St Gallen concern for Swansea

FC St Gallen have nothing left to play for in UEFA Europa League Group A but they can deal a massive blow to Swansea City AFC, whose place in the round of 32 is not yet secure.

• St Gallen can finish no higher than third, but they could end Swansea's campaign if they win and FC Kuban Krasnodar prevail by the right margin at Valencia CF.

Previous meetings
• Wayne Routledge's second-half goal secured a 1-0 win for Swansea when the sides first met on matchday two. It was Swansea's first encounter with Swiss opponents.

• St Gallen's only previous meetings with English Premier League opponents are fondly remembered; under Marcel Koller, the Swiss club eliminated Chelsea FC in the first round of the 2000/01 UEFA Cup, overturning a 1-0 deficit from the Stamford Bridge leg with a 2-0 win in St Gallen.

• Swansea are based in Wales but qualified for the UEFA Europa League as winners of the English League Cup. Only five UEFA club competition games have been played between Welsh and Swiss sides, with the Welsh having slightly the better of them – W3 D1 L1 (W3 D0 L0 at home – W0 D1 L1 in Switzerland).

Match background
• St Gallen have lost all four of their Group A games since beating Kuban 2-0 on matchday one, though they also scored twice in their last home fixture: a 3-2 defeat by Valencia. They have conceded the most goals of any side in this season's group stage: 13 in total.

• St Gallen last played in this competition when they were eliminated in the second round of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup by SC Freiburg.

• Swansea are now without a win in three Group A games, having recorded two 1-1 draws against Kuban and matchday five's 1-0 home loss to Valencia.

• Swansea have never played in the spring phase of a UEFA club competition. Prior to this season, they had not played in Europe since the 1991/92 European Cup Winners' Cup, when they were beaten 10-1 on aggregate by AS Monaco FC in the first round. Back then, they qualified as Welsh Cup holders.

Team facts
• FC Basel 1893's example in this season's UEFA Champions League may prove to be inspiring for St Gallen. The Swiss champions completed a double over Chelsea with a 1-0 home win on matchday five, having earlier won 2-1 at Stamford Bridge to become the first Swiss club to win a European away game against English league opponents in 19 visits (D6 L14) since FC Luzern beat Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-0 in a 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup fixture.

• St Gallen forward Alhassane Keita nominally played under Swansea manager Michael Laudrup – and alongside midfielder Jonathan De Guzmán – at RCD Mallorca in the 2010/11 season, though the trio barely saw each other as Keita was loaned out to Real Valladolid CF and then Saudi Arabian side Al-Shabab FC.

Coach information
• St Gallen coach Jeff Saibene is the first Luxembourger to lead a club in a major UEFA club competition group stage. Having moved abroad as a teenager to sign for R. Standard de Liège, the midfielder left three years later for Switzerland, where he spent much of his career. After coaching spells at FC Thun and FC Aarau, he joined St Gallen in March 2011, leading them back to the top division in his first full season and to third place in his second.

• Michael Laudrup's first season in south Wales ended with Swansea winning the first major English trophy in their history – the 2012/13 League Cup. The playmaker's career haul included the 1991/92 European Champions' Club Cup with FC Barcelona and seven league titles: one apiece with Juventus, Real Madrid CF and AFC Ajax, and four with Barça. As a coach, he won a Danish title with Brøndby IF and took unfashionable Getafe CF to the 2007/08 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.