How Christian Constantin deals with Valais

15,000 people will be present on Saturday evening and celebrate a piece of united Valais with the excited FC Sion in the cup semi-final against FC Lugano. Sold out. The last time the Tourbillon Stadium was there was when Liverpool FC played in the Europa League in 2015. A mini fan zone will be set up around the stadium and screens will be installed for those who have to stay outside.

FC Sion is wallowing in the magic of the cup, in the exaggeration of a competition in which it is building itself up. The loss of the 2017 cup final against FC Basel doesn’t change that, which destroyed the myth that Valais wins every cup final at the 14th attempt. The last season of sporting horror, which showed signs of dissolution, culminated in a crashing relegation from the Super League and a kind of bankruptcy of Christian Constantin’s system, does not change the magic that has been reawakened.

But now, a few months later, things are a lot different. The club has been leading the Challenge League for some time and is aiming for immediate promotion. The dark clouds have blown away, the end time that was mentioned last season has given way to a pink horizon. A year ago everything was bad – and now almost everything is good? The amazing story is not that simple.

He accepts collateral damage to his external image

Nevertheless, it shows how little it takes in football to see land again in the wake of the spreading gloom and self-sacrifice. Smart personnel decisions, some self-reflection, a catharsis, a choice of coach and a political poker staged with sheer perfection. The winners: FC Sion – and above all its president Christian Constantin.

He doesn’t know everything, but he knows a lot. For example, playing with the media. It is an entertainment factor and saves energy by winning over media representatives, not allowing interviews to be proofread and accepting collateral damage in the external image.

At the beginning of 2023 he disgruntledly announced his end as president, pacemaker and financial backer of FC Sion. It’s supposed to be over by mid-2024, everything no longer makes sense, he says, the club is not viable and needs makeshift ventilation far down in amateur football. Goodbye top football in Valais. The media was shocked. The rich tamer leaves his circus.

The Zampano is putting pressure on the authorities

In January 2024, just a year later, the proclaimed end will give way to a brilliant new start. The canton of Valais, the city of Sion and FC Sion are making public a declaration of intent that will one day lead to a new stadium and a training center with nine grounds.

The deal makes sense and reads broadly like this: The city provides the ground, the canton contributes 20 to 30 percent to the training center and stadium within the specified cost framework, and FC Sion, or better: Constantin, contributes the maximum 50 million francs. The project is called “FC Sion 2030” in Constantin terminology and is of course not a selfless project by the land and real estate speculator from Martigny.

No, the project is co-financed by a real estate deal. Constantin is to receive land in the municipality of Sitten and plans to build several hundred apartments on it. Give and take. In earlier times he was involved with stadium projects in Collombey or Riddes. Nothing came of it. But Constantine came to land, which he converted into money. The origin of his wealth goes back to the purchase of land near the Valais motorway, on which he created not residential but commercial space for hardware stores and the like.

The club finances show a balance of horror

He deals with land and real estate as well as with the buying and selling of football players. He does this not only in Valais, but also in Sugiez on Lake Murten, 120 kilometers from Martigny. The developments created by the Constantin office are not beautiful, but they are functional. And they make quick money.

From the canton of Valais’ perspective, the collaboration with Constantin reads something like this: Let’s literally give him space, in return he will finance top-class football for us. There shouldn’t be anything more.

The club’s invoice for the year is like pure economic horror for every finance director. The equity is stated as minus 30 million francs. The income of 14 million is offset by expenses of 28 million. At around 18 million, personnel expenses are the fourth largest in top Swiss football – behind YB, Basel and FC Zurich.

Absurd. Constantin paid. He throws the millions after football that he collects elsewhere without regard to aesthetic losses.

Balotelli’s transfer was a mistake

In mid-2022, before the announced demise, the gambler gave Valais football a special gift. He let the Italian striker Mario Balotelli cost a few million. The transfer gave the club nothing more than an unusually loud media response. The rest is silence. Balotelli flopped in a way that football celebrities have rarely flopped in this country.

In addition to the cleverly negotiated perspective with a time horizon of 2030, the ingredient “less Balotelli” is part of FC Sion’s new recipe. Or as they say inside the clubs: More humility and calm, not abroad, but the Swiss league as hunting grounds, a healthier atmosphere and the strengthened “mentalité alémanique”. So what players like Reto Ziegler, Dejan Sorgic, Nias Hefti or the former YB junior Joël Schmied bring to the table, who talk in Swiss German at the dinner table.

Last season, Constantin – in an unparalleled coaching domino – brought back the Italian Paolo Tramezzani twice. Until the descent. Constantin was then able to convince the now 60-year-old Frenchman Didier Tholot to return to the club for the fourth time. The mission: reconstruction, group dynamics, less Balotelli.

The combination of Tholot is evidence of good seasoning. He knows the FC Sion building, the surrounding area, the Valais mentality, the language and, last but not least, the conductor. On Friday, one day before the Cup semi-final against Lugano, he gives information in a sonorous voice in the restaurant of a golf course near Leuk.

The coach Didier Tholot knows the Sitten Haus

He knows what the Swiss Cup is and, above all, its importance here in the valley. Tholot won the cup twice with FC Sion, in 2009 against YB and in Basel against FC Basel in 2015. That was the 13th win in the 13th final. Tholot knows that he has to persuade his opponent. FC Lugano has been “the best team in the country” for six months, he says.

The Frenchman played in Bordeaux in the 1990s with eventual world champions Zinedine Zidane, Christophe Dugarry and Bixente Lizarazu. He first came to Valais in 1997 when Constantin wanted to get into the Champions League, put everything on one (transfer) card and crashed out against Galatasaray Istanbul. The adventure later resulted in a legal estate with a volume of over 10 million francs.

So they are all together again on Saturday, in their Valais Cup drunkenness. Maybe it’s all getting too much. In this case there would still be a realistic promotion to the Super League. Who would have thought that a year ago, when FC Sion lost miserably twice against Stade Lausanne-Ouchy in the fight against relegation.

The option of such a quick turnaround is very Constantin-like.