FC Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club currently plays in the Swiss Super League after being promoted in the 2009/10 season. The club plays at the Arena Thun which accommodates a total of 10,300 supporters, both seated and standing. The club's colours are red and white.
[edit] History
FC Thun was founded on 1 May 1898.
It has played in the Nationalliga B from 1946–50,1953/54, 1955–70 and 1997–2002. From 2002–2008 it played in the Nationalliga A, which was renamed to Axpo Super League. In 2008 the club were relegated to the Swiss Challenge League.
On 23 August 2005 FC Thun, with a yearly budget under €2 million, wrote Swiss football history. It qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League by beating first FC Dynamo Kyiv & then the Swedish Champions Malmö FF at home 3–0 after having won in Malmö 0–1. Apart from Grasshoppers, Zürich and FC Basel, FC Thun is the only Swiss football team to reach the group stages of the Champions League, and the smallest club ever to enter the tournament. Only nine years earlier, Thun were playing amateur third division football in front of crowds of 100.
FC Thun were drawn in Group B alongside European giants Arsenal, Ajax and Sparta Prague. They started their first ever Champions League campaign on 14 September 2005 away at Arsenal, where, even after they scored a stunning equaliser through Nelson Ferreira, they narrowly lost 2–1 after Dennis Bergkamp scored in the match's dying seconds. On 27 September they hosted the Czech champions Sparta Prague at their 'home' venue, the Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf in Bern, where all the club's 'home' matches were held, as the Lachen Stadium does not meet UEFA's prerequisites for Champions League venues.[citation needed] Given the low expectations most had for the club considering their newcomer status, Thun's 1–0 victory thanks to Selver Hodžić's 80th minute gamewinner was something of an upset, and propelled them into second place in the group. Following a loss to Ajax Amsterdam on 2 November 2005, FC Thun fell to 3rd place in Group C, 4 points behind Ajax. The last home game they played in the Champions League was a home match against Arsenal. Thun still had a chance of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League but realistically had to beat the Gunners. The match result was quite controversial. Thun were denied a goal by Lustrinelli in the 67th minute due to a ruling of offside. Television replays show that the offside decision of the linesman was questionable. This was the second dissallowed goal by Thun in the match, the first being 15 minutes earlier also due to an offside ruling, but this decision was not in question. As the game looked headed to end 0–0, in the 89th minute Robin van Persie fell in the Thunese penalty box. Arsenal were awarded a penalty. This was also a questionable decision, as some camera angles appear to show van Persie falling without Thunese influence. Attacker Robert Pires took the penalty and scored, leaving Arsenal 1–0 winners & with Ajax beating Sparta Prague, FC Thun exited the Champions League. However Thun would draw 0–0 with Sparta Prague in their last Champions League group match, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup third round. This was a fine achievement in itself given the small club's reputation and being tipped to finish bottom of the group.
Just three days prior to their Uefa Cup tie against Hamburg SV, Thun sacked their coach, Urs Schönenberger who had guided them to the Champions League group stages & was replaced by Heinz Peischl. Despite this Thun managed a surprise 1–0 over Hamburg SV in the 1st leg at the Stade de Suisse. However Hamburg were too strong at their home, AOL Arena, and managed to overturn the deficit, winning the 2nd leg 2–0 (2–1 on aggregate).
[edit] European Cups
- Q= Qualifying
- PO = Play-Off
[edit] Trivia
FC Thun is the only team which participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage, without ever winning a domestic or European prize.
[edit] Current squad
- As of 5 August 2011[1]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
[edit] On loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
[edit] Former coaches
[edit] Former players
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- See also Category:FC Thun players.
[edit] Former Personnel
[edit] Co-Trainer
[edit] Goalkeeper Coach
- Andreas Hilfiker (2006–07)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Current season
Hanspeter Latour (1978–83)
Heinz Peischl (2006–07)
Jeff Saibene (2007)
René van Eck (2007–08)
Christian Brand (2007–08)
