Home-grown player Silvan Wallner played for FCZ until September. The 22-year-old then moved to Austria and has now announced his resignation due to his religion. FCZ sporting director Milos Malenovic says in an interview with blue Sport that there were no signs of this.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Silvan Wallner retires at the age of just 22. The Swiss defender comes from the FCZ youth team and moved from Zurich to Austria in September.
- But now Wallner can no longer reconcile football and religion. He is therefore turning his back on professional sport with immediate effect.
- FCZ sporting director Milos Malenovic says in an interview with blue Sport: "I absolutely didn't expect this from such a young player."
Ex-FCZ defender Silvan Wallner has ended his career at the age of just 22. The reason for this was his faith, which was not compatible with the demands of a professional career. He is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They regard Saturday as a holy day of rest reserved for communion with God. Work and playing football are not permitted on this day.
Wallner comes from the youth ranks of FC Zurich, left the club last September and moved abroad to Austrian Bundesliga club Blau-Weiss Linz. FCZ sporting director Milos Malenovic still knows Wallner very well. In an interview with blue Sport, he says: "I was very surprised that he wanted to end his career. I absolutely didn't expect that from such a young player. He always seemed very stable to me."
Wallner is a very intelligent boy with a good family, says Malenovic, who continues: "We didn't notice anything, not even the whole environment at FC Zurich. It was never an issue. We didn't know anything about it. I think he communicated this to his Austrian club for the first time three weeks ago."
It should have its limits
The FCZ sporting director is looking for explanations: "There are situations in life where it leads to this. Sometimes it's a bit questionable for me, but I have to respect that like everyone else. It's his way and he was very courageous with this decision. You can also see that as a positive, but I think it's a bit of a shame."
For him personally, anything that goes to extremes is not the right path, says Malenovic. But he doesn't like to get involved in politics or religion, he explains: "Everything should have its limits, football is also played at the weekend. If he no longer wants that and thinks it's the right way to go, then you have to accept that."
Malenovic denies that Wallner was released in September because they already had a premonition: "The reason was quite simple, Silvan wanted more match practice in his position. He was central defender number 4, already in his third year." He had not been used in his position and had expressed the desire to switch. "If there's an opportunity on the market, it's right to accommodate him."
Of course, a buy-back option was anchored in the contract if he developed well, so that FCZ could have brought back one of their own young Swiss players: "Unfortunately, it now turned out that he no longer wants to continue playing for the moment."
