Stiel joins St Gallen exodus
St Gallen football club are to lose yet another member of their championship winning team, after goalkeeping captain Jörg Stiel announced on Friday he was moving to German top division side Borussia Mönchengladbach.
A reserve goalie for the Swiss national side, Stiel played a central part in St Gallen’s title success two seasons ago.
“We decided we would not oppose the transfer deal,” St Gallen president Thomas Müller confirmed on Friday. “On the one hand, Stiel is a symbolic figure for this club and will be practically irreplaceable. But on the other hand, we have to look at all he has done for St Gallen and take some account of the player’s own wishes.”
In exchange for one of his star players, Müller is likely to receive a transfer fee of SFr2 million.
Stiel, who has spent eight of the last ten years in the St Gallen goal, has already travelled to Germany for medical tests.
The 33-year-old goalie now becomes the fifth regular member of St Gallen’s championship-winning side to leave east Switzerland.
Top scorer Charles Amoah and defenders Giuseppe Mazzarelli and Marco Zwyssig have all moved abroad (to Sturm Graz, Bari and Tirol respectively) while striker Giorgio Contini completed a transfer to Lucerne at the end of last season.
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