Sion sale close to completion

Swiss top division football team FC Sion is set to come under French ownership on Thursday, when FIFA agent Jacky Mouyal formally completes his purchase of the club from former owner Gilbert Kadji.

Mouyal has agreed to pay SFr 4.5 million ($2.7 million) for the canton Valais club. Two million of those francs will be invested in the club itself, while the remainder goes to Kadji.

Sion’s new president is backed by the JM company, which specialises in audiovisual presentations and marketing

Sion will be the second Swiss top division side to be bought up by French business, following the acquisition of Servette by French broadcaster Canal Plus.

In August, Canal Plus was obliged to sell its majority share in the Genevan club because of a clash of interest with another of its holdings, Paris St Germain. However the television company remains Servette’s biggest single shareholder.

At Sion, Mouyal is promising to preserve the club’s regional identity, much as Kadji did when he took over two and a half years ago.

Mouyal is at least promising to take some concrete steps towards that end, though. On Wednesday he said that he would be reappointing former administrative director Hervé Gorce and former sporting director Michel Schmid once the sale was completed.

The club’s new owners are also promising to keep Laurent Roussey on as team coach.

swissinfo with agencies