In Lausanne the team meets old acquaintances

FC Wil is facing a jam-packed championship week with three games in eight days. First, the team will play at Stade Lausanne-Ouchy this evening from 7:30 p.m., followed by a home game against Thun on Monday, and a week from today the party at FC Schaffhausen. By then, the tight Challenge League table will have taken on some shape. And Wil hopes to take a big step in the right direction and win away from home again. This has only been achieved once this year, and never this season, at least not on the field.

However, the 1:2 defeat at the start of the season at AC Bellinzona has now been turned into a 3:0 forfeit victory. The Swiss Football League’s appeals court confirmed the decision of the disciplinary committee on Wednesday. Bellinzona had used eight players who were not locally trained – seven would have been allowed.

React to the unfortunate Cup exit

This means that Wil is no longer at the bottom of the table, but in seventh place ahead of Nyon, Stade Lausanne-Ouchy and Aarau. Marco Hämmerli’s team wants to cement this position today – with a win in Lausanne. They will also react to the unfortunate exit from the cup against Winterthur, when the penalty shootout decided against the Eastern Swiss team. Goalie Abdullah Laidani cut an unfortunate figure in extra time, having previously shown a strong performance, but then having to watch Winterthur score 2:2 shortly before the end after an over-motivated excursion into the penalty area. Nevertheless, Laidani, who remains a beacon of hope for FC Wil, will probably be in action again in Lausanne, as Hämmerli already announced this week.

Two Eastern Swiss in the Lausanne defense

Stade Lausanne-Ouchy, for its part, lost in the cup against the first division club Langenthal. The party will be a special reunion for Michael Heule, the full-back from Rheintal who played 57 Challenge League games for FC Wil over two seasons. He has been playing for Lausanne-Ouchy since 2023 and is one of the regulars after recovering from injury. Another full-back from Eastern Switzerland is also playing too much time for the Vaudois: Patrick Sutter, who had to leave FC St.Gallen in the summer.

There are currently high hopes for new signing Marwane Hajij. The French offensive player, who joined the Eastern Swiss team from Vevey at the beginning of September, impressed in his first game for Wil, in the cup match against Winterthur.