Having secured their place in Q3 of the UEFA Conference League, FC Lugano are immediately turning their attention back to the league. On Sunday, the bianconeri face Grasshopper Club Zürich on matchday two of the 2026/27 Brack Super League, marking their first away fixture of the new season following their debut at the AIL Arena against FC Vaduz.
FROM EUROPE TO THE LEAGUE
The team go into the match just a few days after their 5–1 victory in Pristina against KF Dukagjini, a result that sealed their European qualification with an aggregate score of 6–1.
The fixture list therefore leaves little time to recover and prepare for the next match. Immediately after Wednesday’s match, Mattia Croci-Torti turned his attention to the trip to Zurich: “We need to be ready to go and play against Grasshopper on Sunday. It will be a difficult match and we need to be aware that we’re heading into a real test.”
The victory in Kosovo took FC Lugano’s run of consecutive wins to three at the start of the season. The aim now is to maintain this run of form in the league as well, without letting the transition between competitions cause any dip in performance.
ZEIDLER’S
GRASSHOPPER Grasshopper, managed by Peter Zeidler, began their Brack Super League campaign with a draw away at Lausanne-Sport. It was a performance in which the Zurich side showed resilience and the ability to stay in the game – aspects also highlighted by Croci-Torti in his post-match comments in Pristina: “They secured a good draw against Lausanne by fighting hard,” remarked the bianconeri manager, stressing the need to approach every fixture with the utmost focus.
Last season, Grasshopper had to wait until the play-off against FC Aarau to secure their place in the top flight. The new season therefore marks the start of a different journey for the Zurich side, who are looking to show greater consistency than in the previous campaign.
RECENT
ENCOUNTERS The away match against Grasshopper proved particularly challenging for FC Lugano in last season’s league campaign. Within the space of a month in February, the bianconeri played two matches at the Letzigrund Stadion, picking up just one point: first a 1–1 draw, then a 1–0 defeat.
These two results had slowed the team’s progress in the race for European qualification and remain fresh in the bianconeri’s minds on the eve of this new encounter: “Recently, my teams haven’t done what they needed to do against Grasshopper,” recalled Croci-Torti.
On Sunday, FC Lugano will therefore be looking to build on their form in their first away fixture of the season. Having continued their European campaign, the bianconeri’s focus is now entirely on the Brack Super League and the match in Zurich.
