President Andres Gerber swims in Lake Thun daily, rain or shine, to honor his late brother who passed away from cancer in 2021. The former Switzerland defender took over FC Thun in 2020 and lifted the club from the edge of financial collapse to promotion into the Swiss Super League. Thun now tops the table 15 points clear with seven games left, outpacing giants like FC Basel and BSC Young Boys.
Gerber compares the feat to Leicester’s Premier League miracle. From their lakeside town of 45,000 residents, Thun chases their first major trophy in 128 years—a story that could rank among Europe’s greatest football upsets.
From Crisis to Glory
Few outside Switzerland know Thun, a club founded in 1898. They claimed two second-division titles and reached two Swiss Cup finals but never lifted top silverware. Locals often cheer nearby Young Boys, 17-time champions based 19 miles away in Bern.
Thun’s peak arrived in 2004-05 with a second-place finish and Champions League entry. They stunned Group E by finishing third above Sparta Prague, despite Dennis Bergkamp’s late strike denying them against Arsenal at Highbury.
Decline followed. Relegation hit in 2020 after a 2019 cup final loss. Chinese investor Chien Lee and board member Beat Fahrni injected funds multiple times, including early 2024, to avert bankruptcy. Thun bounced back with an 11-point Challenge League win last season, ending five years in the second tier.
Experts predicted Basel, Young Boys, St Gallen, or Lugano would battle for the crown this year. Instead, Thun dominates. They stand poised to join Grasshopper Zurich (1952) as only the second club to conquer second and first divisions consecutively.
Swiss football expert Craig King calls it a “unique and unbelievable achievement” for an underdog rewriting the script.
