Marked for Leart Kabashi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Shea Lacey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Luke Plange
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Grasshopper told Óscar Clemente something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wil runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout17 May 2027
Kevin Bua 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 Kevin Bua is on it.
Market17 May 2027
The Fiete Arp talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout17 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Loan watch17 May 2027
The agreement at Stade Nyonnais has 8 days left in it, with 13 appearances to weigh. Three doors: keep him, sell him, lend him again — and none of them stays open long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
Matúš Bero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Wil to sit and watch. I want to come back to Grasshopper and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Market19 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Grasshopper, another week without a signature from Hassane Imourane.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bujar Pllana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bujar Pllana, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Kevin Bua has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Grasshopper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Grasshopper, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Fiete Arp’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Indy Boonen has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Indy Boonen has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
Juan Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jasper van der Werff, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Stade Nyonnais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jetmir Krasniqi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Grasshopper may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Matúš Bero 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Allan Arigoni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Grasshopper, and 4 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 Simone Stroscio is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Julian von Moos asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Young Boys in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Justin Hammel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
72 days out for Gavin Vlijter after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stade Nyonnais will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 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 Stade Nyonnais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Stade Nyonnais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carmine Chiappetta 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Aarau, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Wil next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Allan Arigoni 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Shea Lacey 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Grasshopper are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Grasshopper game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bellinzona runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bujar Pllana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sion in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Michaël Frey’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
An offer of $7.2M for Fiete Arp
Grasshopper have gone to OB 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Erhan Mašović would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Erhan Mašović is living that version at Grasshopper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$1.4M on the table at Sion. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Grasshopper asked and Luzern 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
$1.1M was the most the club would pay and Winterthur were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Pascal Loretz enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matúš Bero in a row with a teammate
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Young Boys, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Gavin Vlijter and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Servette have kept their man, and Stade Nyonnais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jetmir Krasniqi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Stade Nyonnais will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stade Nyonnais, another week without a signature from Jasper van der Werff.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stade Nyonnais are still strangers to each other
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Grasshopper have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Louis CITY SC have kept their man, and Grasshopper go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 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.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Allan Arigoni makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Leart Kabashi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Julian von Moos
“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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Nicolas Glaus has come up in conversations Grasshopper were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.