The Lugano Chronicle
Squad19 Jul 2027
The knee: Dominique Heintz out for 78 days
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lugano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Lugano
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Lugano
Uran Bislimi 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
One of our own: Renato Elvedi joins the Lugano first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renato Elvedi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
Breel Fassnacht steps up from the Lugano academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Breel Fassnacht 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
One of our own: Ruben Freuler joins the Lugano first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruben Freuler is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
One of our own: Mario Elvedi joins the Lugano first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mario Elvedi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Lugano board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Anto Grgic has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lugano 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.
In brief
- Squad A season on the outside for Alessandro Plizzari
- The dugout A door opens for Kemal Ademi
- Boardroom Lugano spend it where nobody looks