The Swiss Super League cannot rival the Premier League, La Liga or the other major European leagues in terms of the quality of the players. It does not attract a huge global audience, and its stars do not earn hundreds of thousands of pounds per week. Indeed, according to the latest UEFA coefficient rankings, Swiss football is all the way down in 16th position.
The Swiss national side have performed solidly enough for a number of years now and are ranked 18th by FIFA. They have made the last 16 at each of the past three World Cups and will head to North America this summer as one of the dark horses some pundits believe can spring a surprise. Additionally, they have gone as far as the last eight in the last two European Championships.
All this means that Swiss football is much like the stereotype of the country itself: solid, stable, uninspiring and perhaps even a little boring. However, Swiss footballing minnows FC Thun are possibly writing the most exciting story in world football right now. The historic club, founded way back in 1898, have never won any silverware in their 127-year history. That is discounting the times they have won the second-tier title, as they did in 2024/25. But now, having only just been promoted to the Swiss Super League at the end of last season, they find themselves a mammoth 17 points clear at the top of the table!
FC Thun Blowing Rivals Away in Swiss Super League
Thun itself is a small town, around 20 miles south of Bern, the Swiss capital. With a population of fewer than 50,000, it is rarely in the spotlight, although it boasts a beautiful castle that dates to the 12th century. The football team play their games at the Stockhorn Arena, a 10,000-capacity stadium that opened in 2011 and also hosts Thun’s women’s team.
In 2024/25, the club enjoyed an incredible campaign and won the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. They won the title with room to spare, boasting the best defence and best attack in the division to claim glory by 11 points. They won five more games than their nearest rivals to secure a return to the top flight for the first time since 2019/20.
Given their recent history and a summer transfer expenditure of around €685,000 (net), survival would certainly have been the first target. Former player Mauro Lustrinelli had been made manager at the start of the 2023/24 campaign and had done an excellent job during his time there. But even so, given their size, finances and history, simply avoiding relegation would have been viewed as a job well done.
Fast Start Builds Confidence
It is safe to say that FC Thun have already very much surpassed that minimum aim as they have already secured a top-six finish. The Swiss Super League uses a split system, whereby the top six sides break away after 33 matches, as do the bottom six, playing their final five games against these rivals.
FC Thun made a brilliant start to their return to the Swiss top flight, winning the first four league games of the campaign before earning a draw against Grasshopper. Defeats to Basel and Young Boys followed, but Thun then reeled off six straight victories. After 13 matches in their first season back in the top flight, they were flying high, but even the most dedicated of Thun fans cannot have expected them to maintain that level.
Three defeats in four games followed, and supporters could have been forgiven for fearing a major slump. Instead, from mid-December until mid-March, they put together a truly stunning run of results that has seen them sail clear at the top of the table. At the time of writing, they are unbeaten in their last 13 in the league… winning 12 of those! A haul of 37 points from 39 available means they are now firm favourites for the title, which would be an incredible upset.
Remember, this is a club that has not only never won the Swiss title… they have never won any major honours! They played Champions League football back in 2005/06 and have competed in the Europa League as recently as 2019/20. They have also made it to the Swiss Cup final twice, losing in 1955 and 2019. But they are minnows, a small club from a minor town, with a ground that holds just 10,000 fans.
And yet they now stand on the brink of glory. Winning the second-tier title and then the top-tier one the following season has been done before in various European leagues over the years. Ipswich did it in English football in 1960/61 and 1961/62. That was with a certain Alf Ramsey in the dugout!
However, with football increasingly about money, it is no doubt harder to achieve such feats these days, even in a less wealthy league like the Swiss Super League. FC Thun still have work to do, but we will be hoping they can complete the job – and the fairytale – in the weeks ahead.