FC St. Gallen plays its way out with luck and relaxation

Question to Enrico Maassen, sometime in the last few weeks. “Things are going pretty well for you at the moment, aren’t they?” The short answer from the new coach of FC St. Gallen: “We’re doing a lot for it.”

The Eastern Swiss team began the season in the Conference League qualifiers, at the lowest level of the European Cup. They eliminated Tobol Kostanay, the team from Kazakhstan that had eliminated FC Basel from international competitions a year ago. They survived an epic match against Slask Wroclaw in Poland thanks to decisions by the video referee, with tumult and 25 minutes of extra time. They recently won against Trabzonspor on penalties, in the loud arena of a stronger opponent.

They show solidarity, cheering unbridled collectively in Turkey, with Matthias Hüppi in the middle of it all, the president who is left of the former triumvirate. Hüppi, the sports director Alain Sutter and the coach Peter Zeidler seemed to be linked for years. Sutter had to leave at the beginning of 2024, and in the summer Zeidler moved on to Bochum in the Bundesliga. And now the club is combining luck in the game and the draw, winning decisive games and getting into the league phase of the Conference League, which was denied to them in the last Zeidler years.

Of the multi-year triumvirate, only Hüppi is left – Zeidler ran into a dead end

International (home) games against AC Fiorentina, against Vitória Guimarães and against TSC (Backa Topola, Serbia) as well as an away game against Bundesliga club Heidenheim; an expanded showcase for personnel and money. The starting fee is 3.2 million euros, a win will be worth 0.4 million. In addition, St. Gallen should attract spectators in droves. That will add up to a few (additional) million.

The last time the club was in a European Cup group stage was in 2013/14. The coach at the time was Jeff Saibene. Since then, not much has happened. The lowest point was in 2018, when the small Norwegian club Sarpsborg was too big for the Eastern Swiss team. Now a new chapter has begun in the international section. At least that’s it.

Alain Sutter, the club’s sporting conscience for years, had to leave the club because he did not want to work with the current sporting director Roger Stilz. Zeidler left because Germany was calling. And because after six years there would have been no future with him in St. Gallen. The situation with the atmosphere around the team was too complicated, the coach was too stubborn, too suspicious, too unadaptable, too haphazard in communicating the pressing, too resistant to advice. Zeidler was increasingly losing the staff and the players, one after the other.

That’s surprising when you consider how well Zeidler is received, how interesting and engaging he is, how profound his thinking is, and what school he comes from. But he lost himself over the years, he wore himself out, he who had a contract until 2027 and full powers.

What speaks for him: The team maintained a certain level, spurred on by the home crowd. Zeidler also stayed on his path. He didn’t get involved in sideshows, remained predictable. He simply went through with it.

But at some point, legends in football will take on a life of their own and no longer have much to do with reality, says an expert on the St. Gallen scene. Every coach has his own experiences, everyone loses trust in the environment, for example if, like Zeidler, he has experienced FC Sion.

The question was always: What comes after Zeidler?

Enrico Maassen wanted to hear other opinions

Now they say: The fun has returned, the team has a controlled (pressing) plan, mistakes are addressed. And there is a feeling of togetherness in the team. That is what Hüppi wants with his people’s club project. As much unity as possible in the cosmos, not only in the stadium and in the grown organization, but also in the team, i.e. where the locomotive pulls.

That was the brief. The new sports director Stilz drew on his many years of experience in Germany and presented the 40-year-old coach Enrico Maassen, who was unknown in this country. Stilz headed the youth center in Hamburg and crossed paths with Maassen when he was working for Drochtersen/Assel in the regional league. “He made a run-of-the-mill team lively,” says Stilz today. Maassen went to Rödinghausen – more pressing, more success. Finally, the coaching staff at Borussia Dortmund came calling.

In 2022 came the station that was the subject of discussions before the St. Gallen engagement. Maassen coached Augsburg for a little over a year, after which the separation followed. In Eastern Switzerland, it was impressive that Maassen met with Augsburg officials for a beer two and a half months after his dismissal, including the then sports director Stefan Reuter. The coach also asked Reuter for his opinion. What happened to me? What do you think? Self-reflection, self-criticism. Look within yourself, don’t outsource.

FC St. Gallen is reorganizing itself with Maassen. Changes in the staff, a change in culture. After a championship game won thanks to luck (with the VAR), President Hüppi said: “I like the dynamic. It can be good to get certain things back on track. The basis for this was laid over the last six years.” Those were the Zeidler years. A look into Hüppi’s eyes is enough to recognize how complicated the situation with Zeidler had become in the end.

St. Gallen relies on Zigi, Quintillà and Görtler

The Conference League will place demands on the club in a way that the Hüppi era has never seen before. In the meantime, Maassen is benefiting from being able to keep the players in better spirits thanks to more appearances. FC St. Gallen has invested a little more in the squad than before and would have been a little bloated without the European Cup. A calculable risk. According to Hungarian sources, a little more than a million euros was spent on the 24-year-old Hungarian Kevin Csoboth. The millions from the European Cup will cushion the blow.

St. Gallen relies on an experienced team and has given them long-term contracts: the 27-year-old goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi (contract until 2027), who kept the team in the game against Trabzonspor. The 30-year-olds Jordi Quintillà and Lukas Görtler, who are under contract until 2028.

It remains to be seen what they are capable of under the new management. Nothing is gained in the championship with the Conference League. When Maassen was asked to name three reasons for the good start to the season, he said a few days ago: “Firstly, we are on the right track with the idea of ​​how we want to play football. Secondly, the will of the team. And thirdly, the extraordinary cohesion.”

The success in Trabzon has confirmed this for the time being.