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For Thomas Häberli (center), the Super League season is over after two games.
Picture: Keystone
After just two match days, the people in charge at Servette pull the ripcord and sack coach Thomas Häberli. But the sacking only seems to come out of the blue at first glance.
After just the second matchday of the new Super League season, the first coach has to say goodbye. Thomas Häberli has to vacate his post at Servette even before the new season has really begun. Although that is not the case for the Geneva team.
Because for Servette, there is no feeling out. In the first few weeks in particular, groundbreaking games are on the agenda - especially on the international stage. Even before the runners-up go down 4-1 at home to St. Gallen on Saturday, they fail to qualify for the Champions League play-offs against Viktoria Pilsen despite winning the first leg. This puts European survival in jeopardy.
Things get serious for Servette in the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday, when the first leg of the all-important clash with Utrecht is scheduled. If they prevail against the strong Dutch side, they will certainly qualify for the Conference League and would have a good chance of qualifying for the Europa League phase in the play-offs against Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia or Breidablik from Iceland.
If, on the other hand, they fall short against Utrecht, Servette will have to go through to the Conference League qualifiers, where they will face a real heavyweight in Panathinaikos or Shakhtar Donetsk. There would be the threat of missing out on European business again. Servette are determined to avoid this at all costs.
However, Häberli was clearly not trusted to turn things around so quickly and get the team back on track in time for the Utrecht game. The lack of confidence in turn also has to do with the departure of René Weiler, who thinks highly of Häberli and brought him to Geneva as coach.
"We understand each other because we have a similar view of how to communicate internally and externally. There's not a piece of paper between us," Häberli once emphasized. But when Weiler resigned as head of sport at the end of May and turned his back on Geneva, Häberli lost his biggest advocate and confidant - and ultimately his job too.
This will be decided by the Servette FC sports commission. Since Weiler's departure, this also includes club legend Alain Geiger, who coached Geneva to promotion and the European Cup before leaving the club in 2023. Will Geiger now be back on the touchline himself? The answer, at least in the short term, is no. Strikers coach Alexandre Alphonse and assistant Bojan Dimic will take over the team on an interim basis until further notice.
