FC Basel

Continuing with our newfound, World Cup induced love of futbol, the gang decided to take in the season opener of FC Basel against our arch rival FC Zurich.  FC Basel is of course sponsored by none other than Novartis – the company patron saint of seemingly all of Basel.  Novartis has infused lots of money in the team and we’ve won the Swiss futbol title five times in the past eight years. It took a herculean effort to even get tickets.  Let me tell you how challenging filling out online ticket forms in Swiss German untranslatable by even the famed Google translator was.  Nevertheless, we got decked out in the team color, red, to cheer on the team and showed up at will call the night of the game not really knowing what to expect.

Inexplicably we ended up with fantastic, front-row seats all the better to see all the action both on and off the field.  The persona of the orderly, misanthropic Swiss seemed to dissipate before our eyes the closer we got to the stadium.  For the first time since arriving in Switzerland, our group was not the most rambunctious; quite the contrary really as we gazed around the stadium at the throngs of warring Zurich and Basel fans. 

We were seated near the main operational base of FC Zurich and my were they organized.  There was no haphazard cheering or weak wave attempts.  Thousands of them mysteriously chanted in unison.  The part I found most intriguing was the firecrackers and smoke bombs many of the fans set off.  At some points, it was challenging to see the field through the smoke - In the US, you’d have been tasered.

FC Basel overcame an early deficient to win the game 3-2.  The crowd went wild!  The players on both teams demonstrated a heartwarming show of European sportsmanship by making their way slowly around the perimeter of the field applauding their fans. 

Our group may well need a few pointers from the team.  We’ve signed up for the Novartis Cup later in the month: 5 on 5, 20 minute games, bracket-style elimination.  Team name: Nein Nein Fraulein.