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LOOK: Ciriaco Sforza goes to his ex-club Basel, now you are again by far the biggest name in the Challenge League.
Murat Yakin: I like to please Ciri with all my heart. He is one of the best in his field. He has shown that he can work with young players. Whether it will be appreciated by the Basel audience remains to be seen.
You, however, remain in Schaffhausen. Does a master coach go wrong in the province?
I have a project here that is just beginning. Also, I don’t make any distinction between working in the Super League and the Challenge League. It’s about soccer. As an FCS coach, I can bring my family, friends and football together, which is important to me.
What fascinates you about the work of FCS?
That I can be one more “coach” here. I am involved in all areas of the association, I can get involved anywhere. I work more closely with Roland Klein than ever with a president. No signature was required to extend the contract. I really appreciate these freedoms.
Don’t miss packed stadiums and magical European Cup nights?
(thinks for a long time) I’ve already seen the Champions League and championship titles as a player and coach. As coach, promotion with Thun, vice-champion with Lucerna. All of those were great moments. The only difference is that I have never won the Cup as a coach, because Lucerna stole the victory from us. I will continue as a coach until I win the cup (laughs).
With Schaffhausen?
Why not? But I take it as it comes. I don’t have a career plan.
As FCB coach, there were requests from the Bundesliga.
There were conversations. But I listened to my instincts. I’d be ready for any job if it was all 100 percent about soccer. But it’s the other things that cost a lot of energy. As a coach, the wind quickly turns against you. It’s part of the business, but it tires you out.
So they didn’t want to do the stress that Lucien Favre experiences. Is that also because soccer is just a hobby for you because you have earned well and invested well and you no longer have to work?
Golf is my hobby. Not football. That would be disrespectful to my work. I am sure that I enjoy the business and the real estate trade, I also had the luck of a good partner with good projects.
But his aspirations are likely to be higher than finishing ninth with the FCS like last season.
If you’re ambitious, you won’t want to experience a season like this again. We had a lot of young players, we made a lot of mistakes and we didn’t score a goal in the storm. But after taking over the club a year ago, we had to put together a team in no time. Now we have had more time and we will have a better team. Even if we can only keep spending the money we earn. We will also play more offensively.
Will the player and her brother Hakan continue to fund themselves as assistant coaches with unemployment benefits?
I can only say the following: At the time, this topic was presented in such a way that we were doing something forbidden. But everything was approved by the RAV, like other clubs.
Going back to the sports side: there are still big names to come. Is it Raúl Bobadilla?
They asked us, but it wasn’t realistic. But it’s our turn to get the types of experienced leaders. We missed that. But we still have to wait and see the outputs.
Your fall training guest, Sekou Sanogo, won’t be.
We have to be realistic. This week we also had Pajtim Kasami, Ermir Lenjani (ex-Sion stars, ed.), Levent Gülen and Kerim Frei (Turkish professionals with Swiss roots) with us. But simply for private training with our physical trainer Harun Gülen.
Is promotion to the Super League in the sights?
We want to give it a try, but the climb is not mandatory and cannot be planned. Lausanne also needed two years, GC has also dropped for the second year. Now there are many clubs in the Challenge League with a Super League infrastructure. That is why I am in favor of a professional league of 12 or more 16. The system with the Challenge League as a training league does not work. Chiasso and we had the youngest teams and we finished last.
The Nestlé heir, Patrick Liotard-Vogt, is friends with them. Are you investing in FCS soon?
You are about to look at everything. Basically everyone who can support us in the business field is welcome. Especially if we want to play at the top in the future.
How close is the association with the glamorous former Lugano co-owner Pablo Betancur, who is behind the three new arrivals from Urugugay?
He supports our project and provides us with three players for whom he would have received more money elsewhere.
Back in Lugano, he demanded that his players always have to play.
He was a shareholder there, so you want to comment. With us, he and his son seemed demanding but friendly. There is a lot of passion in it, I live it in a positive way. But with me there is no outside influence on the lineup.
The first year after taking over the Fontana family club was accompanied by many problems.
That was a massive disruptive factor and made the job difficult. At first I had some understanding. When an era like that of Aniello Fontana, who built everything, is over, you have to digest it first. Besides, we new ones weren’t local. But there are also many sponsors and fans in Schaffhausen who are positive about us.
Will the discussion about the stadium continue?
Some things still need to be resolved. But it works well, even if we’ve repeatedly faced obstacles like debt service and legal cards. But the initial problems of the acquisition are over, now we want to attack.
