First, there was the heavily criticized transfer of Basel’s successful coach Celestini to Moscow. And now FC Sion is playing a friendly match in St. Petersburg and getting paid well for it. There is currently a heated debate in Switzerland.
First come the facts, then the morals. Swiss first division club FC Sion will play a friendly match against Zenit St. Petersburg on July 9. Kick-off will be at 7 p.m., and tickets are already on sale.
However, this is anything but a normal friendly match in the Valais club’s summer preparations. The matter is being discussed with similar emotion and sharp criticism in Switzerland as the recent transfer of Basel’s successful coach Fabio Celestini to CSKA Moscow.
The Swiss Football Association (SFV) also advised FC Sion against playing at the Gazprom Arena. Since Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, sporting competitions with the country have been blacklisted. Russian clubs are known to be excluded from all international competitions. However, the SFV cannot ban the trip to the Neva because it is not an official competition.
Miranchuk just a pretext? – Six-figure fee
The club from Valais has issued a statement in response to the allegations. Zenit approached Sion because Russian player Anton Miranchuk is under contract there. And the 29-year-old national team player should be shown to the fans. “He is very well known there, so we agreed to let our Russian player spend a few days there and play in front of his fans,” said Patrick Margueron, head of communications at FC Sion. It should be noted that Zenit St. Petersburg is not listed as a career stop on the midfielder’s resume, whose twin brother Aleksey plays for Atlanta United in the US.
Miranchuk is apparently not the only reason why Sion is flying to Russia. Money has also been discussed in Switzerland in recent days, of course. According to the tabloid Blick, the Valais club will receive around 300,000 Swiss francs (around 320,000 euros) in appearance fees for the game. The money comes from the organizer of the game, at least according to the eccentric club president Christian Constantin in the newspaper.
“If anyone accepts the invitation, it’s Constantin.”
And that organizer is a player agent named Jerome Salbert, who not only advises players through his company “Global Sport International,” but also organizes international matches. “If anyone accepts such an invitation, it’s the president of FC Sion,” Salbert is quoted as saying.
While Fabio Celestini, who left Basel, faces sanctions for his move to army club CSKA, FC Sion apparently has nothing to fear. Constantin has naturally covered himself. “We have clarified this with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs,” “CC” told Blick. “There are no problems whatsoever.” That’s because Zenit is owned by Gazprom – and the gas giant is not on any sanctions list.
