Brack Super League – Matchday 5
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Kick-off: 18:00 CEST
Venue: Stockhorn Arena, Thun, Switzerland
A Match That Splits the Table
The FC Thun vs Grasshopper Club Zurich clash at the Stockhorn Arena isn’t just another Saturday night under the Alps. It’s the story of a phoenix and a fallen giant.
On one side, FC Thun — newly promoted, unbeaten, untouchable, and leading the Super League with a perfect record. Four games, four wins, twelve points. They’re already being called the most sensational promoted side in Swiss football history.
On the other, Grasshopper Club Zurich, Switzerland’s most decorated club, drowning in self-doubt, youth experiments, and defensive collapses. They’ve yet to win a game this season. Two points, bottom of the table, and fans already sharpening their knives.
It’s a clash of opposites — stability vs. instability, belief vs. doubt, alpine fire vs. urban confusion. And it might just set the tone for the rest of the season.
FC Thun: The Phenomenal Promoted Side
If you wander through Thun Switzerland, the city on the banks of Lake Thun, you’ll find postcard beauty: cobbled streets, snowcapped mountains, calm waters. But step into the Stockhorn Arena, and it’s a storm.
FC Thun have made the best start by a promoted side in Swiss Super League history. Mauro Lustrinelli’s men aren’t just winning — they’re suffocating opponents with stability, verticality, and intensity.
Stability: Only two of their regular starters weren’t part of last season’s promotion. This is a group that knows each other, trusts each other, and executes as one. Verticality: Forget possession football. Thun average under 43% of the ball, but they play more long balls than almost anyone. They want to lure you forward, then slice through the gaps like a knife through fondue. Intensity: Their 4-1-3-2 pressing shape forces teams wide, then traps them. Their full-backs are everywhere — attacking, defending, overlapping, doubling.
It’s efficient, relentless, and brutally effective.
Stars Rising in the Alps
The success isn’t just tactical — it’s personal.
Christopher Ibayi is the league’s top scorer with four goals in four games. At 30, he’s lived the journeyman’s life — bouncing around the lower French leagues before exploding into Switzerland’s top flight. His goal against FC Zurich, finishing a lightning counter, looked like the work of a man finally at home.
Elmin Rastoder, once a Grasshoppers prospect left to rot, has been reborn in Thun. The 23-year-old scored his first Super League goal against FC Zurich and has more penalty box touches than anyone else in the league (37 in four matches). He’s now earned a call-up to the North Macedonia national team. For Rastoder, this game is personal — a chance to prove to GC what they let slip.
Ethan Meichtry (20) is another jewel. Scoring against Zurich with an individual spark, he’s just been called into the Switzerland U21 squad. Leonardo Bertone (30) provides the ballast in midfield. Two goals and an assist already, and a veteran presence who calls this promotion “the most emotional moment” of his career.
Michael Heule & Fabio Fehr, the flying full-backs, are the engine of this side. Both exude the intensity Lustrinelli demands, combining for three assists in just four games. Fehr, of course, has the extra twist of being another ex-Grasshopper.
This is a side not just winning games — but rewriting stories, reviving careers, and forcing Swiss football to take notice.
A Cup Slip, A Useful Lesson
Not everything has been rosy. FC Thun were dumped out of the Swiss Cup by third-tier Breitenrain. But instead of sulking, Lustrinelli leaned into it.
“Unfortunately, I have to say this defeat was important for us,” he admitted. It was a reality check. Thun aren’t invincible. And that lesson may prove priceless in the long season ahead.
Grasshopper Club Zurich: Searching for an Identity
Grasshopper Club Zurich: Searching for an Identity
Now we swing to the other side — and it’s a mess.
Grasshopper Club Zurich should be Swiss football royalty. They have the history, the titles, the stadium, the brand. But the reality? Five years after promotion, they’re bottom of the table again, searching for a first win.
This summer, 22 players left, 15 arrived. It’s a complete overhaul, bordering on chaos. New coach Gerald Scheiblehner insists it’s all part of the process: “I demand young players, and I trust them.”
And young they are. Against Winterthur, eight starters were between 19 and 22. The future looks bright — but the present looks lost.
The Collapse Against Winterthur
Nothing sums up GC’s season like last weekend. At home, 2-0 up against Winterthur. The fans finally dared to believe. Then the collapse came. A 92nd-minute corner, a header, and suddenly it was 2-2.
It wasn’t just a draw. It was trauma. Winterthur are now unbeaten against GC in eight straight games. For the Zurich club, it felt like the football gods themselves were mocking them.
Injuries and Old Ghosts
GC’s struggles aren’t helped by injuries.
Amir Abrashi, 35 and the beating heart of their midfield, is out with a muscular injury. Scheiblehner admits: “He simply cannot be replaced.” Lee Young-jun is sidelined with a back injury. Leart Kabashi (17) is out with a fracture and still serving a suspension.
Without Abrashi, the team lacks leadership. Without results, they lack belief.
Glimpses of Light
But it’s not all despair.
Samuel Marques (20) is the creative spark, with two assists against Winterthur. Jonathan Asp Jensen (19), on loan from Bayern Munich, scored that first goal. Lovro Zvonarek (20), another Bayern loanee, netted the second. Nikolas Muci (22) continues to find the net when given chances.
This is a squad with talent. It just hasn’t learned how to win. Yet.
Head-to-Head: A Clash of Contrasts
This Thun vs Grasshopper fixture is a knife-edge.
Thun: 1st place, perfect record, high confidence, fortress Stockhorn Arena. Grasshoppers: 10th place, fragile, haunted by collapses.
The artificial turf in Thun is another wrinkle — many visiting sides struggle with it. For a young GC squad still learning its shape, it could be decisive.
Grasshopper Fan Voices: Pessimism vs Defiance
GC fans are split. On forums, some are bullish:
“This will be Thun’s first damper. Our first win!” “We will smash them.”
Others are drowning in realism:
“After this, it’ll be 13 points behind the Thun fish.” “Logically, Thun are the clear favorite.”
One fan summed up the mood:
“Despite modest signs and bad weather, I’ll be there. My naivety will surely catch up in the first 20 minutes. Still, Hopp GC. Give us the first win.”
That blend of loyalty and fatalism is pure GC in 2025.
Prediction: Alpine Fire to Burn Brighter
It’s hard to look past the narrative.
Thun are riding momentum. A promoted side playing fearless football, led by a coach who has drilled them into a direct, ruthless machine. Grasshoppers are still in construction mode, learning the hard lessons of youth.
And then there’s Elmin Rastoder, the prodigal son facing the club that let him go. In football, these stories often write themselves.
Ibayi to continue his hot streak. Rastoder to score against his old club. GC to show flashes of quality, but not enough.
Whether you’re heading to the match or just following from afar, Thun offers more than just football.
The Stockhorn Arena sits at the edge of the Alps, a stone’s throw from Lake Thun. The city’s old town and castle are iconic, while fans can stock up on scarves, jerseys, and souvenirs at the official Thun shop.
For visitors, it’s football with a view — and a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful stories in the game don’t come from the capitals, but from the lakeside towns that dare to dream.
The FC Thun vs Grasshopper Club Zurich clash is a collision of timelines. One team soaring higher than ever imagined, the other digging for an identity beneath the weight of history.
Football loves contrasts, and this one feels almost scripted: the fearless minnows from Lake Thun against the restless giants of Zurich.
If the first four weeks are anything to go by, Thun aren’t here to just survive. They’re here to rewrite the story of the Super League. And Grasshoppers? They’ll need to learn fast, or risk becoming just another cautionary tale of Swiss football.
doragon sports 