Marked for Lee Young-Jun
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Sep 2026
The Basel deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Simone Stroscio reports back to Grasshopper with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match12 Sep 2026
Zurich left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Simão Rocha gets it from the manager
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lee Young-Jun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Allan Arigoni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Renato Vargas left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Tim Meyer gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tim Meyer is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Grasshopper offered $8.8M; Charlotte Football Club said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market31 Aug 2026
The chase for Elis Bishesari ended with $2.6M changing hands and IFK Goteborg out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$1.6M on the table at Basel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Giacomo Koloto enough to be asked twice.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Grasshopper paid $3.0M
Marquinhos Cipriano was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simão Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Nikolas Muci’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Grasshopper.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lee Young-Jun obliged against Vaduz. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Grasshopper.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nikolas Muci had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$3.0M settles it between the clubs for Marquinhos Cipriano
Sion have accepted the money. What Grasshopper do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Charlotte Football Club this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market24 Aug 2026
Basel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Grasshopper did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Michaël Frey has gone, the accounts have $1.6M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Michaël Frey goes
Thun paid $1.6M and Grasshopper took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Grasshopper asked and Burnley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Elias Baum at that price
Grasshopper offered $11.7M; Eintracht Frankfurt said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
Grasshopper spend $5.9M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.9M has been paid because Johannes Eggestein is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $853.1K — a club that wants Marcel Monsberger enough to be asked twice.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Johannes Eggestein from Austria Wien for $5.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simão Rocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Grasshopper have gone to Austria Wien with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Grasshopper did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Óscar Clemente commits to Grasshopper for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Michaël Frey 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The shirt still fits. Nassim Ben Khalifa is back at Grasshopper, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout3 Aug 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismajl Beka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.