Nyon is the home of UEFA’s headquarters and location of the draws for all their competitions and while it’s been six years since Everton last competed in Europe, the picturesque town on the shores of Lake Geneva provides the backdrop to the start of Sean Dyche’s first pre-season as Blues boss.
Nestled by the Jura Mountains, a sub-Alpine range on the border with France, Nyon has a population of 21,192 – little over half of Goodison Park’s capacity – with three-quarters of residents speaking French as their first language. As well as boasting UEFA’s HQ, Nyon is also the base for the European Club Association, a body representing the interests of professional football clubs in UEFA, formed in 2008 after a merger between G-14 and the European Club Forum which now has 220 members, including the Blues themselves.
The local football club themselves, Everton’s opponents FC Stade Nyonnais are rather less prominent but they’re currently on the up having just been promoted from the third to second tier of the Swiss pyramid. Formed in 1905 as Bluet, they took their current name two years later but have always played in yellow and black (hence their nickname ‘Les Jaune et noir’), as a tribute to BSC Young Boys, a team from this Swiss capital of Bern who Roberto Martinez’s Blues side defeated home and away 7-2 on aggregate in the last 32 of the Europa League in 2015.
