Football Season Guide

The previous season saw Lugano manage to achieve the target that they had set before kick-off, as they managed to survive their first Super League season. It could have been so much better had they managed to beat Zurich in the Swiss Cup final, but survival and an excellent cup run is as much as they could have hoped for before the season started. However, the Ticiners face a tough task to stay up at the second time of asking - the difficulties that they had staying up will hardly feel them with confidence, while what makes things even worse is that their experienced manager Zdenek Zeman has opted to call it a day and not renew his contract with the club. They have decided to promote from within and name their former U21 boss Andrea Manzo as their new manager, but he will obviously have some huge shoes to fill, with Zeman being a household name, with his reputation allowing him to take all media pressure off the players and on himself during Lugano's time of struggle last time around. The most important players to have left are Niko Datkovic, Matias Malvino and Matteo Tosetti, while the list of arrivals consists of players that are unproven at Super League level, with Fulvio Sulmoni being a rare exception. Another huge worry for Lugano going into the new season is Antonini Culina's fitness - the Croatian star has suffered a heavy injury late in the previous season, and it is uncertain when he will be back. Without him, for at least a while, and without Zeman, Lugano are without two of their most important men from the previous season and it will be amazing if they find themselves anywhere but on the wrong end of the table, battling against the drop.