisi Feyenoord FH Grasshopper Jablonec Kukësi FC Minsk Molde Nice Nõmme Kalju Nordsjælland Partizan Pasching Petrolul Ploiești Qarabağ Saint-Étienne Skënderbeu Korçë Śląsk Wrocław Spartak Moscow Stuttgart Udinese Vojvodina Žalgiris Vilnius Eliminated in the third qualifying round Asteras Tripolis Botev Plovdiv Breiðablik Bursaspor Club Brugge Differdange 03 Dinamo Minsk Gefle Häcken Hajduk Split Hapoel Ramat Gan Hapoel Tel Aviv Lech Poznań Malmö FF Metalurh Donetsk Milsami Orhei Mladost Podgorica Motherwell Randers Red Star Belgrade Široki Brijeg Skoda Xanthi St. Johnstone Strømsgodset Trenčín Ventspils Vitesse Žilina Zürich Eliminated in the second qualifying round Aalborg Anorthosis Beroe Stara Zagora Chikhura Sachkhere Dacia Chișinău Debrecen Derry City Göteborg Hibernian Hødd Honka Honvéd IBV Inter Baku Irtysh Pavlodar Jagodina Jeunesse Esch Khazar Lankaran KR Levadia Linfield Lokomotiva Olimpija Ljubljana Omonia Piast Gliwice Prestatyn Town Pyunik Rosenborg Rudar Pljevlja Sarajevo Senica Shakhtyor Salihorsk Skonto Sparta Prague Sturm Graz Turnovo Utrecht Valletta Víkingur Zrinjski Mostar Eliminated in the first qualifying round Airbus UK Broughton Astana Bala Town Čelik Nikšić Celje Crusaders Drogheda United Domžale Dudelange Flora Gandzasar Glentoran HB Hibernians ÍF Inter Turku Kruoja Pakruojis La Fiorita Laçi Levski Sofia Libertas Liepājas Metalurgs Mariehamn Metalurg Skopje Mika Narva Trans FC Santa Coloma UE Santa Coloma Sliema Wanderers St Patrick's Athletic Sūduva Marijampolė Teteks KF Teuta FC Tiraspol Torpedo Kutaisi Vaduz Videoton Qualifying phase and play-off round Group stage Knockout phase Final

v t e 2013–14 Swiss Super League Aarau Basel Grasshopper Lausanne-Sport Luzern Sion St. Gallen Thun Young Boys Zürich

v t e Seasons of Swiss Football League Serie A era, 1897–1931 Seasons 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 Nationalliga era, 1931–1944 Seasons 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 Nationalliga A era, 1944–2003 Seasons 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Super League era, 2003–present Seasons 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14