For those who are not aware of Swiss football

Tonight is Basel visiting the FCZ in Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium. The two clubs are rivals and there have been numerous cases of hooligan violence before on those occasions. Not just in the Stadium but pretty much in the entire area from Bahnhof Altstetten to the Stadium. I was once surprised by it and it wasn't that pleasant... but tonight might get even worse as both teams are on top of the table with the same amount of points - just before the end of the season... so emotions will be high tonight.


If you are not keen on watching Zurich's finest getting out all the water cannons, crowd control so on vs. a mob that has thrown fireworks into the family sector of the stadium before (and similar dangerous and stupid things)... Avoid the area around the stadium after 18.30 tonight.

If you however want to see that Swiss people are not all and not always unemotional and boring...

Tut, tut. How the times are-a-changing - fast!

How well I remember going along to Euro 2008 when it was held here and lost count of the number of people we chatted to who openly rejoiced about England not qualifying because they didn't want the accompanying hooliganism that some English footies fans are known for.

... and, for any football enthusiasts in the Neuchâtel area, admission to this evening's game between Xamax and Thun is FREE.

Not as exciting or as emotionally charged as the Zürich v Basel game of course, although with Xamax deep in a relegation struggle there is a fair bit at stake.

I train at 1830 in Alstetten.. awesome.....

No, times are actually not changing. This rivalry caused violence long before the Euro... both from the fans as well as excessive police violence. A decade ago the the Zurich police simply arrest and check the entire fan train coming from Basel - and kept them in custody for hours so they missed the game...

Youtube has plenty of examples what happened in the past.
Ouchboy, this is Altstetten train station for you

That is going to be interesting

So they have a Rösti cannon here?

On a related note, just saw another probably ignorant Ausländer walking by wearing one... I'd really not wear a Barcelona jersey in Zurich either tonight.

In May 2006 I arrived in Basel from a trip to Germany. It was the day of FCB v FCZ, very similar circumstances. I think only a win was enough for Zurich to win the league, and they won it in injury time. Riots for the 24 hours after the game, pitch invasions and the front of Blick proclaimed "the beast of Basel" showing a tattood meat head baying for blood.
I have seen violence all over Europe at and around football in the bad old days (80's/90's) in Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Moscow, London, Rotterdam etc, what I saw in Basel was pretty bad in comparison.

Hope everyone stays safe.

Quite unfortunate then that Barcelona are also playing tonight...and their fans congegrate to watch the game in the Spanish bar at...Albisriederplatz, a stone's throw from the Letzi...

Let's hope that they don't throw stones though...

But you know... had Barcelona not copied the Basel colors back in the day the club was established, their Zurich based fans would not have this problem tonight

fifth world

I've been following FCZ's progress and am looking forward to this game tonight (from the comforts of my sofa)

Its like a Liverpool-Manure game but unfortunately, Pool is no where near the top of the table. *sniff*

COME ON FCZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO FCB!!!

Show them Zurich bankers their proper place

I will be all over Badnerstrasse from 7 till 12 on tram mostly because of some silly appointment. Am I shafted?

It should be relatively safe while the match is taking place? What time does it start and end? So before and after is the dodgy time?

They us the term Hooligans here but its nothing like the Uk most of them are kids who couldnt fight their way out of a wet paper bag. So it will be safe

I think it starts at 20.30.

While Swans is of course so big and strong that he does not need to worry was I personally more worried about the cops when I was there once. They came in large groups wearing full armour and were easily as ready to fight as the kids. From what I have seen were they not exactly de-escalating things...

I wanted to know weather or not it is safe to walk on, so I simply asked one of the cops. The lady looked at me in panic, put the vizor of her helmet down, her shield up and shouted something completely incomprehensible at me. I took it as a "no, you better walk home"...

With your accent she probably thought you were the first of the reinforcements FCZ had bussed in from Berlin.

Which colour top would be safer to wear? Would pink help?