Sensation in Switzerland
Newcomer is crowned champion for the first time
May 3, 2026 – 5:35 p.mReading time: 1 min.
It was only last year that FC Thun returned to the first league in Switzerland. Now the club is champion for the first time in its history.
The sensation is perfect: As a newly promoted team, FC Thun won the Swiss championship – for the first time in the club’s 128-year history. Coach Mauro Lustrinelli’s team lost 3-1 in Basel on Saturday. But FC Sion provided help on Sunday and defeated their fiercest title rivals FC St. Gallen 3-0. With three match days to go, Thun can no longer be pushed off the top of the table.
The club from the canton of Bern only returned to the Swiss upper house in 2025 after five years in the second division. A master’s bonus was not negotiated. President Andres Gerber said: “We thought it would be outrageous to define a target in the top six.”
The club’s history has so far been marked by setbacks. In 2007, for example, several players were involved in a sex scandal, and in 2016 the club was on the verge of bankruptcy. Since then, the fan-run club “Härzbluet” has been collecting donations every year – the equivalent of 1.6 million euros.
1. FC Kaiserslautern once achieved a similar success to Thun in Germany. Under coach Otto Rehhagel, the Bundesliga promoted team became German champions in 1998.
