The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 20 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Grasshopper will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michaël Frey 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.
Maximilian Ullmann 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dirk Abels, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Fabian Schär to a room that had heard them before.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Mbabu 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 phone has started ringing about Amine Messoussa again, and this time the name on the line is Kryvbas. Grasshopper are listening politely and promising nothing.
Everything agreed with St. Gallen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Kevin Mbabu 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 easiest signature of my career.” Leart Kabashi and Grasshopper agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Michaël Frey 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.
Racing Santander 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Luke Plange is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Grasshopper have had the benefit of it.
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Kevin Mbabu 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.
Squad31 May 2027
7 new faces, and Grasshopper are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market31 May 2027
Nicolas Glaus returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Market31 May 2027
Leart Kabashi returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassane Imourane and Grasshopper agree another 3 years.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michaël Frey 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.
“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 5 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hassane Imourane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julian von Moos signs something — a contract at Grasshopper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Grasshopper. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Grasshopper that is a harder question to answer.
Brent Gabriel 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
Salim Diakité 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.
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 Tobias Hedl is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wilguens Paugain signs something — a contract at Zulte Waregem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zulte Waregem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Zulte Waregem
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Mbabu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 5 appearances in 32 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Kevin Mbabu’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Zulte Waregem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Jelle Vossen 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salim Diakité was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Salim Diakité 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakob Kiilerich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zulte Waregem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jelle Vossen was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulte Waregem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zulte Waregem told Jhon Cabal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brent Gabriel signs something — a contract at Zulte Waregem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zulte Waregem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zulte Waregem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Jelle Vossen takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jelle Vossen provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jerry Afriyie did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Brent Gabriel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salim Diakité was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zulte Waregem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Brent Gabriel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salim Diakité was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zulte Waregem has been clear about where Tobias Hedl stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florian Michel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Brent Gabriel
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Something was said to Luke Plange and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Zulte Waregem that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Jerry Afriyie, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 23 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.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Radja Lukaku could afford to be generous.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
1‑4 against Racing Genk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Zulte Waregem asked and KV Mechelen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zulte Waregem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Zulte Waregem offered $1.0M; KAA Gent 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.
Brent Gabriel 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 offer from Heidenheim for Justin Hammel was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Grasshopper asked and Bournemouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.1M on the table at Bayern Munich. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Michaël Frey 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Lokeren have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dirk Asare. The answer from Zulte Waregem has not changed — yet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zulte Waregem, another week without a signature from Jelle Vossen.