After two years as Dan Tangnes’ assistant, Michael Liniger has been head coach of the first team since the start of this season. When he took up the position in 2023, it was already clear to him that he had higher goals: “When I was hired, I told EVZ that I wanted to become head coach of the National League. That didn’t deter Zug from signing me. On the contrary, they actually liked my ambitions!“ He has signed a contract for the next two years, but the Langnau native is clear that he wants to be with EVZ for the long term. ”As a loyal guy, I like to stay in one place for a long time because I want to build something,” says the 45-year-old.

«He has everything it takes to be a successful head coach.»

Reto Kläy, General Manager EVZ

In August, Liniger was also a guest on Thomy Jeker’s EVZ podcast Hertitalk, where he revealed, among other things, what he values most: “Respect and appreciation are very important to me. Respect also means challenging each other to become better.”

In episode 13 of the EVZ documentary MEH ALS IISSPORT, which aired in mid-August, the coaching staff gave a glimpse into their preparations for the 2025/26 season. With the first coaching change in seven years, there were also set to be some changes to the daily training routine.

Now Michael Liniger wants to secure the next home win for EVZ against the SCL Tigers – the home team has won three of four home games at the OYM hall so far, once in the Lehner Cup, once in the Champions Hockey League, and once in the National League. Zug scored a total of 17 goals in these four games, but their defense against the Tigers is likely to remain a cause for concern: Liniger will have to do without the long-term injured Dominik Schlumpf, as well as Lukas Bengtsson and, most likely, Elia Riva.

Langnau also has injury woes to contend with: Juuso Riikola suffered a lower-body injury in the first game of the season and will be out for around six weeks. This means that the Emmentalers will only have one import available in defense for the game in Zug: Santtu Kinnunen (FIN), who joined the Tigers in the summer from the ZSC/GCK Lions organization. There have also been some new additions to the foreign positions in the forward line: Hannes Björninen (SWE, Örebro), André Petersson (SWE, HV71), and Cal O’Reilly (CAN, Milwaukee Admirals) are now playing for Langnau. In addition, sports director Pascal Müller has brought Matteo Wagner back home from Sweden (AIK Stockholm) and signed Jérôme Bachofner from Biel and Robin Meyer from Visp – both of whom have a history with EVZ.