In the 2012–13 season, Sion competes in the Swiss Super League and the Swiss Cup. In the summer transfer window, they brought in Italian World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso, as well as Kyle Lafferty (former of Rangers). In addition, they bought an until then unknown Brazilian footballer called Léo Itaperuna from the 5th division Club of Arapongas and another forward Mathieu Manset from Reading. Already signed six months earlier, Oussama Darragi coming from Esperance de Tunis joined the team along with André Marques from Sporting Lisabon.
The 2012–13 season began well with Sion staying at the top till the 8th round. Fournier played with a 4-2-3-1 system.
On 4 September 2012, Manset, Joaquim Adão and Darragi were all disciplined after being found in the early hours of the morning in a Lausanne nightclub the day before Sion's game away to FC Zürich. Manset's contract with the club was canceled, Adão was demoted to the youth team for one month and Darragi was handed a large fine. This huge upset resulted in the resignation of Sebastien Fournier as coach.
Following this change, the results were not as convincing as they were at the beginning. Although Sion scored more goals in the second part of the first half, they ended fourth during the winter break, one point away from 2nd and 5 points from first. This increase in goals was due to the change to a 4-4-2 system with Itaperuna and Laffery as center forwards.
The weak spot during the first half was the absence of a winger on the left side. This was because Yoda and Wüthrich were injured at the beginning of the season and never recovered to their original strength. In addition to that, the defense was not as solid as the years before. That resulted in more goals received as in other seasons. The reasons for that were the transfer of the center back Adaílton to Henan Jianye and the simultaneous injuries of Aislan, Vanczák and Sauthier. Vanczák broke this cheekbone, but did play again after two weeks with a mask as there were no backups available. During that time, Basha (normally a defensive midfielder) played as a fullback at the position of Vanczák, while he moved into the center to his original position as a center back.
Squad No. Name Nationality Position Date of birth (age) Signed from Goalkeepers 1 Andris Vanins GK Ventspils 18 Kevin Fickentscher GK La Chaux-de-Fonds 88 João Couto GK Estagiário Defenders 3 Aislan CB Guarani 4 Adaílton CB Henan Jianye 5 André Marques CB Sporting CP 15 Michael Dingsdag CB Heerenveen 20 Vilmos Vanczák CB Újpest 27 Léo Lacroix CB Trainee 31 Arnaud Bühler CB Sochaux Midfielders 2 Benjamin Kololli MF Trainee 7 Sébastien Wüthrich MF Neuchâtel Xamax 8 Gennaro Gattuso MF A.C. Milan 10 Oussama Darragi MF Espérance 14 Vullnet Basha MF Neuchâtel Xamax 16 Didier Crettenand MF Lausanne-Sport 23 Xavier Margairaz MF Zürich26Gelson Fernandes MF Loan from Sporting Lisabon 29 Alberto Regazzoni CB St. Gallen 32 Anthony Sauthier MF Trainee Forwards 9 Abdoul Yoda ST Servette 11 Léo Itaperuna ST Arapongas 12 Kyle Lafferty ST Rangers 21 Yannick N'Djeng FW Espérance 22 Dragan Mrđa FW Vojvodina 25 Evan Melo FW Trainee
Out on loan
Transfers
Summer
In:
Out:
Winter
In:
Out:
Match results
Legend
Super League
Results summary
Results
League table
Swiss Cup
Squad statistics
Appearances and goals
|colspan=14|Players away from the club on loan:
|colspan=14|Players who appeared for Sion no longer at the club:
Top scorers PlacePositionNationNumberNameSuper LeagueSwiss CupTotal1 FW 11Léo Itaperuna 8 1 92 FW 12Kyle Lafferty 5 3 83 MF 23Xavier Margairaz 5 1 64 DF 20Vilmos Vanczák 3 0 3FW 21Yannick N'Djeng 2 1 36 DF 31Arnaud Bühler 2 0 2MF 16Didier Crettenand 2 0 2MF 2 Benjamin Kololli 2 0 2MF 26Serey Die 1 1 210 FW 19Mathieu Manset 1 0 1MF 8 Gennaro Gattuso 1 0 1MF 7 Sébastien Wüthrich 1 0 1DF 15Michael Dingsdag 1 0 1DF 27Léo Lacroix 1 0 1MF 9 Abdoul Yoda 1 0 1MF 10Oussama Darragi 1 0 1MF 24Max Veloso 1 0 1FW 19Gaëtan Karlen 1 0 1FW 22Dragan Mrđa 0 1 1Own goal 1 0 1TOTALS40 8 48
Disciplinary record NumberNationPositionNameSuper LeagueSwiss CupTotal1 GKAndris Vanins 3 0 0 0 3 0 3 DFAislan 4 0 0 0 4 0 4 DFAdaílton 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 DFJosé Gonçalves 3 1 0 0 3 1 5 DFAndré Marques 4 1 1 0 5 1 7 MFSébastien Wüthrich 1 0 0 0 1 08 MFGennaro Gattuso 11 0 0 0 11 0 10 MFOussama Darragi 7 0 0 0 7 0 11 FWLéo Itaperuna 6 0 0 0 6 0 12 FWKyle Lafferty 10 0 1 0 11 0 14 MFVullnet Basha 6 1 0 0 6 1 15 DFMichael Dingsdag 9 1 0 0 9 1 16 MFDidier Crettenand 1 0 0 0 1 0 19 FWMathieu Manset 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 DFVilmos Vanczák 8 0 0 0 8 0 21 FWYannick N'Djeng 3 0 0 0 3 0 23 MFXavier Margairaz 7 0 0 0 7 0 26 MFGelson Fernandes 4 0 1 0 5 0 26 MFSerey Die 4 1 0 0 4 1 27 DFLéo Lacroix 1 0 0 0 1 0 29 MFAlberto Regazzoni 2 0 0 0 2 0 31 DFArnaud Bühler 1 0 0 0 1 0 32 MFAnthony Sauthier 1 0 0 0 1 0 TOTALS96530995
References
Official Site