Football World Champion: Switzerland

The Swiss U-17 football team realized the first World Champion title in football for Switzerland. In the group games of the tournament they clocked up three wins to top their group. They won their encounters against Mexico, Japan, and Brazil to top the ranking. On their way to the final against Nigeria, they eliminated Germany, Italy, and Columbia for their final’s encounter with Nigeria.

The Swiss win, though unexpected, is not coincidental. The Swiss Football Association had instigated a talent spotting and training program on a vast scale in the 1990s. The program not only spots any emerging talent playing in Switzerland but also actively seeks out and brings back to Switzerland vast numbers of Swiss nationals living abroad. The talent spotting is concentrating on the age group of 13 to 15 year olds and involves the parents of prospected talents in a major degree.

Football is a major integrating force for Swiss society in general, too. It is not only the Swiss that fan for their national team, but the migrants as well. This is due to the fact that a lot of names found in the players lists are not of Swiss origin. As Switzerland has attracted many migrants since the Second World War, you will find names typical for just about any European country when checking the lists of players, and some from even farther away. And as Switzerland allows its nationals to be citizens of other countries at the same time, the talent pool is open for youngsters with Swiss ancestry just anywhere in the world.

It was probably this mixture of cultures in the team which carried it through the chaos that surrounded the championship. Arriving at their hotel, the youngsters found no beds in the rooms as delivery had been delayed. Missing transport, flights going to wrong airports, chaos on the training grounds as well as in and around the stadiums where games were held didn’t frazzle the players. They just shrugged it off and laughed about it, making the best out of every challenging situation. As many of the young players come from families who had fled war and poverty somewhere in the world, they just adapted to the inconveniences.

This resilience and the tendency to take things as they are endeared them to local Nigerians. When they played their first match against Mexico, they noticed with surprise that they already had a large fan-base and were treated to the full fan blast normally reserved for the Eagles, the Nigerian national team. “It was like playing at home.” Already after this first match, they were tipped by Nigerians as the favourite to play against the Little Eagles in the final in Lagos.

After the chaotic event, many might question the decision to hold such tournaments in a country like Nigeria, where the infrastructure is not top standard. I think it is the right decision, though. How many spectators would these youngsters have drawn in Britain or Germany? A few thousand hardcore fans would have turned up for their own team, but others would be almost ignored. In Nigeria, the stadiums were packed, and this not only for the Little Eagles, but for every match. This is an appreciation that makes a tournament like this memorable. The inconveniences will become the comic relief in the re-telling of it.

For a country like Nigeria such events are essential to learn the trade and prepare them to one day host the real thing. This chance should be given to them and others in the future as well.

In Switzerland, the World Champion title already had political repercussions. The Swiss parliament is currently preparing a change in the Swiss constitution to make it easier for migrants in the third generation to become citizens. As 13 out of the 21 players of the team are citizens from migrant families, this changes the demographic outlook for the change.

A change in the constitution of Switzerland has to be approved by voters in a ballot, and it needs not only the majority of votes overall, but also in a majority of Cantons. If politicians from the far right are too senile to accept change, the voters usually aren’t. Voters are watching television, and over 50 percent watched the final in Nigeria. The youngsters not only gained a title of historical proportions for Switzerland, they influence the future of the Switzerland as well.