FC Thun

Football club infobox
clubname = FC Thun


fullname = Fussballclub Thun 1898
nickname =
founded = 1898
ground = Stadion Lachen, Thun
capacity = 10,300
chairman = Christian Stähli
manager = Hansruedi Baumann
league = Swiss Challenge League
season = 2007-08
position = Swiss Super League, 10th (Relegated)| pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=FF0000|socks1=FF0000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF
FC Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club currently plays in the Swiss Challenge League since being relegated in the 2007/8 season. The club plays in the Lachen Stadium which accommodates a total of 10,300 supporters, both seated and standing. The club's colours are red and white.

History

FC Thun was founded on the 1st of May in 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. Since 2008 it has been 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 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, 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 Berne (all of the club's 'home' ties matches were held there as the Lachen Stadium does not meet UEFA's prerequisites for Champions League venues)Fact|date=October 2007. 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 back of 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 supposed 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 one occurred 15 minutes earlier and was also not given because of offside. This however was a correct decision. The game looked to end 0-0. In the 89th minute Robin van Persie fell in the Thunese penalty box. Arsenal were awarded a penalty. This also looked to be a questionable decision by some camera angles. It looked like van Persie let himself fall without Thunese influence. Attacker Robert Pires took the penalty and scored, leaving Arsenal 1-0 winners & with Ajax beating Sparta Prague confirmed Thun's exit from 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. A fine achievement in itself giving the club's small reputation & despite 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 to strong at AOL Arena and managed to overturn the deficit and won the 2nd leg 2-0 (2-1 on aggregate).

Current squad

"As of 7 October, 2008."

Former players

*flagicon|Switzerland Patrick Bettoni
*flagicon|Switzerland Johan Berisha
*flagicon|Switzerland Pascal Cerrone
*flagicon|Switzerland Fabio Coltorti
*flagicon|Cameroon Armand Deumi
*flagicon|Switzerland Gregory Duruz
*flagicon|Switzerland Alexander Frei
*flagicon|Switzerland David Pallas
*flagicon|Switzerland Milaim Rama
*flagicon|Switzerland Michel Renggli
*flagicon|Switzerland Marco Streller
*flagicon|Switzerland Reto Zanni
*flagicon|Switzerland Mauro Lustrinelli
*flagicon|Switzerland Baykal Kulaksizoglu
*flagicon|Australia Ljubo Milicevic
*flagicon|Bosnia and Herzegovina Eldin Jakupović
*flagicon|Brazil António Carlos dos Santos
*flagicon|Brazil Adriano Pimenta
*flagicon|Brazil Gelson Rodrigues
*flagicon|Portugal José Gonçalves
*flagicon|Togo Yao Aziawonou
*flagicon|Togo Yao Junior Sènaya

External links

* [http://www.fcthun.ch Official home page]