Markus Caviezel interviews Chur manager Iñaki Arriola about the 2029/30 season

The first cold mornings of August are beginning to settle over the Rhine Valley, and Obere Au carries that familiar late-summer mixture of cut grass, distant traffic and mountain air. I meet Iñaki Arriola just after training, the cones still scattered behind us, the players already in their cars heading home to jobs and families. He looks tired in the way managers always do in pre-season – half proud, half anxious, fully aware of the expectations that now sit on his shoulders.

I don’t remember the boy Iñaki once was, the one who used to sit with his uncle behind the dugout in the 1990s, watching us kick and slide and smash our way through Alpine winters but I get the impression that he remembers me. Today he carries himself differently – still humble, still Basque to the core, but with a sharper edge, a sense of purpose that has only hardened since returning to Switzerland after tragedy reshaped his life.

We sit on a bench outside the changing rooms. I switch on the recorder. He nods, ready.

CAVIEZEL: Iñaki, congratulations on the work you’ve done this summer. Let’s start with the big picture. There’s a new owner, there’s talk of winning the league, and ambition seems higher than it has been in decades. How do you see it?

ARRIOLA: It’s real. The pressure is different now. Before, survival was enough. Now the message is: move forward. Grow or stagnate. I respect that. Graubünden deserves a club climbing the pyramid, not clinging to the same rung. Financially we’re stable for the first time in years thanks to the sales of Adrián Pérez, David Selles and  Alejandro Williman. That gives us breathing room. But we didn’t want to go crazy with spending. The focus was on options. Finding players who give us different ways to solve problems.

CAVIEZEL: Let’s get into the signings. Gambardella Matteo from Young Boys – what made him the first major target?

ARRIOLA: He’s unpredictable. Quick feet, smart movements, someone who can start wide and finish inside. Losing Pérez meant losing our main threat in transition and our main wide creator. Matteo replaces that but also gives us more. He can attack the half-spaces. He can drift into zones where we’ve lacked presence. In a new shape where wide players come inside, he fits perfectly.

CAVIEZEL: Is he a starter?

ARRIOLA: He’ll decide that himself. But he has the talent to be.

CAVIEZEL: Nico Ruffieux – raw, fast, and from the Team AFF setup. What drew you to him?

ARRIOLA: Directness. That’s the simple answer. Edon Berisha left, and he was our chaos player – the one who could change a game with a single run. Nico has that same energy but a bit more technical refinement. He’ll play as a second striker, attacking space, driving at defenders. It gives us a new dynamic. The first signing that we’ve made from an actual club, too, proving that we are now able to attract better players, even if he wasn’t contacted financially.

CAVIEZEL: A gamble?

ARRIOLA: Of course. But football is full of gambles. And in this canton you can’t afford to fear risk.

CAVIEZEL: Dani González – very different to Dion Cakolli. Explain the thinking.

ARRIOLA: Dani is connective. He’s not trying to outjump centre-backs. He’s trying to pull them out of shape. He drops into pockets, combines, creates passing lanes. And with Castillejo becoming more central to how we move the ball, those little combinations between them could be the difference in tight matches.

CAVIEZEL: So more fluidity?

ARRIOLA: More intelligence. More fluidity. More options.

CAVIEZEL: Let’s talk midfield. Simon Luchingerfrom Vaduz.

ARRIOLA: We needed someone who could build play from deep. Kasami leaving created a hole – not in size, but in rhythm. Luchinger has that rhythm. He’s light physically, yes, but technically and tactically he’s very mature. He’ll keep us ticking.

CAVIEZEL: At the back, Frank Llumnica. He looks like a real project.

ARRIOLA: He’s more than that. Frank can defend, but what excites me is how he can step into midfield with the ball. That ability changes build-up patterns completely. Suddenly you can overload areas you couldn’t before. You can create new shapes. That is gold at this level. And he’s hungry. Very hungry.

CAVIEZEL: Finally, Antonio Spagnoli as the new number one. How big a step is this?

ARRIOLA: Huge. We needed a keeper who could be part of the first phase. Someone comfortable receiving, playing, inviting pressure and breaking it. Antonio gives us that. He’s calm. He’s brave. And from the very first session he looked like he’d been here for years.

CAVIEZEL: When you put all these signings together, what do they say about where Chur is going?

ARRIOLA: That we’re evolving. We aren’t just signing players to fill holes. We’re shaping an identity: Basque clarity. Graubünden grit. Modern structure. Flexibility everywhere. We want to be able to change games from the bench. To adjust. To adapt. To never look one-dimensional again.

CAVIEZEL: Last question. Are you ready for the pressure?

ARRIOLA: I don’t know. But I’m ready for the responsibility. And that’s what matters