Success coach in an interview
©IMAGO
With just 44,000 inhabitants, things are usually rather quiet in Thun. But for weeks there has been a hot topic at the gateway to the Bernese Oberland: the current success of newly promoted FC Thun. Not defending champions FC Basel, not the last series champions BSC Young Boys, not St. Gallen, Zurich or Lugano lead the table in the Swiss Super League, but the supposedly small FC Thun. In an interview with Transfermarkt, head coach Mauro Lustrinelli talks about the league newcomer’s run and comparisons to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1998.
Nobody could have expected that FC Thun would be ahead of the top clubs at this point – almost a third of the season is over – and so clearly. With 28 points, FC Thun is at the top of the table, six points ahead of defending champion Basel, who has a squad value around six times as high as Coach Lustrinelli’s team (see table).
“It’s a wonderful story that we’re currently writing and it’s unbelievable that we’ve gotten off to such a good start,” the trainer tells us. Lustrinelli explains: “Our goal and claim was that we wanted to be an enrichment for the Super League. If you look at our game as a neutral spectator, you can see a clear signature.”
Lustrinelli: “Success proved us right”
In recent years, FC Thun has played far away from top Swiss football; the club has instead fought in the second-tier Challenge League. With the signing of Lustrinelli, the wind changed and the head coach set sail. “I am convinced that you can only be successful if you receive unconditional trust from all sides,” emphasizes the 49-year-old. “Of course, the results have to be right in the end, but trust is essential. We got involved in this process in Thun and were also aware that development does not involve a straight line, but that there can also be ups and downs.”
In the season before last, FCT narrowly missed promotion. “In situations like this, teams or clubs can fall apart. But we made it clear to ourselves that this defeat is part of our process and we don’t give up, we keep going,” remembers Lustrinelli. “As a result, a lot has grown together, especially in the area of mentality and mindset; players were specifically hired who not only fit into the team in terms of sport, but above all in terms of character. And in the end the success proved us right.”
FC Thun marched impressively through the second division last season and rose to second place with an eleven-point lead – thanks in part to a clear direction that also required mental effort, as Lustrinelli explains: “If we want to implement a clear game idea or game principles, it is normal for mistakes to occur. Of course, for example, you go into a game with the goal that ten actions will result in ten goals. Of course, that doesn’t always work. At this moment, resilience comes into play, knowing that you are aware of defeats “I am convinced that resilience can be trained in every training session.”
Lustrinelli learned from Hitzfeld and worked under Fischer
Lustrinelli, who was a professional himself, has an example of this: “How quickly and positively can a player react under pressure after a bad pass. At that moment, a lot of emotions arise that you have to process and channel accordingly. I want to sensitize my players to the little things and consciously make them better.”
For the former Swiss national player, who made his breakthrough as a professional at FC Thun, the FCT is more than just a stopover. He played over 100 times for the club from the Bernese Oberland early in his career and before his retirement from the football stage. He took over the head coach position in 2022 after stints as a youth coach at the Swiss Association and as an assistant coach at the FCT under Urs Fischer and Heinz Moser. As a player, he learned from Hanspeter Latour and Köbi Kuhn, “who taught me a lot about team management,” and from Ottmar Hitzfeld, “who showed me that with a few but targeted words you can adjust a team precisely to an opponent,” says Lustrinelli. “To this day I am interested in football coaches, no matter what league, no matter what nation.”
After FC Thun was promoted to the Super League, many experts assumed that the players would reach their performance limits in the Super League, but the opposite seems to be the case. For example, goalkeeper Niklas Steffen is statistically one of the best goalkeepers of the current season. The league’s top goalscorer, Christopher Ibayi, is also under contract with FCT. “Our secret recipe is that we work together patiently, with continuity and closely and have been doing so for years. Of course everything depends on the results. If the points don’t come up, no nice plan will help you. But our common task is to consciously support and help each other. In our club, every handshake works because everyone knows what their role is.”
Market value dwarf FC Thun is aiming for the Swiss top 6 in the medium term
Thun’s performance is even more impressive when it comes to market values. Only the current bottom team, FC Winterthur, has a lower squad value than FCT. While other clubs can manage with a large budget, FC Thun has to take creative approaches. How can you be successful in the Shark Tank Super League? “We talk about negative pressure very often, but pressure is only negative if you give it a negative rating,” says Lustrinelli about his team’s starting position.
“If you work specifically for clear profiles and look for specific profiles, then you can be successful in football even with limited resources. The most important thing is to realize that you may not be able to take ten steps forward straight away. Our medium-term vision is to establish ourselves in the top 6 of Swiss football.”
Lustrinelli remembers Arsenal – Does Thun like Lautern?
These days, Lustrinelli remembers a great success that happened 20 years ago. Back then, FC Thun achieved something extraordinary with the player Lustrinelli – making it into the Champions League. The current head coach fondly remembers the group games in the premier class against Arsenal, Ajax and Sparta Prague: “Those were the absolute highlights of my career. We wrote history and experienced a fairy tale. It was unique to play against these world stars, especially in the duels against Arsenal. Playing against Sol Campbell was like constantly running into a wall. I will also never forget Arséne Wenger’s face when we scored the 1-1 draw. It was a mixture of things Anger, nervousness and a large portion of surprise.”
Due to the current success, some fans are already dreaming of international competition. Some are starting to see the parallels to the surprise success of 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the German Bundesliga at the time. As a newcomer, he marched straight through to the German championship in 1998. “I’ve been asked about the Kaiserslautern comparison a lot lately. I allow every fan to dream. Dreams are always positive and beautiful. As a coach, I see it in a more differentiated way. The current table is a snapshot. In Switzerland, some teams have the ambition to become champions. We want to develop and grow, everything else will be seen. Nevertheless, we try to be there when other clubs weaken.”
Text and interview: Henrik Stadnischenko