Football Season Guide

Lugano are coming off a season that was successful beyond their wildest dreams as they finished third. This position, combined by Sion's defeat in the Swiss Cup final, meant that they will play in the group stage of the Europa League this season. The Ticiners were still battling against the drop going into the second half of the last campaign but everything clicked for them during the spring. Ezgjan Alioski and Armando Sadiku were both in amazing form and the side worked superbly as a unit too. Only Basel have collected more points in the spring season than Lugano have, with the end result being a third-place finish that few dared to dream of before the season started. However, their success came at a cost. Their manager Paolo Tramezzani was lured by Sion while Mario Piccnocchi, one of their regulars, did not extend his contract and is searching for a new club. Sadiku's loan from Zurich ended and the Albanian joined Leiga Warsaw whilst Alioski joined Leeds United. All this means is that Lugano are certain to enter the new season without their manager and their two best players. The positives are that they have appointed a proven boss in former Grasshopper manager Pierluigi Tami and they will have Antonini Culina back. The Croatian, who had an impact similar to Alioski's in the 2015-16 season, is back to action after a heavy injury that caused him to miss the entire previous campaign. Culina has been training with the U21 side for nearly five months now while there is obviously a big question regarding if he can back to his best after such a serous injury. He will be a big asset if he gets back anywhere close to his best level. As is usually the case with Lugano, the list of signings is littered with players unknown at the Super League levels and only time will tell if any of them will turn into new stars for them. What also seems clear is that they will be weaker than last season and given that they punched well above their weight even then, they should never be expected to repeat their last season's heroics.