GENEVA (AP) — Like. Leicester’s Premier League victory 2016 and The incredible rise of Bodø/Glimt Swiss soccer, which has been held in Norway since 2020, looks set to crown a surprise champion.
Thun have never won the top flight in the club’s 128-year history, but this season has reversed the trend. rank in queue — even if the club has just been promoted.
A 2-2 draw with second-placed St. Gallen late Thursday ended Thun’s 10-game winning streak, but Mauro Rustrinelli’s side remain 14 points clear with 10 games remaining.
“We are also a young team in the sense that we are experiencing Super League for the first time,” Rustrinelli told Swiss public broadcaster SRF after his players conceded in injury time, dropping points for the first time since December.
Thun will face local rivals Young Boys, currently the best team in Switzerland, on Sunday, 17-time title winners and Champions League regulars in recent years.
Following Leicester’s lead
The Thun are Europe’s newest and unprecedented club, taking inspiration from Leicester.
last year, Union Saint Giroise wins First Belgian title in 90 years, and a small title Mjarby was the champion of Sweden This is the first time in its 86-year history.
See title races across Europe Hearts on track for first Scottish title 66 years later, Paris Saint-Germain chased by the lens He won his only French title 28 years ago.
The most common relationship is that clubs in regional cities are team-first and run on low budgets.
“It really feels like a family,” Rustrinelli said last year when he extended his contract with the club where he was a former star striker and coached for four seasons.
Thun’s main players
It took Thun five years to get out of the second division after being relegated in 2020. During that period he had serious financial problems and was part of a multi-club ownership group backed by American and Chinese investors.
Thun was once again independent and locally owned, and together with Lustrinelli he developed a plan for a team that would play the direct, pressing style he wanted with two central strikers.
This season’s top scorer is Ermin Rastdar, who has scored 12 goals, and is a Swiss-born North Macedonian international who could feature in the match. world cup playoffs They will play against Denmark later this month.
Thursday’s last strike partner was Brighton Laveau, who was team-mate of Kylian Mbappé, who is three years his junior, when both were in Monaco’s youth team.
Thun’s rising star is Swiss Under-21 midfielder Ethan Maistry, who could still be included in the World Cup squad.
Champions League debut
Thun became one of the smallest clubs to play in the Champions League in 2005 after Rustrinelli scored 20 goals in the season and led the team to runners-up in the Swiss League.
Thun reached the elite stage by winning two qualifying rounds and finished third in their group behind Arsenal and Ajax.
At the time, Thun played their European matches at Bern’s Young Boys Stadium, as their old club was below UEFA standards.
If Thun qualify for the Champions League in the second qualifying round in July, their home games will be played at the 10,000-seat Stockhorn Arena, which has artificial turf, similar to Bodø/Glimt in Norway’s Arctic Circle.
The Swiss champions must win three qualifying rounds to advance to the 36-team league.
The home of Swiss football
Thun will soon become the home of the Swiss Football Federation.
The Swiss Football Home project was approved in August last year and will include the federation’s new headquarters and the national team’s training ground. The next Swiss champion will be next door.
“We still have a long way to go,” Coach Rustrinelli said of the 10-game streak. “We want everyone to help us get 30 points.”
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