Christian Constantin
Christian Constantin (born 7 January 1957) is a Swiss architect. He is the owner and president of Swiss football club FC Sion. He bought the club, which had previously neared bankruptcy and was relegated from the Swiss Super League, in 2003.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 7 January 1957 | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1977–1979 | Neuchâtel Xamax | 0 | (0) |
| 1979–1980 | FC Lugano | 0 | (0) |
| 1981–1982 | FC Monthey | 0 | (0) |
| 1983–1984 | FC Martigny-Sports | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 0 | (0) | |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
During his ownership of FC Sion, Constantin has made 50 managerial changes, appointed himself as manager in 2008 and 2021, fired a former head coach because of his smell, allegedly kicked a referee in 2007 forcing the referee to retire three months later, before then kicking and taking down a Swiss pundit live on TV. More recently, and he fired a manager at the half time break before forcing that head coach to stand on the sidelines, even though he didn’t have a job, and confronted Mario Balotelli when he found out he wasn’t pleased with the decision, signed six players under a transfer ban because of what happened with Essam El-Hadary’s transfer, and even appeared on live TV on a horse. Yet under his presidency, the club also experienced considerable success, such as its Swiss Cup titles in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015.
Constantin was formerly a goalkeeper who played for Neuchâtel Xamax (1977–1979), FC Lugano (1979–1980), FC Monthey (1981–1982) and FC Martigny-Sports (1983–1984).
On 12 October 2017, Constantin was given a 14-month ban for striking former Switzerland coach Rolf Fringer.
In March 2020, Constantin sacked 9 of his FC Sion first-team players after they refused to take a pay cut after the outbreak of the COVID-19 and suspension of the Swiss Super League.