Thread 151616778

In this thread I'm going to outline the most prominent clubs from each one of Switzerland's 26 Cantons, listed alphabetically.

I will start with Aargau.

Aargau is one of the northernmost cantons in Switzerland, situated just south of Germany and west of Zurich, and the people German-speaking. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Switzerland. Historically speaking, Aargau was one of the few places in Switzerland where Jews were tolerated back in the 18th century.

>>151616817
The most important football club is FC Aarau, situated on the capital city, who currently compete in the 2nd tier.

They have won 3 league titles (last one in 1993) and one cup in 1985.

Now we've got the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden (or, Appenzel Outer Rhodes in English).

Pictured in red, it is an enclave within the canton of St. Gallen, and was split from its sister Canton due to religious differences (Ausserhoden being majority Protestant). It is a mountainous, sparsely populated german-speaking canton with its largest city counting at 15k inhabitants.

>>151616862
Appenzell Ausserrhoden doesn't have much of a football legacy, with their biggest club, FC Hesinau, participating in the 7th tier of the Swiss football pyramid, based out of the canton's legislative and executive capital.

>Fun Fact
Their coach and assistant coach are Greek and their mascot is a real dog, called Sunny.

>>151616862
Their twin canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, is quite similar (being part of the canton of Appenzell before the split), though they are majority Catholic. It is the second smallest canton by area and the smallest by population. Their entire population is almost the same as Ausserrhoden's capital!

>>151616969
Their most notable club FC Appenzell is based out of their capital, and also participates in the 7th tier, where they just played a local derby with the already mentioned FC Hesinau.

Next is the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, basically "Basel Country", which constitutes Basel's outskirts and countryside. It shares international borders with France and Germany to the north and used to be part of the historical Canton of Basel until its partition in 1833.

>>151616998
SV Muttenz hails from Basel-Landschaft, situated right next to the city of Basel, and plays in the fourth tier of Switzerland, barely avoiding relegation last year.>>151616998

The Canton of Basel-Stadt is basically the city of Basel. It's the smallest canton by area, one of the lowest (in elevation). It's got the largest GDP Per capita in Switzerland (2018 census) with 94% of the city's goods exports being in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors

Proceed OP

>>151617040
Their most successful club is none other than FC Basel, with 21 league titles (only behind Grasshopper), having won 8 straight between 2010 and 2017.

They have qualified for the Group/League stage of the UCL more than any other Swiss club (7 times), have had the most succesful European group stage set by a Swiss club and have also reached the knockout stage of the UCL and the semi finals of the Conference (2023) and Europa League (2013).

The Canton of Bern is the second-largest by both population and area. It's surrounded by 11 other cantons and its capital city of Bern is also where the federal government is situated. The canton is bilingual, is known for its alpine resorts and joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1353.

>>151617107
The biggest club of Bern is BSC Young Boys, 17 times Swiss Champions (having won 6 out of the last 8 leagues) and with 8 Swiss Cups. They reached the semi final of the European Cup in 1959 and had last made European knockouts in 2020-21 in the Europa Leauge.

Other notable clubs include FC Thun (current Swiss Super League leaders) and FC Biel/Bienne, who are playing in the third tier and are mostly known for making last year's Cup Final.

Next is the canton of Fribourg, the first french-speaking canton to join the Swiss Confederacy and one of Switzerland's only bilingual cantons (2/3 speaking French and 1/3 German). Fribourg is a catholic enclave, surrounded by the mostly protestant cantons of Vaud and Bern.

>>151617195
Despite Fribourg being a relatively big city by Swiss standards, it does not have much football tradition, with its main club FC Fribourg struggling in the 5th tier. Its most popular sports clubs are the local hockey and basketball teams with presence in European tournaments.

The most succesful team of the canton is FC Bulle, situated in the middle of the canton, who play in the 3rd tier. They last played in the first division in 1992-93.

The Canton of Geneva is mostly an urban one, comprising the homonymous city and its outskirts. Its situated at the southwest corner of the country, at the banks of Lac Léman and near the French border. It's one of the most populated cantons and the cosmopolitan heart of the country, being the seat of numerous international institutions, like the WHO, the United Nations and the Red Cross.

>>151617405
Its most notable club is Servette FC, having won 17 national titles and 8 cups. They came second last year and their last league title came in 1999.

Another notable Genevois club is Étoile Carouge; playing in the second tier.

The Canton of Glarus is situated in the eastern half of the country, surrounded by mountains and valleys. Its population is german-speaking and split between Catholicism and Protestantism.

thank you based greek autist

>>151617607
They've only got one club in the 5 top tiers of Swiss football, FC Linth 04, playing in the 5th one and based on the city of Linthal, which sits on the homonymous valley where the river Linth runs through.

The Canton of Grisons (or Graubünden in German) is the easternmost Canton of Switzerland, bordering Northern Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. It encompasses both sides of the Alps and several natural and cultural regions, and thus is known for its diversity. It is the only trilingual canton and also the only one where Romansh - Switzerland's local tongue - has official status, as around 14% of people are native Romansh speakers in Grisons, mostly found in the westernmost and easternmost sides of the canton.

It's a major tourist destination, known for its alpine towns like St. Morritz and Davos.

>>151617711
Like Glarus, it's only got 1 team in the top 5 tiers of Switzerland - FC Chur 97, playing in the same group as FC Linth. It's the home club of the canton's only sizeable city, Chur.

Go on

Next is the canton of Jura, one of the country's northernmost ones. Its usually considered to be one of the poorest (in terms of GDP and salaries) cantons in Switzerland, with the average citizen earning about 70% of the national Swiss average. It's a majority Catholic and french-speaking canton and is largely agricultural and rural. It does not even have its own airport.

>>151617048
>>151617640
these, impressive stuff so far

>>151617761
As for football, there are 4 Jura clubs in the top 5 tiers, with 3 of them (FC Bassecourt, SR Delémont and FC Courtételle) occupying the 3rd division.

Out of them, SR Delémont, playing in the canton's capital, is the most notable one, having played in the Swiss Super League (first division) back in 2000-01 and 2002-03.

>>151617711
I forgot to mention that Grisons is the largest and least densely populated canton, while Basel-Stadt and Genève being the most densely populated ones, as they're urban cantons.

Next is the canton of Lucerne (or Luzern). It is located on the central, german-speaking part of the country, situated on the northern foothills of the Swiss Alps. It's also majority Catholic.

>>151617884
It's most important club is FC Luzern, one time national champion (in 1989) and three times cup winners (last in 2021). They have never qualified for UEFA Club Competitions' group/league stage.

The only other notable club is SC Kriens (third division)

As a sidenote: for anyone wondering about religion in Switzerland, the only majority protestant cantons are Bern, Vaud, Neuchâtel, both Basel cantons, Schaffhausen, Zurich, Thurgau, Glarus and Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

Neuchâtel is a french-speaking canton found in the northwestern part of the country, around Lake Neuchâtel. It was one of the first cantons to grant women the right to vote (1959) as well as to lower the voting right to 18 years old. It's majority Protestant but there's a sizeable Catholic minority (31% compared to 38% protestants) due to Portuguese and Italian immigrants.

It's mostly well known for its history in watch-making, its wines as well for being the birthplace of absinthe.

>>151618029
Pretty much the only relevant club is Neuchâtel Xamax, situated on the city of Neuchâtel and playing in the second division. They have won three league titles (last in 1988) and zero swiss cups, they have played dozens of times in the UEFA Cup and last were in the first division in 2020-21.

Nidwalden (or Nidwald) is a small, german-speaking majority-catholic canton in the very heart of the country. It's south of Lake Lucerne and used to be part of the same canton (Unterwalden) together with Obwalden, being one of three founder cantons (alongside Schwyz and Uri), in 1315.

1/3 of the canton is forests while 1/4 is glaciers or mountains.

>>151618142
Its most prominent football club is SC Buochs, playing in the fourth tier. They played one season in the second tier in 1972/73.

Obwalden used to be part of the same canton as Nidwalden, and is one of four cantons to not have a club in the 5 top tiers of the Swiss football pyramid (alongside the two Appenzell cantons and Uri). Obwalden and Nidwalden split from each other due to being rather isolated from one another thanks to an extensive forest separating them.

Like Nidwalden, it's a german-speaking canton that's majority Catholic.

VERY good thread

>Ausser hoden
>Inner hoden

>>151618896
kek

>>151618316
The most notable team is FC Sarnen, competing in the... *checks notes*, 6th tier, also known as the 2. Liga, which at this point is regional (competing in the Innerschweizerischer Fussballverband, alongside other central Swiss cantons).

It's probably the most obscure canton alongside the Appenzells when it comes to football since I had to delve in the deep corners of schweizerdeutsch sites (where google translate is a useless tool) to learn about the regional amateur football system.

The canton of Schaffhausen is the nethermost Swiss canton, protruding into southern Germany, reaching into the Rhine where one can find the famous Rhine Falls. Most of the canton lies in the Hoher Randen plateau.

>>151619017
FC Schauffhausen (alongside its B team) is one of three Schauffhausen clubs in the top 5 tiers, itself in the third one. Twice cup runner ups, they have only played in the first division for a few seasons in the mid 00s, before plunging down the tiers.

>>151618957
>since I had to delve in the deep corners of schweizerdeutsch sites (where google translate is a useless tool) to learn about the regional amateur football system.
My condolences. But your work is appreciated. Have you done this before for other countries?

>>151619017
It's like a miniature Switzerland in the north of Switzerland! How quaint!

>>151616778 (OP)
for me, it's xamax

>>151618029
If I ever win the lottery this is where I'd move to.

One of three founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, Schwyz not also gave its name to Switzerland, but also its flag, and lies in the heart of the country itself. Only 5.4% of the canton is settled while 72.2% is Catholic.

when i was in college my dad was doing this contract work in zurich, they set him up in a nice apartment and he worked there for 2 years
and i was too lazy to go get a new passport and visit which i regret big time

>>151619210
The most important Schwyz football club is FC Freienbach, from a town of 16k inhabitants on the northern reaches of the canton. FC Freienbach plays in the fifth tier alongside fellow Schwyz team FC Ibach, having dropped down from the fourth tier recently.

Solothurn, or Soleure, is a german-speaking majority canton in the northwest of Switzerland. Alongside Fribourg, it probably has the most fucked up borders in the country, with multiple exclaves.

Its economy revolves around agriculture and it used to be an important gear in the "watch-making belt" of Switzerland.

It's home to one of Switzerland's few nuclear power plants.

>>151619329
The most successful club from Solothurn is the eponymous FC Solothurn, competing in the fourth tier. It used to play in the first division from 1925–26 to 1930–31.

The northeastern canton of St. Gallen is an artificial construct of various historical territories, defined by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803. About half of the canton's area corresponds to the acquisitions of the abbey of St. Gallen over centuries (thanks, Wikipedia).

It completely surrounds the two Appenzell cantons and is majority Catholic, and 21% of its population are foreign nationals. It is famous for its dairy farming and cattle breeding.

>>151619578
St. Gallen the most diverse of all cantons when it comes to football, with dozens of clubs in the top 5 tiers from all around the canton.

The most notable one, of course, is FC St. Gallen, playing in the first division, with 2 league titles (1903–04, 1999–2000) and one cup (1968-69) to their name. They have played various times in European competitions, most notably reaching the UECL League Stage last year.

Other notable clubs include FC Rapperswil-Jona and FC Wil (2nd tier) and SC Brühl (3rd tier).

Thurgau, or Thurgovia, is an eastern canton, named after the river Thur that runs through it. It was first made into a canton in 1798 after the formation of the Helvetic Republic, but its territories were incorporated in the Swiss Confederacy in the mid 15th century. It borders Lake Constance to the north. It's a mostly Protestant (45%) canton where 20% of its population are foreigners.

>Xamax
Are they calm

>>151619798
Pretty much the only relevant club from Thurgau is FC Kreuzlingen, found on the 2nd most populated city of the canton. It plays on the third tier, having promoted from the fourth one last year.

Why are stating how much foreigners live in the cantons? Nobody cares about this and its not /sp/ort relevant

The canton of Ticino (or Tessin) is most famously known for being the only Italian-speaking majority canton in Switzerland, and is one of three large alpine cantons, alongside Valais and Grisons. Its territories were absorbed into the Swiss Confederacy after being conquered from Italian States in the 15th century.

It got its name from the Ticino river, includes a small Italian enclave and is separated into two halves (one northern and one southern) by the Monte Ceneri.

It's got one of the highest life expectancies and HDI in all of Europe.

Thanks for the autism, appreciated.

>>151619906
Hello Saaar, pls do the needful and redeem to india.

Hellenic tism is strong

>>151619993
When it comes to football, by far its most successful club is FC Lugano, having played in UEFA Europa League Groups twice, as well as making the UEFA Conference League RO16 last year.

They are also three-time league (last in 1948-49) and four-time cup winners (last in 2021-22)

Other notable clubs include one-time champions AC Bellinzona (second tier) and FC Paradiso (third tier).

Uri, one of three Old Swiss Confederacy founder cantons, is located in Central Switzerland and is basically populated around the valley of the Reuss river, all the way to its northern reaches at Lake Constance.

Uri is where the Rütli Oath - proclaiming the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy 1307 - took place at, and the legendary swiss hero William Tell is said to have hailed from there.

>>151619260
INGUR- uh wait

>>151621211
As for football, I already mentioned its one of 4 cantons without a club in the top 5 tiers. FC Schattdort plays in the 2. Liga (6th tier), while the home club of the canton's biggest town, FC Altdorf, plays in the 3. Liga (7th tier).

Valais (or Wallis) is a large, alpine bilingual canton in the southern part of Switzerland. Traditionally, the canton is divided into Lower, Central, and Upper Valais, the latter region constituting the German-speaking minority.

Although a major hydroelectricity producer, Valais is essentially renowned for its tourism (hiking trails, mountain lakes etc) industry and its numerous Alpine resort towns, like Zermatt, Verbier or Crans-Montana. Its also a major wine-producing region and is one of the coldest cantons in its coldest, most mountainous reaches, while also being one of the driest cantons in its Rhône Valley regions. It's also home to the largest glacier in the Alps.

>>151618957
Some of my ancestors were from Sarnen and Kerns. Good thread.

>>151619260
hmm, I always thought FC Tuggen was the best team from there, but looks like they dropped from the 3rd tier Promotion League to 4th tier 1. Liga Classic back a while ago, but that still makes them the best team from the Canton of Schwyz.

>>151623626
You're right, though they are this year in the same tier as Freienbach.

>>151621751
Pretty much the only professional team from Valais is FC Sion, having won two leagues (1991–92, 1996–97) and 13 cups (in 13 finals!!).

They are currently playing in the first division and have had players like Gattuso and Balotelli play for them.

>>151616778 (OP)
looking for a fun football manager save. which do you recommend? Id like an older team that hasnt won much ever and isnt very prominent.

Ive been researching for posts about Switzerland on the archives of /sp/ and /int/ and the Greek flag pops up a lot
what do you have with Switzerland, OP? I don't mean to intimidate you or anything like that, it just seems like I'm crossing paths with you constantly

Vaud is a western, french-speaking canton and is the fourth largest canton by size and third by population. It's largely situated along the shores of Lac Léman and Lake Neuchâtel, and used to be part of the Bernese bailwick until 1803.

The canton is geographically diverse and is mostly Protestant (Calvinist), though South European (inc. French) immigration has turned it more and more Catholic. Vaud is also one of the cantons with the highest amount of english-speaking foreigners. The canton is often referred to as the "culinary capital of Switzerland" and is renowned for its many cheeses, wines and charcuterie.

>>151624959
As diverse they are geographically and ethnically, they also are in football, with multiple professional clubs among its cities and towns.

The most prominent is FC Lausanne-Sport, based on its capital and most populous city. The team has won seven league titles (last in 1964-65) and the Swiss Cup nine times (last in 2019-20). They are currently in the UECL league stage.

Other notable clubs include Stade Lausanne Ouchy, Stade Nyonnais and Yverdon Sport (2nd tier), as well as FC Bavois, Vevey-Sports and Lausanne Sport's B team in the third tier.

>>151624492
FC Baden might be your cup of coffee. Founded in 1897 and the biggest achievement is getting promoted to the top swiss league and a cup QF

Zug is located in central Switzerland and is one of the smallest cantons by area. Zug is traditionally known for its dairy farming and cattle breeding, though in recent years it has transformed into a crypto heaven, with many companies based in the area.

It has one of the lowest taxation rates in Switzerland and has enjoyed a reputation as a tax haven, particularly among Russian and other foreign nationals, with over 25% of its population being foreigners, many of them from the Anglophone world.

>>151625306
As for football, there ain't much to say. SC Cham plays in the third tier, having been promoted there in 2016 and not dropping since, while Zug 94 plays in the fourth tier, with SC Cham's B team and FC Rotkreutz further down at the 5th tier.

>>151625461
I like this shield

>>151617136
I own a YB jersey its pretty cool

Last but not least, we have the canton of Zurich (spelled as Zürich in German), Switzerland's most populous canton and a global financial and banking center. The canton has the highest Human Development Index score (0.994) out of 1,790 subnational regions, so one could claim it's the most developed/well off region in the entire world.

Most of the canton consists of shallow river valleys while the vast majority of the canton lies to the south of the Rhine. The city of Zurich employs a reputation as one of the most expensive (if not the most expensive) cities in the world, but also the one with the highest salaries.

>>151625681
When talking about football, it's hard not to mention both of its major clubs, Grasshopper Club Zurich and FC Zürich.

The former was founded in the 19th century by an English student and is pretty much the most succesfull club in the country, having won 27 league titles and 19 cups. Despite that, they haven't won the former since 2002-03 and the latter since 2012-13. They have made quarters of the European Cup in 1978-79 and semis of the UEFA Cup 1977-78.

As for the latter, FC Zürich has enjoyed less success in the league (with 13 titles over 27) and slightly more in the cup (9 over 19) though their successes have been more recent, winning the league in 2022 and the cup in 2018. FC Zürich is the only Swiss team to have reached the semi-finals of the European Cup more than once (1964 and 1977).

BONUS ENTRY

Though its own political entity, the tiny independent nation of Liechtenstein (east of Switzerland) does not have its own football league, and despite hosting its own cup (which determines a sole Conference League entrant), its teams play in the Swiss Football Pyramid.

BY FAR the most successful Liechtensteiner club is FC Vaduz, located in the capital of the microstate, which competes in the 2nd tier of Switzerland, having played 5 seasons in the first division, its highest placing being 8 (out of 10 teams).

Vaduz are the only team from Liechtenstein to have played in UEFA group stages (having done so in the UECL in 2022-23).

They are incredibly dominant domestically, having won the last 11 iterations of the Liechtenstein Football Club, having won 51 out of 76 total since 1946.

>Fun Fact

They are so dominant they regularly match their own B and C teams in the cup, which have no trouble reaching the RO16 or even the quarters, at times.

Other notable Liechtensteiner clubs include USV Eschen/Mauren (4th tier) and FC Balzers (5th tier).

>>151624492
By far the most interesting and challenging save in FM IMO is playing as FC Vaduz. You get:

>playing as a microstate in a different nation's league
>domestic cup is a joke so you get guaranteed European participation every year
>can't qualify to Europe through league
>the only way to qualify for the Europa League is to win the Conference League, and the only way to qualify for the Champions League is to win the Europa League.
>thus, if your goal is to win the UCL, you have to win b2b2b european titles

extra hard mode:

>only Liechtenstein/Swiss players, only youth products, manage the Liechtenstein National Team and after you succeed in all that try to manage another Liechtensteiner club and dethrone your old club

What is happening?

>>151619084
I haven't done so because Switzerland is a country with very well definited regional subdivisions and great archiving so gathering all that info (and more) is not that hard, just time consuming.

I could do the same for US states (though I don't care a fig about their sports or even MLS) or something about either Carribean or Pacific Islander football (though information would be undoubtedly hard to find, with many of them even lacking professional teams or leagues in any capacity)

>>151626272
Based FM enjoyer

Also Grasshoppers' football stadium was razed to the ground for Euro 2008. But there was so much political stalling that they still don't have a new stadium.

here is another one for you greekfriend, the austrian state of vorarlberg applied to join the swiss federation in 1919 but was rejected by the federal council

>>151627527
vorarlberg's biggest club is sc rheindorf altach, currently playing in the austrian bundesliga, though historically they were a small club that has risen in recent years, and sw bregenz and austria lustenau were traditionally bigger

>>151619906
>Oy vey

>>151619906
You have to go back

Redpill me on the politics of Swiss clubs

>>151626462

bump

>>151626272
>By far the most interesting
It's really not, because much like managing San Marino, every fm player ever has done it or read about someone doing it at some point. Challenging is probably correct, but the interesting parts fade away when you're holidaying to January to see if this is the year you'll make it through the knockout stage for the 15th year in a row.

>>151616778 (OP)
Good thread

>>151624816
He must be the greek guy who is learning French before moving to CH. Very based.

>>151631991
Loosely related but I know that FC Sion's president Christian Constantin is a meme among the French speaking swiss. He's a former football player turned mafia boss / real estate magnate with a net worth of over 600 million chf. He also has sacked over 60 managers over a few years (7 in 2014 alone).

Based comfy thread

>>151616778 (OP)
Appreciate the effort fren

Based Greekbro with the monday autism fix

>>151625959
>derby where both clubs share the same colours

>>151625959
Fun fact:
Joan Gamper one the founders of FC Zürich is also the founder of FC Barcelona

>>151631991
I was told FC Zürich is leftie (but bourgeois) while Grasshoppers are more right-wing, but not extreme. The same person (who is fan of neither) told me FCZ fans are often batshit insane and violent

Appearently Swiss ultras are sourprisingly fucking good, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJDVdG1UcA On the derby in Zurich

>>151619906
Sir this is /spol/

>>151647993
from the documentary i posted they said this or close to this, maybe not not leftist vs rightist. But that Grasshoppers were the more aristocratic or traces its history to being more aristocratic team and FCZ was the more commoner team. They said that Grasshoppers was the main team of the city, succesfull with trophies and maybe the top swiss team before the year 2000. Then it slowly changed due to an arena building situation where the city first promised? but then didnt give OK for the building of a new stadium and meanwhile they had bulldozed their current one.. so they had to move in with their rivals FCZ, Grasshoppers declined sporting-wise and the fanbase got smaller playing in exile. So it was flipped. FCZ grew atleast in the fan side (idk about sporting). Now FCZ is bigger with fans.

>>151619906
uhmm.. maybe you should!?

>>151647993
>FCZ fans are often batshit insane and violent
He's not wrong. FCZ Südkurve is pretty much a copy paste of the typical attendees of a 1. Mai riot.

the biggest newspaper are currently doing an hours long documentary series on Basel, Zurich derby, FIFA, the player Jamie Roche, Granit Xhaka almost playing for Sweden, FC Aarau. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abFlgzU1Ehs

>>151625681
ive heard that Zurich and maybe the canton in general? is the least football-interested in the country, this true?
But still they have a very good fans and ultras.

>>151648777
It's somewhat true, there's more passion about ice hockey. ZSC, Kloten and SCRJ(It's in St. Gallen but just a few meters across the canton border) have large and very loyal fan bases that fill the stadiums for every single game.

>>151648554
No its not important for explaining football clubs from different cantons

Greek bro, can you do one of these threads for Sweden sometime please :)

>>151649004
why don't you do it yourself for your country?

>>151650501
you unironically called out my lazy ass :(
no but really i have autist posted bigger threads before and this and other boards. and the energy drain if you would only get 1 reply is pretty high i feel personally, even though i get that there can be lurkers looking and getting something out of it

>>151650501
ask me about a club from Allsvenkan or Superettan and i can give a personalized rundown

>>151641302
well it's unique to the point that you have to win B2B2B european titles as a minnow, whereas even in San Marino every season you get a chance at the UCL

>>151648777
I'd say it's Fribourg.

>Top 10 cantons in terms of population
>Only one random hillbilly team in the 3rd division
>Main city (one of the largest in Suisse Romande) doesn't even have a single semi-pro club
>big following of the local basketball and hockey teams

It's not even alpine

>>151617136
>Other notable clubs include FC Thun (current Swiss Super League leaders). Andres Gerber being the key man there

It's quite mind blowing. They're located almost in the Alps and never had a lhuge investor but played in the Champions League

>>151650596
IFK Göteborg, do they still remember their UEFA Cup wins fondly' Or is it ancient history

>>151651715
redpill me on Sion friend.

The only country where meadows are better tended than football fields

>>151651715
NTA, but yes they remember it. Hard to forget when it is the greatest feat of the club and the greatest feat of any Swedish club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZkeIdY2hjk

>>151651823
Basically the other overachieving club almost set in the Alps. It's the club of the canton of Valais, famous for the Matterhorn which you will recognize if you pull up a photo. It's also the canton of grifters and backdoor dealers. FIFA presidents Blatter and Infantino hail from Valais as well. A lot of business money ends up in Constantins' pockets because there must be some agreement that he invests it in FC Sion. Christian Constantin almost knocked out a football expert (former manager Rolf Fringer) once but somehow got away with it. Now he installed his son in the executive suite of the club. CC is certainly one of the most charismastic people in Swiss football. He knows how to brand himself and his projects. Actually a lot of similarities with Trump.

>>151651980
Didn't know he was the manager, based as fuck

>>151652100
Sion can look both ugly and beautiful at the same time

>>151616778 (OP)
why are the romansh bad at football?

>>151650586
Oh I wasn't calling you lazy at all. I'd also like to do this for Brazil but I know that the only replies I'd get would be from other south americans, if I could even get that :(
>>151650596
tell me about AIK
they have my favorite crest out of the swedish clubs

>>151651615
It's a unique goal, but its like a pentagon challenge in that every fm player ever has heard of it and understands it. It isn't really interesting to share because it isn't novel and it isn't interesting to play because of how your entire season comes down to two or three crucial matches in May and you might as well holiday to the next year if you lose.

>>151650596
What are your thoughts on Williot Swedberg, since I signed him for my Fulham squad
Has a really good personality distribution in the game.

For me, it's ideal Super League

>>151653603
AIK are founded in 1891 in Stockholm the same year as Djurgården, and the were founded in buildings close to each other or maybe in the same building i dont recall. Thats why they are called twin-clubs and the derby which is THE biggest in all of the Nordics (i would say its edging out the derbys with Stockholm team Hammarby and the Copenhagen derby) is called the twin derby. AIK has spend the majority of its life since the foundation in the city of Solna and you could say adopted a solna identity, Solna is technically an own municipality but you can sa its defacto stockholm, its continues build-up enviroment from the center of Stockholm to Solna, the edges of Solna is a stones throw away from the northern edge of central Stockholm. DIF(Djurgården) and hammarby banter AIK that they are AIK Solna and not AIK stockholm. They play in the NT stadium with capacity of 50k (the stadium is ugly, gray, dull and soul-less), they have the highest avg attendance. They are among the top 5 in fans (singing, size of ultras section, Tifo, Pyro etc..) in Sweden. In the 90´s they had some skinheads in the ultras. Today AIK, their location and their youth system feels the most immigrant-coded(blatte-coded) among the Stockholm teams. I think they have the most non europeans in the stands. With 12 League titles they are on level with DIF and Örgryte who also have 12 and 4th in the ranking behind Norrköping, IFK Göteborg and Malmö FF. Atm they cant not really decide if they are to be a mid table team or top team.

>>151651715
One of the Swedish historicalgiants, bluewhite striped IFK Göteborg, Biggest club (fanbase, history etc..) and among 4 relevant Gothenburg teams that has won 1 or more titlles, They have won the 2nd most(18). Their fans are among the top 5 in sweden (singing, size of ultras section, Tifo, Pyro etc..). Atleast 2 other Gothenburg teams also have decent fanbases so derbys occur. The only Nordic team to have won a UEFA tournament, they won the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. Upper Midtable team since their last league win in 2007 until 3 seasons ago when they decided to be a relegation tier team for 2 seasons but stayed up somehow.
The 4th biggest fan-team in the city, BK Häcken, won the league at IFK´s ground in 2022, IFK Ultras blocked Häcken fans from celebrating on the pitch. Häcken is a well run economically but small fan-base insignificant history team that has come up recently.
IFK Göteborg is the only club i think with IFK in their name that is Allowed to have another logo-design than pic-related. IFK means Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna (athletics organization of the friends/comrades) and was a movement started in many cities and is more or less a protected title tied to that specific logo and history.
The club is slightly ore leftwing coded historically (with the connection to shipyard workers) but is esentially un-political today. Örgryte was historically the upperclass club in the city.

>>151657730
No real take on him, playing many minutes in a good La Liga side is good ofcourse.

>>151648866
>Kloten
This is Dutch for balls lmao

>>151650586
The reason this thread is so good is because it's so completely random. Nobody cares about Switzerland; it's one of the most soulless countries on the planet. It's fascinating to even see anyone mention it. You could probably do a thread like this about Finland if you don't want to do a Swedish one.

>>151657730
>like a pentagon challenge
I've always been awful at Football Manager and haven't played it for about 15 years, so I didn't know what this was. I found a guy on some forum talking about playing it, and I got really into following his adventures and then he just stopped posting. I'm so fucking angry now.

>>151653241
Let's play some football at our sports centACKKKK

>>151616778 (OP)
I was dying to make a thread like this for Brazil and all its regions, but I couldn't find the time. Fucking based thread, anon

>>151661805
first time you don't mess these up

>>151627527
>the austrian state of vorarlberg applied to join the swiss federation in 1919 but was rejected by the federal council
LMAO

Also, it seems like support for hockey in Switzerland is equally strong, or better, than for divegrass. Is this true?

>>151675412
Afaik, football is more popular by most metrics, but it is hard to compare of course since football stadiums are usually larger than ice hockey arenas, and because football definitely is a more accessible sport than ice hockey
There are many towns in Switzerland that are pretty firmly hockey-dominated. Zug for example. And I think ice hockey is regarded higher in terms of national pride, since Switzerland is higher in the ice hockey world than it is in the football world
I know a few (German) Swiss people who prefer hockey over football, but they tend to agree that football is the „bigger“ sport in Switzerland overall. Except for one guy who thinks football „never was a thing in Switzerland before third-world immigrants arrived, and they are the only ones playing it“

>>151619906
you have to go back (to your balkan shithole)

>>151675484
Yeah, I ask because I don't doubt soccer has a higher profile, but the domestic leagues seem close in terms of support. Switzerland has possibly the best supporters out of all the Euro hockey leagues, even though its NT is still tier-II.

>>151675412

Divegrass has the larger stadiums and can pull 20-30k crowds for some matches but for most matches they're at least half if not 2/3 empty.
Hockey on the other hand just has 6-12k stadiums but they're usually 85%+ full for any match.
So yeah divegrass is the number one but hockey is a close second.

>>151672908
I understand now

>>151672140
I'm doing the Pentagon challenge right now.
Started unemployed and badgeless, saved a team from relegation in Japan's third league, went to Malaysia and won the cup there, left because the owner did not fund my coaching courses as was promised, saved a team from relegation in south africa's second tier, built them up to promote in 3 years, won 2 back to back south africa prems, won the african cl and am now in japan.
Took a relegation candidate to midtable mid season then won the next season. I await the asian CL to start.
You get exposed to a lot of bullshit-seeming squad rules when you leave europe behind.
In japan you have to have 4 club grown players in your match squad and at most 5 foreigners.

>>151672908
why does davos look like a depressing russian city in that image

>>151675563
Yeah, I'd really like Germany to get on that level in hockey culture, though I believe >we have caught up a bit at least. Switzerland's hockey culture is quite impressive considering their relative lack of national success. But the league seems quite stacked, definitely a role model

>>151678073
>relative lack of national success
The last 25 years have been a huge success story for >our SkodaCup/Olympic NT Hockey. Going from relegation fodder, to some upsets all the way to making some finals and establishing ourself among the top teams.
We don't have won a Gold yet but it will happen sooner or later.
The German Hockey NT is on the same track just about 10 years later, making Austria the only stagnant DACH team.

>>151687674
I desperately want to see more >elite countries in hoki. This is also why I favor making Quebec and the Canadian Atlantic provinces into a new country. I'm willing to grant Alaska to Canada, as compensation.

>>151687674
I kind of thought Austria was improving because of Red Bull throwing money there. Maybe I am wrong
I‘d hope we end up developing like you. But to really boost the league, we need to get more kids into hockey clubs, limit foreign players at some point … and hope that more big cities end up with decent teams. Hamburg, Frankfurt, and so on could give the sport a significant boost here if they were fully unlocked

>>151688523
You must really hate the NHL for consistently ruining international hockey tournaments then. The World Championships are more or less a joke and they even shat on the last few Olympics. They wouldn’t stop doing that even if we had more significant ice hockey countries
Who could theoretically become relevant? Norway, Denmark, UK, France, Germany? Perhaps Italy? Anything beyond that seems implausible to me at first thought

>>151688545
Building rinks is the most important aspect of development. Improving a domestic pro league is nice, but it's better to devote resources to youth programs (and making sure that children start playing early).
>>151688577
The NHL is the enemy of hoki. Almost nobody in the USA/Canada knows this.

Norway, Germany, Switzerland could all potentially become >elite in the not-too-distant future. Denmark maybe, but not as much. Belarus too, I guess, but money is an issue. France and the UK have ok-ish domestic leagues, but the UK completely lacks the culture (and freezing weather). France is a possibility, but still decades behind Germany. I don't think the sport will ever matter in Italy beyond the Alps. I'm not familiar enough with Austria, but delayed-Switzerland is my take. Hungary is my sleeper pick. Poland could be tier-1 if the sport existed outside of Katowice. Latvia has the culture, but lacks facilities, resources, and population. Could absolutely be a >per capita top country.

Slovakia should reunite back into Czechoslovakia.

Great thread OP I appreciate it. This is the kind of thread I would make and get no replies. I would do something similar but England isn't really niche enough. Scotland maybe.

>>151688947
>Slovakia should reunite back into Czechoslovakia.
Dogshit take. The Czechs are good enough on their own and Slovakia is the only team outside the top 7 other than Germany that can be competitive from time to time.

>>151689619
>the top 7
There's a top 6.

The Czech NT is good enough to be counted as >elite, but only barely. Czechoslovakia would be ELITE. Also, there are too many small Slavic countries.

>>151688545
>Red Bull throwing money there
No need to spend big, the league is so weak a bottom tier DEL 2 team would win it. Also fan wise there only seems to be very limited interest with just 2-4k fans attending a average game.
There's a reason why most young austiran prospects end up joining DEL or Swiss NL teams as under 14 year old and getting swiss/german loicenses.
>limit foreign players at some point
That's a good thing, we never got rid of it and it helps the league a lot.
>a significant boost here
How do you want to boost it? Hockey clubs tend to end up where they end up and more often then not it's a small village. It's hard to boost a city club with very limit or even meme history unless you're red bull.

But yeah germany will join the top hockey nations in the near future and the DEL is also growing with some CHL success so the future is bright.

>>151688523
We are already at top7 with germany in a couple of years it will be a top8 and Slovakia has some potential to get there too.

>>151689845
>There's a top 6.
It will be 7 whenever Russia gets unbanned.
>but only barely
They're better than the US.
>there are too many small Slavic countries.
Fair point, but don't pretend that it will improve hockey when it will infact do the opposite.

>>151690002
1. I was including Russia. Switzerland isn't there yet.
2. How many Czechs would be considered for a US national team, if they were eligible? Pasta, Necas, Hronek, Hertl... (actual question). Skoda Cup's are fun, but let's not pretend they aren't a meme.

>>151689890
League attendance for reference

>>151690187
Switzerland is there, atleast temporarily like Slovakia was in the early 2000s, but probably permanently.
I don't deny that the US is better on paper, but the Czechs get better results.

>>151689890
You’re right about the present, and I hope you are right about the future. I am not sure yet, personally
Regarding the boost: I just believe that the sport would reach more people, meaning sponsors as well as (future) players and fans, if the league would regain some big cities. Hamburg for example would be a fine addition. The Freezers had potential in my opinion. My dream scenario would be HSV finding enough extra cash to use on ice hockey, that would give ice hockey in Hamburg more legitimacy with many people from the start, you’d „just“ have to make sure the ice hockey team maintains a separate identity in terms of marketing. There would be a bigger push behind a decent team. We need more players, more rinks, more money in the entire system. How we get there is irrelevant, but I believe they are all connected. I think that would be nice growth potential, but the smaller towns like Straubing are important backbones still. But if we want to make ice hockey more popular, they might not be enough in the long run
The biggest clubs we have are in Berlin, Köln, and Mannheim. Now Munich. The big derby is Köln vs Düsseldorf. That’s where the fan culture and the bustle is. Although Düsseldorf fucked up hard
If we can, say, double our number of cos coaches, players and rinks without the big cities, fine as well. As long as we improve in general

>>151690380
Starting that is obviously hard. I think our number of players has been increasing a bit in recent years, media attention is also on a high ever since the Olympic silver. But we‘d need a larger push in both these regards somehow. No idea how exactly. It would probably require a lot of foreign investment, some burger companies wanting to make us an ice hockey country and investing money to reap rewards. Foreign know-how would help. Or German companies suddenly developing a liking.
No idea how we can get that boost rolling. It’s a bit too small for my liking as of now, but I of course don’t expect/demand to be Sweden tier by 2040 or something

>>151690470
The first step for German hockey should be for your clubs to stop using franchise naming conventions (city name + team name), and to stop using English (FREEZERS, Wild Wings, ICE TIGERS). It's embarrassing.

>>151690187
>Skoda Cup's
I just re-read this and noticed I misused an apostrophe. Gonna KMS now.

>>151690558
Fully agreed. At the very least, we shouldn’t use English names. Kölner Haie, Eisbären Berlin, Adler Mannheim, Düsseldorfer EG … That’s acceptable in my opinion

>>151689215
You could do one for British Oversea Territories

>>151690558
Using the typical sports club names here might make ice hockey clubs disappear a bit as they cannot distinguish themselves from especially football clubs
But you are right, franchise names are cringe and English names are even worse. Maybe you could have some sort of compromise? If Hamburger SV had a good ice hockey department set for big headlines, maybe they could be called Hamburger SV Dinos (which is a German word) or Dinosaurier if necessary, and then it would be Hamburg Dinos for short. HSV‘s mascot is a dinosaur
The university team of Aachen is called „Emperors“ because of the city‘s imperial history, and „Aachen Emperors“ sounds kind of badass. If you want to keep the imperial stuff (Emperor would be „Kaiser“), you’d have to add something because „Aachen Kaiser“ would confuse people, I‘m afraid. Perhaps „Eiskaiser“? They as well could profit from being a department of the big club there, Alemannia Aachen. Assuming Alemannia has enough money to really invest, which is not the case

>>151690902
Imagining this guy as a big fan of the Hamburg Freezers.

>>151691202
Herr kühles Eis

>>151691177
Why don't do it like Greece? The reason why you see 1k people attending shit volleyball matches is because those teams are owned by Panathinaikos, Olympiakos etc. No one would care to watch Athens Shamrocks vs Piraeus Olympians.

It's a shame that only Bayern has realized this in Germany

>>151691267
… Anhänger der Hamburg Gefrierer

>>151691300
That’s what I mean as well. The ownership under the roof of a big name could help. But also having a different marketing identity on top of using the normal club name might be helpful for not getting swallowed when it comes to public attention. Generally, I would prefer clubs having many large teams across different sports. It would attract many people, more than a thing from scratch at least initially. And the investment potential is larger. But it hasn’t really worked here so far because it often requires shifting money from one department to another, as well as enough independence for the sport-specific know-how to flourish. Only Bayern has made that commitment on a larger scale here, they had enough money for that
Still, many clubs here have something similar. It’s not franchise only after ally HSV, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and so on have many teams in many sports. HSV used to have a really big handball team (as a cooperative effort, but they used HSV’s name, facilities, and crest) until they ran out of money some years ago. Leverkusen is important in many sports. But the larger team sport scale is more complicated

>>151690380
Well the momentum is there, now you need the rinks, the coaches and especially attract the youths to play hockey, that's pretty much the play.
I don't think Club franchises will do the trick as most of those cities have established clubs with their own fan base and history. Like FC Bayern Basketball worked because there was nothing with ambitions in Munich and the BBL is not as closed up as the DEL so a team with ambitions will and can go up without getting stuck and that's the problem that holds back clubs like the HSV that already has a ice hockey team from committing money to it.
2-3 DEL2 seasons with a DEL rooster and DEL wages but just DEL2 attendance is not worth it hoping to win the play-offs.

>>151692331
Maybe that can be changed? Made a bit more open? You are right, though. Seems it’s not really investment-friendly as of now, too risky and punishing
No idea how it‘s supposed to be done. But we‘re definitely still way too weak in terms of player numbers, rinks, and coaching on the base level. Ice hockey requires expensive infrastructure, the state won’t do shit. We need to get money from somewhere

>>151618029
My family are Spaniards that moved there after Franco died. I could have been born there instead of America.