FC Thun
Also written as Thun.
The club
Fussballclub Thun 1898 was founded on 1 May 1898 in the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays at the Stockhorn Arena, capacity 10,000, seated and standing, in red and white. The chairman is Andres Gerber, a former Thun player and interim manager. The mascot, introduced in 2024, is a two-metre marmot called Münggu. Since November 2019 the Pacific Media Group, Chien Lee and the Seelig Group have been co-owners; BBC Sport reported in April 2026 that investment from Lee and board member Beat Fahrni had saved the club from extinction on several occasions, most recently in early 2024.
Recent seasons
Thun were relegated from the Super League in 2019-20, losing the relegation play-off to Vaduz 5-4 on aggregate: 0-2 away in the first leg at the Rheinpark Stadion, and a 4-3 win in the return that was not enough. Five seasons in the Challenge League followed: second in 2020-21 and beaten 6-4 on aggregate in the promotion play-off by Sion, fifth in 2021-22, sixth in 2022-23, and second in 2023-24, three points behind Sion and beaten in the play-off by Grasshoppers after an injury-time goal from Asumah Abubakar in the second leg.
They won the 2024-25 Challenge League, confirmed champions on 2 May 2025 with a 2-1 win over Aarau through Layton Stewart and Ethan Meichtry, five rounds early. In their first season back in the top flight they led the table at the winter break and were crowned "winter champions", then on 3 May 2026 secured the Swiss Super League title for the first time in the club's 128-year history, with three matches remaining, when second-placed St. Gallen lost 3-0 at home to Sion. The New York Times called it arguably the season's greatest European football story; Yahoo Sports called it "Kaiserslautern 2.0".
Honours and landmarks
Swiss Super League champions 2025-26, their first major trophy; runners-up 2004-05. Swiss Challenge League and Nationalliga B champions 2009-10 and 2024-25, with promotions also in 1953-54 and 2001-02. Swiss Cup runners-up 1954-55, losing 1-3 to La Chaux-de-Fonds, and 2018-19, losing 2-1 to Basel on 19 May 2019.
Notable scorelines
Thun's domestic record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here. The results the club is known for are European. On 27 September 2005 they beat Sparta Prague 1-0 in the Champions League group stage through Selver Hodžić's 80th-minute goal, played at the Stadion Wankdorf in Bern because their own Stadion Lachen did not meet UEFA requirements; the win put them second in a group with Arsenal and Ajax. Thirteen days earlier they had lost 2-1 at Arsenal, equalising through Nelson Ferreira before Dennis Bergkamp scored in the final seconds. In February 2006 they beat Hamburger SV 1-0 at the Stade de Suisse in the UEFA Cup round of 32 before losing the return 2-0.
At the other end, on 1 August 2026 Thun lost 6-0 at home to Young Boys, the heaviest away win recorded in the 2026-27 Swiss Super League to date.
European record
Thun's defining campaign is 2005-06. Runners-up to Basel the season before, they beat Dynamo Kyiv 3-2 on aggregate and Malmö FF 4-0 on aggregate to reach the Champions League group stage, were drawn with Arsenal, Ajax and Sparta Prague, beat Sparta at home, and finished third to drop into the UEFA Cup round of 32, where Hamburg beat them 2-1 on aggregate. Urs Schönenberger, the manager who took them there, was sacked three days before the Hamburg first leg and replaced by Heinz Peischl.
In 2011-12 Europa League qualifying they beat Vllaznia Shkodër 2-1 on aggregate and went through against Palermo on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate, before losing 5-1 on aggregate to Stoke City in the play-off. In 2013-14 they beat Chikhura Sachkhere 5-1, BK Häcken 3-1 and Partizan 3-1 to reach the Europa League group stage, where they won one of six, 1-0 against Rapid Wien, and finished last. In 2019-20 they lost both legs to Spartak Moscow in the third qualifying round, 5-3 on aggregate.
The 2026-27 season is their first Champions League appearance since 2005.
Quotes
- "Wir haben wieder relativ schnelle Gegentore kassiert" (we conceded relatively quick goals again) - Lucien Dähler, FC Thun defender, to Nau.ch, 9 August 2026. https://www.nau.ch/sport/fussball/fc-thun-dahler-dann-reicht-es-einfach-nicht-67158035 - "Wir machen viele Sachen in den ersten 20 bis 30 Minuten gut aber nicht perfekt - dann reicht es einfach nicht. Das ist am Ende auch eine Qualitätsfrage." (we do a lot of things well in the first 20 to 30 minutes but not perfectly, and then it simply is not enough; in the end it is also a question of quality) - Lucien Dähler, FC Thun defender, to Nau.ch, 9 August 2026. https://www.nau.ch/sport/fussball/fc-thun-dahler-dann-reicht-es-einfach-nicht-67158035 - "Wir haben nicht unser Spiel gespielt." (we did not play our game) - Lucien Dähler, FC Thun defender, to Nau.ch, 9 August 2026. https://www.nau.ch/sport/fussball/fc-thun-dahler-dann-reicht-es-einfach-nicht-67158035
All three quotes are Dähler's reaction to the 4-2 defeat at Basel on 9 August 2026. No quotes from the manager or from the European tie were confirmed from the sources read here; the club's own match report and preview for the Víkingur Reykjavík tie carry no attributed direct speech.
Right now (2026/27)
Mauro Lustrinelli, who won the title, left at the end of June 2026 for Union Berlin on a contract to 2028. Gian-Luca Privitelli, previously with the Swiss under-20 national team, was appointed head coach. This is the club's 129th season.
The transfer business has been modest. In came Nicolas Bürgy from Odense for an undisclosed fee on 1 July 2026, Dorian Derbaci from Aarau on 1 July, Nassim Zoukit from Aarau for an undisclosed fee on 14 July, and Mats Seiler from Young Boys for an undisclosed fee on 22 July. On 11 August 2026 Thun announced the signing of the 19-year-old forward Riccardo Braschi from Fiorentina on a three-year contract with an option for a fourth; he takes the number 20 shirt. Out went Dominik Franke to Žalgiris on 15 June, Leonardo Bertone to Luzern for an undisclosed fee on 1 July, Vasilije Janjičić on 1 July, the goalkeeper Nino Ziswiler on retirement, and Mathías Tomás to Puebla for an undisclosed fee on 6 July.
The domestic start has been erratic. Thun won 3-1 at Luzern on 25 July 2026 through Nico Maier, Marc Gutbub and Nicolas Bürgy after Stefan Knežević had scored inside two minutes, then lost 6-0 at home to Young Boys on 1 August, then lost 4-2 at Basel on 9 August.
Europe began in the Champions League second qualifying round against Dinamo Zagreb, and Thun came very close. Brighton Labeau put them ahead on 20 minutes at the Stockhorn Arena on 21 July 2026 in front of 9,000 and Miha Zajc equalised on 86 for a 1-1 draw. In Zagreb on 28 July, in front of 17,092, Labeau scored after four minutes and Marco Bürki on 22 to put Thun 3-1 up on aggregate; Dion Drena Beljo pulled one back on 74 and Lukas Kačavenda levelled on 78; Bürki was sent off on 67; and Moris Valinčić won it for Dinamo in the 112th minute of extra time. Dinamo went through 4-3.
The tie they are in now is the Europa League third qualifying round, champions path, against Víkingur Reykjavík of Iceland. Thun won the first leg 3-0 at the Stockhorn Arena on 6 August 2026 in front of 6,167, through Jan Bamert on 19 minutes, Labeau on 25 and Fabio Saiz in the fourth minute of stoppage time. The second leg is at Víkingsvöllur in Reykjavík on 13 August 2026. The winners meet the winners of Lech Poznań against KÍ Klaksvík in the play-off round on 20 and 27 August; the loser of the play-off drops into the Conference League league phase.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Thun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_FC_Thun_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Swiss_Super_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Swiss_Super_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Champions_League_qualifying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Europa_League_qualifying https://www.nau.ch/sport/fussball/fc-thun-dahler-dann-reicht-es-einfach-nicht-67158035 https://www.nau.ch/sport/fussball/meister-fc-thun-holt-sturmer-riccardo-braschi-19-aus-florenz-67158932 https://www.fcthun.ch/de/news/2026/matchbericht-thun-reykjavik https://www.fcthun.ch/de/news/2026/matchvorschau-reykjavik-thun https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/promoted-champions-kaiserslautern-2-0-065600990.html
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.