A Swiss weekender: A Super League sojourn

Words: Glenn Poulton

Images: Glenn Poulton

Once a year I try and have a weekend in Europe somewhere to tick off a few grounds and sample some fizzy lager and a bit of European culture. Often, I opt for Germany, as I find the fan culture better than most but this time, having been speaking with Swiss friend and fellow groundhopping enthusiast Mathew, we finally got round to visiting his wonderful country and more specifically BSC Young Boys of Bern.

The first time we attempted this trip we lost it to covid at the 11th hour and three years later I hoped that this would be the final time I ever had to mention the C word. There was a two hour flight from Manchester to Zürich after an hour’s drive from Sheffield for the three of us before joining our Swiss counterpart but we didn't have much time to hang around before game number one.

We made a quick dash to the FIFA museum that is probably more aimed at kids but did have a few fascinating bits in, including the World Cup and Jules Rimet trophy.

We couldn't have picked a better weekend to visit Bern as it was (not so) Young Boy's 125th anniversary weekend and opponents Basel also being their biggest rivals added some spice. It cost around 110 Francs (£100) each for a return ticket from Zurich to the capital city on day two for game two. The game itself was straightforward 3-0 home win as YB were running away with the league.

There was a missed penalty in the first half and then a second penalty scored in the second half to finally break the deadlock before the number nine completed his hat-trick late on, making for an entertaining afternoon on Mothering Sunday.

The modern stadium humourously named Wankdorf after the area it is situated in is just shy of being 100 years old but it was completely knocked down and rebuilt in 2001 with 32,000 seats. Having reopened in 2005 and used as one of the stadiums for Euro 2008 merely adds to its fascinating history.

The day before we landed in Zurich, where we stayed for two nights with our hotel being just a five minute walk from the Letzigrund Stadium home to both FC Zürich and Grasshoppers Zürich FC.

Ideally I had hoped to see the Grasshoppers, not just because of the iconic name but they are also the team that my team Sheffield Wednesday signed the legendary Efan Ekoku from in the 2000's.

However, FCZ was not a bad second option with another two penalties, one to each side before the home team turned the game around and scored a second half winner.

Plenty of Swiss pale lager and Bratwurst with fries made for the perfect European football experience, that and the firework / pyro display by the away side FC Luzern, who at the start of the second half decided it was going to be like bonfire night and put a ten minute delay on the restart.

The Letzigrund Stadium is an athletics stadium that can hold 50,000 for concerts with half of that for domestic football and also was one of the Euro 2008 stadiums. The stadium was easily 50% empty for the game we attended and you could buy tickets right up until kick off. Not sure that would be the case for concerts when the likes of Madonna, Rolling Stones or Beyoncé agave come to town.

Bern is probably the loveliest city I have had the pleasure of visiting, a city that is definitely European with a Scandinavian vibe to it. It’s a beautiful city with bags of history too. Mathew gave us the guided tour before the 4:30pm kick off and I finally got to see the Bears.

Three Brown bears are still kept in the city castle grounds and they can be seen from the street at no cost which makes for an unusual pre-match build up that's for sure.

Sheffield does have a lot to offer with it being the original home of football, hosting the World Championships of snooker and is even the greenest city in England but when I return the favour for Mathew's visit to Hillsborough, I think a stray dog running a cross a dual-carriageway is going to be the best I can offer in comparison.

Switzerland is a landlocked country that borders five others, one of those being Liechtenstein.

Their teams are part of the Swiss non-League football pyramid and a visit to one of those is definitely high up on my list the next time I book to sample another slice of European togger.

©Glenn Poulton/ Terrace Edition. FC Zürich.

You can follow Glenn on Twitter and Instagram: @PoultonOwl

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