Marked for Lee Young-Jun
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Grasshopper
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Justin Hammel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 9.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justin Hammel, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Sep 2026
Grasshopper are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 13 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Ismajl Beka’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grasshopper.
Match19 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Grasshopper did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.90 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.88, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.53 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Kévin Bérigaud
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sven Köhler was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Óscar Clemente’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grasshopper.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.72, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Allan Arigoni, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Justin Hammel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Aug 2026
Luzern left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saulo Decarli, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Grasshopper
Furdjel Narsingh arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market17 Aug 2026
Grasshopper have let the market know Saulo Decarli can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sven Köhler and Grasshopper agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Justin Hammel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.97 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Óscar Clemente’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grasshopper.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.61, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassane Imourane, and the manager let it.