Anthony Bryze would have had every reason to smile at least a little after the surprise away victory in Sion. But the Stade Lausanne-Ouchy coach looked serious at the press conference and even criticized his team’s exploitation of chances. “But at least the result has the advantage that my players have to concentrate on the second leg,” said the 45-year-old Frenchman. He, who has been signed by partner club Stade Nyonne for this season, does not even want to think about a possible promotion.

Difficult task. Precisely because no one would have bet on the Waldensians at the beginning of the season, and the team was more or less written off with six rounds to go, the hopes for a sensational promotion in the local club should now be huge.

Until 2014 still with lovers

In the run-up to the season, many teams were among the candidates for two and a half promotion spots: Lausanne-Sport, relegated due to a financially strong main sponsor, was the clear favourite. Behind them, Aarau and Schaffhausen were believed to be likely to fight for other places. Thun and Vaduz also got underdog chances. He should have been completely different.

Although Lausanne-Sport managed to rise directly, second place was anything but sovereign. Yverdon unexpectedly won the league. Barrage’s place went to Lausanne-Ouchy, a team that ten years ago was still playing at the inter-regional level in the 2nd league, that is, in the fifth highest league.

2014, 2017, 2019: SLO tripled in five years. Since 2019, the club, formed in 2001 as a result of the merger of FC Stade Lausanne and FC Ushy, has been led by influential watch entrepreneur Vartan Sirmakes. Under him, the people of Waugh established themselves in the League of Challenge. But despite finishing 3rd in the 2020/21 season, the team barely got noticed. It lacks brilliance.

The stadium has changed twice since 2019, games in the venerable Pontese this season were attended by an average of 1200 spectators. Last but not least, the image of an empty guest block in Zion showed that there was no fan base. In case of interest, tickets were distributed to the Vaud clubs for the second leg.

emotional season

Lausanne-Ouchy has this underdog mentality that they also wanted to evoke at Sion ahead of Barrage. The team had an emotional season, not least marked by the tragic accidental death of defender Elia Alessandrini during the winter break. This blow of fate seemed to knock the well-started Lausanne team off course. They scored only one point in the first five games of the second half of the season. With six laps to go, the former leader of the standings fell to 6th place.

However, six days of matches followed in which Lausanne-Ouchy scored 16 points, and most recently, a strong Flurry performance against Sion that opened the doors to the Super League wide. “We’ve only done 25 percent of the work,” Braze’s coach said thoughtfully. “To win this duel, it’s important that we all remain humble.”

In 13 defensive duels since 2004, the Challenge League team has won only four times. After initial hesitation, it will no longer be a surprise if Lausanne-Ouchy enters the list as the fifth team (after Sion, Bellinzona, Servette and Vaduz).