Newcomer Yverdon surprises everyone: the reasons for the rising Vaudois

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The start of the season for Yverdon is going very well, despite not playing in the cup. After nine league games, Marco Schällibaum’s team (61) has 15 points. That means sixth place. The newcomer is still undefeated at home. The general surprise is great. Also because virtually nothing came together during the competition debut against FCZ.

Even the people around the club are surprised by the successful start of the Super League adventure. “Certainly, if someone had told me before the season that we would already have so many points at this point, I would have signed it immediately,” Yverdon CEO Marco Degennaro (53) told Blick.

The newcomer did not receive much credit before the season. This has to do with the fact that, like FC Basel, he has undergone a huge shake-up in the squad. 18 arrivals compared to 14 departures. Many transfers took place too late. “Yes, we have changed a lot. “But fortunately the new ones have adapted very well and quickly,” says Degennaro.

Everything but jumbled up

For a long time it seemed like Yverdon threw the team together with random players. But there was a precise plan behind it, Degennaro explains: “We were looking for a good mix: of players who know this competition in terms of football and know what it is like to play for completely different backgrounds, such as at SLO, in Winterthur or in Basel. And then we deliberately looked abroad for players with very good football qualities.”

Such a targeted approach was made possible by the new American club management. “Thanks to them we were able to bring in players that we could not have afforded a year ago,” Degennaro emphasizes. However, there are now more than thirty players on Yverdon’s payroll. Disgruntled players seem to be programmed there. “It’s true, we certainly have a very big team. In the winter we try to sign up two to three players,” the CEO explains.

“In daily contact with the Americans”

Meanwhile, Degennaro doesn’t think much about his own future. There were voices in the summer that said he could leave the club. “When new investors come, you never know what will happen,” the former director of Sion reflects. “I still have a contract until the summer.” He leaves open what happens next. In any case, he feels comfortable in his third year in office and the cooperation with the new club management is going well.

“I have daily contact with President Jeffrey Saunders and he is here one week a month,” Degennaro explains. What the Italian appreciates about the new owners is that they have not turned the entire club upside down. “They rely on continuity and have great ambitions.” So far, this strategy is proving them right.

Source : Blick