From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.73, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franck Surdez 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
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Josias Lukembila. 2‑1 against Young Boys, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fodé Sylla, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Josias Lukembila has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Franck Surdez
Nobody at Sion is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Sion come up short against Zurich
Zurich left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market19 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marquinhos Cipriano wants continental football; whether Sion can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Kololli 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Edimilson Aebischer to a room that had heard them before.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rato signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rato and Sion agree another 3 years.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kreshnik Hajrizi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
The leaders are next for Sion
Young Boys top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Adrien Llukes, 18, steals the show — 8.04
Marked 8.04 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad12 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 Sion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sion
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Sirigu 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
At 18 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Rilind Nivokazi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sion.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edimilson Elvedi 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrien Llukes, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Rilind Nivokazi at his very best
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Player ratings
Donat Rrudhani was unplayable
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Squad
13 new faces, and Sion are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Sion
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Surdez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Late, late show earns Sion a point
Minute 89, against Basel, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Noé Sow named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Noé Sow is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match3 Oct 2026
Honours even between Sion and Basel
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Edimilson Aebischer after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sion
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout28 Sep 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.
Match28 Sep 2026
Halfway: Sion sit in position 7
9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Kololli 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Sion support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Edimilson Aebischer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Franck Surdez
Nobody at Sion is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamine Diack 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Philipp Aebischer commits to Sion for another 3 years.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Franck Surdez 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Edimilson Aebischer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sion will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Rilind Nivokazi
Nobody at Sion is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. St. Gallen defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 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 Sion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Franck Surdez 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fodé Sylla and Sion agree another 5 years.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sion
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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Edimilson Aebischer after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Grasshopper will be the happier side with the point.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Rilind Nivokazi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sion say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Sep 2026
Sion are in real trouble now
Position 8, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 3 out at Sion
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Sion asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Sion
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franck Surdez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Rilind Nivokazi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sion.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Lugano take the points off Sion
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Numa Lavanchy, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Edimilson Aebischer after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Théo Berdayes 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The formation has left Lucas Ferreira behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sion will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Baltazar left out for tactical reasons at Sion
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Noé Sow has taken the shirt
At 27 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Sion are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Aug 2026
Luzern paid $2.6M and Sion took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franck Surdez 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Sion against Young Boys
1‑3 to Young Boys, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sion asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Zurich have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Théo Berdayes. The answer from Sion has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Aug 2026
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Anthony Racioppi has left for Zurich in a $2.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sion say no — this time
The offer from Zurich for Théo Berdayes 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at KV Oostende is saying, and nobody at Sion is enjoying the guessing.
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 Sion this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sion 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Sion against Zurich
0‑2 to Zurich, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Francesco Ruberto, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Sion training over how hard people work
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Sion
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The dugout
Edimilson Aebischer: “No excuses”
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sion have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
Thun come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sion did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Winsley Boteli at 20 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Winsley Boteli did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sion have done the hard part with KV Oostende, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anthony Racioppi and Sion agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Sion
Anthony Racioppi 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Noé Sow 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lugano have kept their man, and Sion go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 8 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Kabacalman commits to Sion for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sion
Rilind Nivokazi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Sion against Basel
1‑2 to Basel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sion can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
The game went through Winsley Boteli — 6.69
Marked 6.69 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.