FC Thun

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Thun
Full nameFussballclub Thun 1898
Founded1898; 126 years ago (1898)
GroundStockhorn Arena
Capacity10,000
ChairmanAndres Gerber
ManagerMauro Lustrinelli
LeagueSwiss Challenge League
2022–236th of 10
WebsiteClub website
Current season

Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the 2019–20 season. The club plays at the Stockhorn Arena which accommodates a total of 10,000 supporters, both seated and standing. The club's colours are red and white.

The biggest achievements in the club's history are two second place finishes in the Swiss Cup (1955 and 2019), as well as reaching the group stages of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League.

History

Participation certificate of the FC Thun, issued 20. July 1936
Chart of FC Thun table positions in the Swiss football league system

Until 1995

FC Thun was founded on 1 May 1898. The club played in the second Swiss division, the Nationalliga B (now known as Swiss Challenge League) from 1946 to 1950 and in the 1953–54 season. At the end of the 1953–54 season, the team finished in second place only behind FC Lugano and was promoted to the first division, the Nationalliga A (now known as the Swiss Super League), for the first time in the club's history. However, the club finished the 1954–55 season in second to last place and was relegated back to the second division after playing just one season in the top flight. In 1955, Thun reached the final of the Swiss Cup, which was lost 1–3 to La Chaux-de-Fonds.

From 1955 to 1970, Thun continuously played in the Nationalliga B, before being relegated to the Swiss 1. Liga, back then the third tier of the Swiss football league system, at the end of the 1969–70 season.

From third division to Champions League

In 1995, Andy Egli became the manager of Thun. Two years later, at the end of the 1996–97 season, Thun regained promotion to the Nationalliga B for the first time since 1970. Under manager Georges Bregy, the club took part in the 1999–2000 Nationalliga A/B playoff games, but could not secure promotion to the first league and remained in the Nationalliga B. From July 2001 to December 2004 the team was coached by Hanspeter Latour. Under his management, Thun was promoted to the Nationalliga A after 47 years of absence from the Swiss top flight at the end of the 2001–02 season. After Latour left Thun to coach Grasshopper Club Zürich, Urs Schönenberger was appointed as the new head coach.

Thun finished the 2004–05 season in second place only behind FC Basel and thus became runners-up of the Swiss championship, which was rebranded from Nationalliga A to Swiss Super League by then. This constituted the best league result in the history of the club and also secured the club a place in the qualifying rounds for the Champions League. By beating Dynamo Kyiv (3–2 on aggregate) and Malmö FF (4–0 on aggregate) in the qualifying rounds, FC Thun reached the group stages of the 2005–06 Champions League. They were drawn in Group B alongside European giants Arsenal, Ajax and Sparta Prague. They started their campaign on 14 September 2005 away at Arsenal, where after equalising through Nelson Ferreira, they narrowly lost 2–1 after Dennis Bergkamp scored in the match's final seconds. On 27 September they hosted the Czech champions Sparta Prague at home, the Stadion Wankdorf in Bern, where all the club's European home matches were held, as the Lachen Stadium does not meet Uefa's prerequisites for Champions League venues.[citation needed] Thun's 1–0 victory thanks to Selver Hodžić's 80th-minute winner propelled them into second place in the group. Following a loss to Ajax on 2 November, they lost 1–0 at home to Arsenal and with Ajax beating Sparta Prague, FC Thun exited the Champions League. However, Thun drew 0–0 with Sparta Prague in their last group match, securing third place in the group and thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup Round of 32.

Despite his success, coach

Stade de Suisse. However, Hamburg was too strong at their home, the Volksparkstadion
, and managed to overturn the deficit, winning the second leg 2–0 (2–1 on aggregate).

Between first and second division

FC Thun finished the

US Palermo because of the away goals rule (3–3 on aggregate), Thun lost 1–5 on aggregate to Stoke City in the final play-off round and thus missed qualification for the group stages.[2]

Urs Fischer took over management of the team in January 2013 and lead FC Thun to a fifth place finish in the 2012–13 season. In the qualifying rounds of the 2013–14 Europa League, Thun managed to win against Georgian team Chikhura Sachkhere (5–1 on aggregate), Swedish side BK Häcken (3–1 on aggregate) as well as FK Partizan from Serbia (3–1 on aggregate) and thus qualified for the group stages of the competition. They were drawn in Group G against Rapid Wien, KRC Genk and Dynamo Kyiv. In their group, the team won only one out of the six fixtures (1–0 against Rapid Wien) and lost the other five games, finishing last in the group and dropping out of the competition.

In 2019, FC Thun reached the final of the Swiss Cup for the second time in the club's history. They lost the game 1–2 against FC Basel.[3]

In November 2019, PMG, Chien Lee and The Seelig Group invested in the club and became the co-owners of FC Thun football club.[4]

Thun finished the 2019–20 season in second to last place and had to face the runners-up team of the 2019–20 Challenge League, FC Vaduz, in the relegation play-offs. After losing 0–2 in the first leg played away in Rheinpark Stadion, the 4–3 victory in the second leg was not enough to win on aggregate, which meant that FC Thun was relegated to the Swiss Challenge League.[5] In the following season, the club reached second place in the Challenge League and qualified for the promotion play-offs, but lost 4–6 on aggregate against FC Sion and remained in the second division.[6]

Current squad

As of 26 October 2023[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
5 DF Germany GER Dominik Franke
6 MF Switzerland SUI Leonardo Bertone
7 MF Switzerland SUI Miguel Castroman
8 MF Switzerland SUI Vasilije Janjičić
9 FW France FRA Hermann Tebily
10 FW France FRA Ihsan Sacko
14 DF Switzerland SUI Erik Wyssen
16 MF Switzerland SUI Justin Roth
17 FW Switzerland SUI Nando Toggenburger (loan from Luzern)
18 DF France FRA Kévin Djacko
19 DF Switzerland SUI Jan Bamert
20 FW Ivory Coast CIV Koro Koné
21 DF Switzerland SUI Uros Vasic
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 GK Switzerland SUI Nino Ziswiler
23 DF Switzerland SUI Marco Bürki
24 FW Switzerland SUI Roland Ndongo
27 MF Switzerland SUI Daniel Dos Santos
33 FW Switzerland SUI Marc Gutbub
34 DF Switzerland SUI Nicola Sutter
36 MF Switzerland SUI Enis Asani
37 DF Switzerland SUI Lucien Dähler
38 GK Switzerland SUI Mateo Matic
46 FW Switzerland SUI Hélios Sessolo
78 MF Switzerland SUI Valmir Matoshi
99 GK Switzerland SUI Nico Stucki

European record

  • Q= Qualifying
  • PO = Play-off
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2005–06 UEFA Champions League Q2
Dynamo Kyiv
 1–0 2–2 3–2
Q3 Sweden Malmö FF 3–0 1–0 4–0
Group B England Arsenal 0–1 1–2 3rd
Sparta Praha
 1–0 0–0
Netherlands Ajax 2–4 0–2
UEFA Cup R32 Germany Hamburger SV 1–0 0–2 1–2
2011–12 UEFA Europa League Q2
Vllaznia
 2–1 0–0 2–1
Q3
Palermo
 1–1 2–2 3–3
PO England Stoke City 0–1 1–4 1–5
2013–14 UEFA Europa League Q2 Georgia (country) Chikhura Sachkhere 2–0 3–1 5–1
Q3 Sweden Häcken 1–0 2–1 3–1
PO Serbia Partizan 3–0 0–1 3–1
Group G Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv 0–2 0–3 4th
Belgium Genk 0–1 1–2
Austria Rapid Wien 1–0 1–2
2015–16 UEFA Europa League Q2 Israel Hapoel Be'er Sheva 2–1 1–1 3–2
Q3 Liechtenstein Vaduz 0–0 2–2 2–2 (a.)
PO Czech Republic Sparta Praha 3–3 1–3 4–6
2019–20 UEFA Europa League Q3 Russia FC Spartak Moscow 2–3 1–2 3–5

Former coaches

Honours

References

  1. ^ "Der ewig Kompromisslose" (in German). NZZ Online (nzz.ch). 19 February 2006. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Stoke 4-1 FC Thun". bbc.com. 25 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Basel holt 13. Cupsieg" (in German). srf.ch. 19 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. ^ "Strategic partnership between FC Thun Bernese Oberland and the Pacific Media Group (PMG)" (in German). fcthun.ch. 26 November 2019. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Spätes Aufbäumen reicht nicht: Thun scheitert an Vaduz und steigt ab" (in German). kicker.de. 11 August 2020. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  6. ^ "Sion unterliegt Thun, bleibt aber erstklassig" (in German). srf.ch. 30 May 2021. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  7. ^ "FC Thun Berner Oberland – Kader". fcthun.ch. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  8. ^ "Thun coach takes players' advice and quits". uk.reuters.com. 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.

External links

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