A love affair with Europe’s third club trophy continued as Trebor Mahtal’s FC Zürich lifted his fourth Europa Conference League in 2046. Mahtal now wanted to build on that success by improving the Swiss side’s domestic fortunes.
That began by selling underperforming midfielders Aurel Ansermin for a hefty £6.5m and Armin Hadzic to Basaksehir for £5.5m. Mahtal used that income to snap up wonderkid attacking midfielder Blazenko Sprajcer for £6.25m from Dinamo Zagreb, who instantly became the best player in Switzerland. He was joined by promising right back Ricky Murphy for £5.5m from Slovan Liberec and flair-heavy midfielder Magnus Dahlberg for £600k from Swedish side GAIS. Mahtal also promoted several hot prospects like centre back/midfielder Brian Ochieng, midfielder Maher Adala and striker Robin Häberli, which brought the squad’s average age down to just 22.
The Sprajcer signing forced Mahtal to tweak his approach slightly, moving from a 4-2-2-2 to a narrow 4-4-2 diamond. And he felt he had a nice balance of good first teamers and promising talents.
Seeking Swiss Improvement
The bookies retain Zürich as third favourites for the Swiss Super League with odds of 9/2 only bettered by holders Lugano and Basel (8/5 and 13/5). They also have Sprajcer and strikers Vittorio Aimati and Søren Brorsson in the media Dream XI.
Mahtal’s first full season in Switzerland began with a bang as Sprajcer bagged eight minutes into his debut and scored again in injury time to seal a 4-0 thumping of Basel. Three days later, Dahlberg also scored on debut as a rotated team downed Yverdon 1-0 before Brorsson’s brace led a 3-0 win at Lausanne. They finally conceded at home to Luzern as Almati and Brorsson’s late header nicked a 2-1 victory and lost their winning start as Sprajcer’s goal of the month winner earned a 1-1 at Young Boys.
The good start continued with wins over Thun and Winterthur before drawing 0-0 at Grasshoppers then Aimati’s first-half strike nicked a 1-0 at home to holders Lugano. They kicked on a level after an international break as Aimati and midfielder Paco Plaza scored twice in a 6-2 hammering of Lausanne. Mahtal reached 1,200 games in management as their unbeaten start ended at 12 games with a 2-0 defeat at 2nd-place Basel. They recovered with Aimati bagging back-to-back braces in a 5-0 win at Winterthur and as Häberli scored his first senior goal in a 4-1 win over Grasshoppers. And a 2-1 win at Lugano saw Mahtal’s side move 11 points clear heading into the winter break.
Into The Europa League
Zürich’s ECL success took them straight into the EL league phase. They opened up with a rotated side losing 4-2 at Maccabi Haifa amid 35C temperatures! Back in normal climates, Sprajcer’s brace inspired a 5-1 win over Nacional before a swift return to Israel saw a 2-0 win over Maccabi Petach-Tikva with Aimati and Sprajcer’s first-half goals. A couple of tricky home games saw a 1-0 loss to Brighton before Aimati earned a 1-0 win over Lyon. Mahtal welcomed former side Shamrock and dispatched them 3-0 with goals by midfielder Zoran Matika, Brorsson and Sprajcer to wrap up a top-eight finish.
A relatively favourable draw saw FCZ ease past CSKA Sofia 6-4 on aggregate to tee up a repeat of last season’s ECL Final against Newcastle. Mahtal rested key players for league games, which worked out as Matika’s late goal earned a 2-1 win at St. James’ Park. Sprajcer put them ahead early at home, only for the defence to give up two goals in two minutes after half an hour. It went all the way to extra time and young Häberli was the hero as he scored twice off the bench, both created by Sprajcer.
A tougher test followed against Lyon in the semis and the French side scored a late goal to earn a deserved 1-1 in Switzerland. Lyon were much the better side in France and claimed an easy 2-0 home victory. However, they were beaten 2-0 in the Final by surprise package SK Rapid.
Board Intervention Ahead Of Swiss Title Chase
Mahtal’s plans were rocked when club president Yau Ka Lung undermined him to accept Barcelona’s £25m offer for star player Aimati, despite the manager already protesting a previous bid. Mahtal was furious, especially as the deal went through after the Europa League registration deadline.
Life without Aimati began with Sprajcer edging a 1-0 win at home to Sion and a 0-0 at Lausanne, which convinced Mahtal to move away from his two-striker formation. That looked an inspired move as Dahlberg, who’d come into the team as a trequartista, opened the scoring at home to 2nd-place Basel. Typically, the ref enabled Basel to score their only shot on target from a nonsense penalty. But Mahtal had the last laugh as a triple substitute of youngsters paid off with midfielders Tristan Kaiser and Ochieng combining to tee up a late winner for striker Patrice Tanner.
That win moved FCZ a massive 18 points clear of their rivals with 14 games remaining and that proved crucial ahead of an iffy run of form around the EL knockouts. However, they did eventually clinch the club’s first Swiss title in 25 years with a 0-0 at Basel in early May. Zürich eventually won the league by 15 points from St. Gallen, as two-time champions Lugano ridiculously slipped to 8th! FCZ finished on 85 points after 25 wins, 10 draws and just 3 defeats, scoring 77 and conceding 29.
Mahtal’s Title-Winning Reputation Grows
Mahtal’s success saw him clinch a 15th league title in seven countries, adding Switzerland to Greece, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway and Republic of Ireland. Sprajcer had been a magnificent signing, scoring 19 goals with 12 assists in 48 games, closely followed by Matika with 13 goals and 14 assists and Plaza, who led the way with 15 assists.
Mahtal was furious with the Aimati sale and it killed his interest in being at the club through the remainder of the season. So the day after the league campaign concluded, he tendered his resignation to clueless president Yau Ka Lung, who had the audacity to try and convince him to stay. Mahtal leaves FCZ after 86 games, of which he won 53, drew 19 and lost 14, scoring 164 and conceding 72.
Where would Mahtal end up next as he went in search of his 15th club on this epic EuroTrip adventure? Join us on Monday to find out!
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