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Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy (SLO) coach Anthony Braizat wanted his players to enjoy the barrage against Sion. “I have told my players that they can now show their qualities to all of Switzerland, because all eyes will be on us.” In the future, the small neighborhood club from Lausanne will be even more in the spotlight.
Because SLO, which played in the fourth Swiss league six years ago, sent Sion to the Challenge League in the jump-off. What is the secret behind this success? Sporting director Hiraç Yagain recently said: “SLO is the magic of football, but also of this club. It is a family team made up of hard-working and passionate people, from the offices to the pitch.”
But there are more reasons. Blick calls her:
1
The best attack
Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy has the best attack in the Challenge League (70 goals). That’s enough to frighten the shaky Valais rearguard. Thanks in part to Teddy Okou: the Frenchman really warms up in the final phase of the season. The league’s co-top scorer has eight goals and three assists in his last eight league appearances. Okou is a textbook example of the smart and cost-saving personnel policy of Belgian sports director Hiraç Yagan: “I saw Teddy in Boulogne for a year and a half. When I heard that his contract was about to expire, I seized the opportunity.” Although he had never played higher than the national (D3) in France, he made his breakthrough in Switzerland. Lausanne had already tried to bring in Okou during the winter break. Transfer rumors that the erratic winger (1.65 m) had difficulty with. Today his name is traded in higher class clubs. Both in Switzerland and abroad.
2
Shaped by drama
SLO endured a season marred by three fatalities. In mid-November, assistant coach Dalibor Stevanovic (38) had to deal with the loss of his wife Mirjana. A week later, Karim Gazzetta (SLO player between 2019 and 2021) died tragically in Bosnia. During the Christmas break and the World Cup break, the black streak continued with the death of Elia Alessandrini. The 25-year-old defender drowned in Oman, where he was on holiday with his girlfriend. Since then, the player’s shirt has been hanging in its place in the dressing room on the Pontaise and the Lausanne team has entered the field with the number 2 on the back at every game. “These dramas have not forged a team, but people,” coach Braizat said in January, “Elia will be with us on and off the field. We will fight for him too.”
3
Brilliant exploration
The club from Lausanne is owned by Vartan Sirmarks. At the end of 2022, the magazine “Bilanz” estimated the wealth of the head of the watch brand Franck Muller at between 700 and 800 million, making him the 167th richest man in Switzerland. Despite this powerful owner, SLO relies on modest funds. Resources that sports director Hiraç Yagan, who came in 2019, uses with flying colors. No stars and no glittering transfers. Teddy Okou (above), who has been heavily courted this season, follows in the footsteps of Zeki Amdouni and Brighton Labeau, the last two forwards to leave SLO. The imminent resale of Okou will add seven figures to the treasury of the people of Vaud. What is the secret of the Belgian Yagan (34), who used to play for Servette FC and Stade Nyonnais? “I’m not sure,” he says, “we focus on certain types of players and have already received some interesting tips. There is a certain amount of luck, but also the strength of the group that allows these talents to flourish.”
4
A thin audience
De Pontaise parted ways with Lausanne sport and the Swiss football elite during the pandemic. Thanks to SLO, the outdated stadium could go there again. “It is a stadium built for the 1954 FIFA World Cup, an Olympic stadium that is a monument of the city of Lausanne,” Yagan emphasizes. “We need to find solutions to revive it and give it a new youth.” This season SLO has an average attendance of 1200. Perhaps the lack of public interest has brought the team closer together. Under the motto “…now more than ever”
5
Trainer Braizat
Climbing coach Anthony Braizat (45) says: “I believed in it for eight weeks, all I had was my head. I slept three to four hours a night.” The Frenchman, who completed the coaching courses in Switzerland, started his coaching career with Servette in the Challenge League (2016). He experienced his first rise with Yverdon in the Promotion League (2017). released from Yverdon in 2019. After a year and a half at Stade Nyonnais, he made the switch to SLO last summer.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
