Friday, 15 June 2012 - 01:30 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Free Trade Association Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 4minutes
Nyon is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Geneva’s city centre, and since the 1970s it has become part of the Geneva metropolitan area. It lies on the shores of Lake Geneva, and is the seat of the district of Nyon. The town has (as of December 2010) a population of 18,728. It is connected to the rest of Switzerland by way of the Route Suisse, the A1 Motorway and the railways of the Arc Lémanique.
Nyon is famous for being the headquarters of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the European Club Association (ECA). The draws for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League are held in Nyon. The 3 main Nyon draws (August for Group stage, December for Round of 16 and March for the last eight until final) are eagerly waited for by football fans whose teams are in UEFA competitions.
In 1858, a station of the railway line Lausanne-Geneva was built in north of Nyon. New housing developments sprung up around this station, and the city began to spread. The railroads Nyon-Crassier-Divonne (1905) and Nyon-Saint-Cergue-Morez (1916) connected Nyon with its hinterland. To meet the needs of the economy, the shipping industry and the emerging tourism industry, a port was built in 1838 and a quay was added in 1873. By the middle of the 19th Century, a major source of income was the sale of timber from the commons forest. Other industries included tanneries (closed in 1925), carpentry, saw mills (until 1935), mills (including Andre & Cie.), cooperages and a soap factory. The Faïencerie Baylon closed in 1828. The porcelain factory, Müller et Dortu temporarily closed in 1813, then resumed production of ceramics in the Art Nouveau style in 1878. From then on until 1980 they produced Stoneware. Other industries in Nyon include the pasta factory Sangal SA (1860–1996), Zyma (1906, since 1996, Swiss Novartis Consumer Health), Stellram (hard metal treatment, 1940–99), Cherix et Filanosa SA (printing and graphic arts, 1932) and several tool factories. Starting in 1966, the companies stopped using the local locks and dams for hydropower and by 1974 they had disappeared from the Asse river.
