Two star students from the Challenge League meet

The Challenge League has already received a few nicknames. “Pleitenliga” is one of the nicer variants, “Dosenliga” is one of the funnier ones. The background is serious. Clubs in the second highest league repeatedly find themselves in financial trouble. They flirt or cooperate with shady donors, see Schaffhausen or Bellinzona. They operate with capital increases, see Thun. Or they have patrons pay for the expensive fun, see Lausanne-Ouchy.

The two teams that will meet on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Wiler Bergholz are currently among the most financially sound in the Challenge League. Here and there, rolls are baked in such a way that they are just enough gross for the league, but do not put too much of a strain on the budget. At least that’s how you can read the balance sheet that FC Wil presented at the AGM this week. The club made a profit of 70,000 francs last season. This is a remarkable report, especially in a league in which TV money has decreased due to the expansion of the Super League (in Wil’s case from a good half a million to 380,000 francs) and neither spectator nor sponsorship -Encouragement is enormous.

Wil works with a budget of around 4 million francs, including half of last season’s slightly increased audience income and sponsorship money. Nevertheless, there is a structural deficit of almost one million francs, which has to be covered with transfers and transfer shareholdings – which has recently been successful. To this extent the club is considered healthy. And additional funds will come from the Swiss Football League (SFL)’s “Youth Trophy” in the future. Those Challenge League clubs that rely heavily on locally trained young people are paid even better by the SFL than before. Wil is currently in second place behind Schaffhausen in this discipline.

What helps Carouge is Servette’s slipstream

There is also talk of a budget of around 4 million francs at Étoile Carouge. And the attitude also seems to be similar to that in Wil: They want to grow slowly, “not dancing faster than the music,” says President Olivier Doglia in the “Tribune de Genève”. In terms of sport, however, people are currently dancing very quickly. The team was promoted to the Challenge League in the summer and immediately played at the top. They were league leaders, are now in second place and are playing dominant football, even if their squad has the lowest value of all clubs in the league, according to the transfermarkt.com portal. Behind the great start there is no big patron who finances players without batting an eyelid. But what certainly helps is the slipstream from neighbor and partner Servette from the Super League. On the one hand, Carouge supports loan players. On the other hand, the Rolex Foundation, the Servette, should not completely ignore Carouge. We hear that this is financial help, but not a blank check for the sports director to shop freely.

Étoile Carouge has a brilliant past with years in the NLA and NLB between 2016 and 2020, but was part of the Geneva club in the first division before being promoted back to the Promotion League.

The members decided on the local idea

At that time the direction of the club was severely tested. An investor from Abu Dhabi offered to join the club and let millions fly. However, at an online general meeting during the Corona period in 2020, President Doglia was chosen instead. This once played at Carouge and was considered the sensible, local, if less lucrative, solution. It sounds like a fairy tale that the promotion came four years later. This with the Romanian coach Adrian Ursea, who also once played for Carouge, and with a team that was full of working people who could only train in the evenings – no exception in the Promotion League.

In this regard, Carouge has now switched to professional play in the Challenge League. But people in Geneva still don’t want to dance faster than the music. Doglia made it known after the top start that the new climb was not a goal, despite the sporting high. It would be a great story. For example, for Vincent Rüfli, the ex-St.Gallen player, who is a native Carouger and played for the veterans a year ago, but then moved back into the squad at the age of 36. He’s back in the starting eleven. And was also there when Carouge won the home game against Wil 3-1 in August. He will probably also be used today when two of the league’s star pupils meet.