The Lugano Chronicle
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Renato Steffen yet — 8.04
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market10 Aug 2026
Eyes on Kevin Behrens again
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Behrens again, and this time the name on the line is Borussia Mönchengladbach. Lugano are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Door shut on Facinet Conté
Lugano asked and Young Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mattia Zanotti signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mattia Zanotti commits to Lugano for another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Lugano
Mattia Zanotti and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Mattia Zanotti 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Lugano promote Nico Widmer from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nico Widmer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Djibril Kobel joins the Lugano first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Djibril Kobel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Remo Steffen steps up from the Lugano academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Remo Steffen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
- Match Luzern snatch it back from Lugano
- Squad Carbone wants to go home
- Squad Djibril Kobel out for 38 days