Football Season Guide

Given that they spent the 2016/17 season in the Challenge League, Zurich have to be pleased with their season of return to the top flight, given that they finished fourth in the league and also won the Swiss Cup. However, there was still some disappointment regarding the Whites' campaign, as they spent the majority of the first half of the season inside the top two or three, but got gradually worse with time and their form did not really improve after Ludovic Magnin took over from Uli Forte. Magnin's saving grace was that he managed to win the cup, but there is little doubt that the Whites' league form under him was very disappointing. Magnin has no previous top flight managerial experience and his work will certainly be under scrutiny over the next months. The Whites have frustrated their fans by selling numerous key players over the year, but this summer has been an exception, at least so far, with Cedric Brunner being the sole regular to have left. The list of arrivals includes two very interesting names in Hekuran Kryeziu, who has been tempted away from Luzern, and Salim Khelifi, a superbly talented former Lausanne player, who returns to Switzerland after four years with Eintracht Braunschweig. White Zurich's previous season as a whole was a decent one, they performed poorly in the second half of the campaign and need to find some momentum. Moreover, they had the fourth-worst scoring record in the league last time around and this is something Magnin will certainly want to look into.