Why Servette’s success makes sense: Finally another championship race in the Super League

YB is currently one point ahead of Servette at first place in the standings, with the first real title race in what feels like forever looming. Do you want proof? The last time the Swiss champions were less than five points ahead of the second-placed team at the end of the season was in 2013. The author of this newsletter was only nine years old at the time, in third grade and dreaming still from being in the F-Juniors the really big career.

Average 15.4 points lead

Basel won the title this season with a three-point lead on the standings. At the time, stars like Salah, Sommer and Streller wore the FCB jersey and names like Bürki, Zuber and Hajrovic played for the Hoppers.

Since then, the race for the Swiss championship title has always been clear; over the past ten years, the champion’s lead at the end of the season has averaged 15.4 points. In the spring the tension was largely gone.

For us, young Swiss football fans, there has never been a thriller about the championship title. And we haven’t seen many different clubs lift the trophy. In my almost 20 years in the world I have never experienced any champion other than Basel, YB or FCZ. But this year that could change. Thanks Servette.

Napkin exploit makes sense

The Genevans have had a great season so far and look like a team that could actually win the title. On Sunday they won the derby against Lausanne 3-1 and briefly led the Super League – for the first time since July 2003. The author of this newsletter was only just starting to plan.

This season’s Servette exploit makes sense if you look closely. Because work has been going well in Geneva for years. Since promotion in 2019, the Grenats have finished in the top four of the Super League every season, with one exception. But you wanted more. Servette boss Didier Fischer, who as head of ice hockey, football and rugby in Geneva is one of Switzerland’s most powerful sports officials, explained in a major Blick interview last year why, despite success, they parted ways with long-time coach Alain Geiger and replaced him by René Weiler.

The last Swiss hope in Europe

‘We are different from the others. We think carefully and anticipate. Alain and his staff do an excellent job. “But we want to keep improving,” said Fischer, who explained the decision at the time. And so far the results speak for him. Servette developed further under Weiler. The team from Geneva has improved again, especially during the winter break: so far no team has scored more points in the new year.

The Grenats are not only successful in the league and the cup (semi-final against Winterthur), they can also impress on the European stage. They are the last Swiss team still represented in a European competition. In the first leg of the last 16 of the Conference League we drew 0-0 against Viktoria Plzen, and next Thursday we will fight for progress in the Czech Republic. It is already the best performance in the European Cup since 2002. The author of this newsletter was there… oh, that’s enough.

Winti has more fans

With success comes the fans. Last weekend there were more than 12,000 spectators in the stadium for the derby against Lausanne. This season more than ever. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement here. On average, around 7,300 fans attend home games. This puts them in seventh place in the visitors table, ahead of them, for example, is Winterthur with around 8,000. That cannot be the claim of a championship contender with a 30,000-seat stadium. Especially since Servette is the only professional team in the canton.

But do I really believe the Grenats can make a big splash? Yes. René Weiler’s team around key players Stevanovic, Guillemenot and Kutesa seems stable enough to fight for the championship title until the end. St. Gallen coach Peter Zeidler, who made the team a title candidate at the beginning of March, shows that the competition also believes that Servette can win the championship. It would be a Geneva fairy tale.

A direct duel still awaits

But YB is not going to make it easy for his pursuer. The recently stumbling leader made a clear statement in the first match on Sunday after the dismissal of Raphael Wicky with a 5-1 win against Basel. For the future of the Bernese team, a year without a title might not be so bad after all. Blick sports director Emanuel Gisi even says in his comments that YB should hope for a Servette championship title.

In any case, the title battle should be exciting. And thanks to the new mode with competition division, there will certainly be a direct duel between Servette and YB. A finalissima for the title on the last day of the match: that would be my dream scenario.