My next Swiss football trip brought me to the pretty city of Neuchâtel, halfway between Geneva and Zurich and in the heartland of the celebrated Swiss watchmaking industry.
Neuchâtel (“Newcastle”) is a small city and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel located on Lake Neuchâtel, in the shadow of the Jura mountains and facing the Alps, in West Switzerland, not too far from the border of France. The French speaking town has a population of about 34,000 people and was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848. (Prussia, a historically prominent German state, in case you didn’t know!!)
The city of Neuchâtel established itself at the edge of the lake, and from prehistory to today it has grown from the shore up to the river Seyon and beyond.
Neuchâtel also has a pretty castle overlooking the city, built by Rudolph III of Burgundy way back in 1011, highlighting its long Burgundian History (East Germanic tribe)
Neuchâtel is well renowned for its watch industry (the home of the first Quartz watch in 1967), but not only that it also has a fine reputation in the micro-technology and high-tech industrial fields. During the last 20 years, the city and its surrounds have attracted many leading companies in the high-tech sectors such as medical technology, micro technology, biotechnology, machines & equipment, IT and clean technologies. Tobacco giant Philip Morris is one of the main employers in the city, in the suburb of Serrières, with 1,200 employees in its cigarette manufacturing plant and in its international research and development centre.
As for a day out, Neuchâtel’s has an attractive Old Town, with about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the 16th century, and classical Burundian architecture with rows of contiguous narrow houses on three or four storeys and through corridors. The beautiful Alps far off in the distance on view from the lake also offer something to behold.
Getting to the city is easy enough, as Neuchâtel railway station is within easy reach from Olten (and so Bern/Zurich/Basel) and Geneva, and has a high speed TGV connection to Paris, within 4 hours. On the road, Bern, Geneva, Basel and Zürich which are respectively 58 km (36 mi), 122 km (76 mi), 131 km (81 mi) and 153 km (95 mi) away by car.
Pub watch
PMU Race Cafe
Address: Rue de Gibraltar 1, 2000 Neuchâtel
This place wasn’t to far off the stadium so ventured in. Was intrigued as it had horse racing on, and seemed to double as a betting shop, a first for me to see in Switzerland. Fancied a flutter but unfortunately (or fortunately) it was only French racing so let that pass.
Was heaving with Xamax fans who were very boisterous and all good fun. Had a few cheap lagers and sat down to enjoy the “show” the home fans were putting on…….smoke bombs and pyro, horse play on the roundabout, all good fun.
Good, friendly service, and not a bad spot to drink so close to the ground.
See that on Google maps it has the “Sultan Restaurant & Bollywood Bar” as the same address, but I think that might be upstairs from this joint.
Antidote Lounge Bar
Address: Place de la Gare 1, Neuchatel 2000
Had a few beers, well quite a few, in this bar, waiting for my train. Bar is dead handy as it is right next to the train station which is just damn perfect for me! Bar right at the door, dont have to make any effort so! Managed to grab a Bulmers cider, so long since I had one, sure why not. Straight from the bottle, nice and cold. Add to that a good few more.
Small bar, but quite busy, as you can imagine what with it beside the train station. Service wasn’t exactly very friendly, bit grumpy in fact, dont think they were Swiss to be honest. A fella, serving behind the bar, Jesus a smile wouldn’t kill you! The waitress wasn’t much better. Ok we get it, a lot of noisy football fans are in town, but Jesus no one is forcing you to do work in a bar!
Anyway the bar has a small seating area outside, and this is where I met a nice man who makes a living doing side video shots at football and sports events, and sells them on to the TV. He was very friendly telling me all about his business, and was good to chat to while I was waiting for my train, for the few hours or so I was there (it wasn’t delayed, I was!). Perhaps I will meet him again at another Swiss match, I hope so as I really was intrigued by his job.
Bar was fine, tell the staff to lighten up, that’s all!
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS
Arena/Stadium: Stade de la Maladiere
Location: rue de la Pierre-a-Mazel 10, Neuchatel 2000
Capacity: 12,500
Manager: Michel Decastel
Founded: 1912
League: Swiss Super League
Honours:
Swiss Championships: 2 (Last 1988)
secretariat@xamax
Neuchâtel Xamax FCS, based in the city of Neuchâtel, are a funny team in that they have had a few different incarnations and guises. Originally there was a team called FC Xamax founded in 1912, but that merged with FC Cantonal Neuchatel (Swiss champions in 1916) in 1970 to form Neuchâtel Xamax.
The name Xamax (and club nickname) comes from legendary Swiss international ‘Xam’ Max Abegglen, one of the founding members of the club.
In 2012 the club had hit a severe financial explosion and was declared bankrupt, ceasing to operate as a club. The club was still in existence but this time in the 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier of the Swiss football league system. They came out as champions at the end of the season, winning promotion.
In May 2013 a merger happened between Neuchâtel Xamax and FC Serrières, another side from Neuchâtel, to create Xamax Neuchâtel FCS, to continue top tier football in the city. The quick success continued as the team won back to back promotions to find themselves at the Challenge League division, three successive promotions to the second tier of Swiss football. And then in the 2017–18 season, the club were finally promoted back to the big time, to the Swiss Super League. It was has if the near death of the club had never happened!
In terms of honours and achievements, the club has won the Swiss Super League
twice, back to back Championship wins in 1987 and in 1988. The club took part in five Swiss Cup finals, but never managed to win one, with their last defeat against Sion in 2011.
As for Europe they have had some small success, relatively speaking for a small club. In the 1981–82 season they managed to get to the last 8th of the Uefa Cup, beating Sparta Prague, Malmo, Sporting Lisbon along the way before eventually losing to Hamburg, narrowly 2-3 on agg. If you thought that was impressive, well in 1985–86 season they repeated the trick, once again getting to the last 8th of the Uefa, but once again losing out 2-3 on agg, this time to the mighty Real Madrid, not without a brilliant 2-0 home win though. Pretty good stuff I think. They haven’t since reached those heights, but they did knock out Celtic in the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, four of those goals coming from the Egyptian footballing legend, Hossam Hassan, a result I well remember at the time as the Scottish giants were definitely not expecting their trashing, 5-1 in Switzerland. In that competition they were knocked out by Real Madrid, 4-1, but not without a lovely one nil win at home. In the 1987–88 European Cup, they also had an impressive victory over Bayern Munich at home, 2-1, but alas going out 2-3 on agg. So one can see, for a small club, they have had some notable achievements in European football.
Legendary players to have played for the club include Bulgarian defender Trifon Ivanov, him of the sullen eyes, Egyptian star Hossam Hassan, Joseph Ndo who later became a huge hit in Ireland, Senegalese pair Henri Camara and Papa Bouba Diop, Irishman Don Givens and Alain Geiger and Christian Gross (of London tube fame). As for managers, Roy Hodgson had a two year stint with them in the early 90’s.
The team play in red with black stripes and line out in the Stade de la Maladière stadium where the club play its home games. Opened in 2007 the ground has a total capacity of 12,500 supporters. The attendance record stands at 25,500 spectators in the undeveloped Stade de la Maladière when, in 1986, Real Madrid came to town in the second leg of the last eight of the Uefa Cup to see the team win out 2-0 which sadly wasn’t enough to overturn the tie. Nowadays the stadium has been renovated to include a shopping centre, a sports halls and even a fire station! But its not all that impressive as the ground has a fucking plastic pitch, urgh! It is owned by the city council.
FC La Chaux-de-Fonds could be considered their rivals in a cantonal sense, but the two teams are separated by a few divisions, as La Chaux play in the third tier, Xamax in the first.
To the game
Neuchâtel Xamax 1 – 1 FC Sion
07.10.2018 • Stade de la Maladière
Lenjani 29′
Nuzzolo 37′ (Xamax)
Attendance: 6336
Getting to the ground was dead easy as its not too far from the station, and you head downwards. The Maladière stadium is near the lovely Lake of Neuchâtel, and a stones throw from the red bricked Notre-Dame Cathedral that dominates the local skyline, you really couldn’t get a better location for a ground.
Apparently this is considered the French-speaking derby of Switzerland. I didn’t know that before I got the tickets, but I had a sense that there was a bit of a bite to this game as the atmosphere pre game was interesting! Also there was an army of coppers everywhere!
Not the best game in the world, few chances, a lot of slow build up play, and huffing and puffing and hard endeavor, but will little quality on display from both teams.
Xamax had the first chance of the game when a header came off the far post, but it was actually FC Sion who grabbed the first goal, when a fabulous through ball by Bastien sends Lenjani clean through, easily slotting home for the opener. A good goal, nice one.
But the lead didn’t last that long, as Xamax equalized when Nuzzolo hit into an empty net after a cross caused all sorts of havoc in the Sion defence.
After that chances were few and far between, with both teams having an opportunity to steal a winner, both the game petered out for a draw. A fair result to be honest.
Shout out to the Sion fans who were excellent throughout, singing all game, and some quality pyro. Top job.
Clashes between the Sion fans and the police after the game or so I read the next day in the papers. Not surprised as the police operation was overkill. It really is taking the mick to expect fans not to react to that kind of show of strength by the coppers. Funny how I always miss the real fun, its not that I avoid it, but I am forever stuck in a bar and never get to see any action. Ah well, next time……………..lol
Goals of the game here.
Overall
Enjoyed my day out in Neuchâtel, a pleasant enough city, had good craic in both bars, and the game atmosphere was good fun, from both sets of fans. Ground is ok, bit non-descript, but handy to get to and back again to the station. Would have liked to have spent more time in the centre of the town, but I guess that just gives me an incentive to return for another day out.
A German speaking city, Zürich was founded by the Romans in 15 BC. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6400 years ago. The Romans founded the city as a tax collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat river. 
Zürich is a major hub for railways, roads, and air traffic for Switzerland and for Europe. Both Zürich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country, and the city has an extensive local train, bus and city wide tram network. The network also includes boats on the lake and river, funicular railways and even a cable car between Adliswil and Felsenegg. Zürich train station is the world’s most frequently served railway station, with 2915 trains every day, and has high speed trains coming from France, Germany and Austria passing through, and it is also directly connected with Zürich Airport which is less than 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) away. 
First pint of the day was to be in the Lion Pub, an English Pub, near the city centre. Was very busy with some premiership football on the box, but still plenty of space to sit down.
Nice interior, very swanky (wooden but all smart), good cozy atmosphere at the time, British style pub grub on the menu, but also some Swiss dishes, British and Irish beer on tap and in bottle. Also, while I was there they also had a gin tasting stall which looked pretty cool. 
A very nice interior, all modern and smart, and the bar was within easy reach so sat myself down and ordered a Carlsberg, which was served with a nice big friendly smile by the bar lady who also gave me some nuts to nibble on. Carlsberg was great, lovely and cool, and I had another one as I was beginning to settle in nicely, that and the fact that the bar lady was kind enough to recharge my mobile. 
I went in and sat down at the bar, was hungry too so ordered some food to accompany my beer. Service was very friendly. Had some regular local lager and got some fries and a steak burger, nothing too fancy! The beer was nice and cold but unfortunately the food was rubbish. Just tasteless, small portioned and nothing special, bit disappointing. Sit down food should be a bit better than this. 
Anyway had another beer then my eye caught a board listing various shorts and I was immediately intrigued by the hemp vodka that was an offer. Had a shot of it and it went down easy but I am not sure how much hemp was in it. 
The club was founded on 1 August 1896 by former members of the three local clubs (FC Turicum, FC Viktoria, and FC Excelsior). One of them was the FC Barcelona founder, Joan Gamper. Zürich won its first national championship title in 1901–02, but did not win it again until 1923–24.
Between 1925 and 1962, were the years of no success, FC Zürich winning sweet fuck all. Thirty seven years of nothing at all and including two relegation’s. Bet the supporters enjoyed those times. But not to worry, as the “Golden Years” came during the 60’s right up to the early 80’s, Zürich winning seven championships in the years 1963, 1966, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1981, and the Swiss Cup five times in 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973, and in 1976. FCZ also had some success in Europe getting to the semi-finals of the European Cup in the 1963–64 season, before losing to the mighty Real Madrid (8-1 on agg!), and also reaching the semi-finals in the European Cup in 1976–77, where they lost to Euro kingpins at the time, Liverpool (Losing 6-1 on agg)
They play their home games at the Letzigrund in Zürich, which seats 25,000 spectators. The Letzigrund stadium is some stadium though, wide and expansive, at night with the floodlights on it is a sight to see. An athletics stadium first and foremost but owned by the city of Zurich (buying it off FC Zurich who were in debt at the time), with the popular IAAF Diamond League taking place here every year, it also has held some pretty big music concerts down through the years (both the old and updated version of the stadium) from U2, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Rihanna, Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones right up to today with Ed Sheeran playing in the summer of 2018. The current capacity is 25,000, for football events, 30,000, for athletics and 50,000, for concerts.
As for rivals, I would say it has to be the other Zurich club, Grasshopper Club Zürich, and FC Basel. Grasshoppers are known as the club of the elite while FCZ are known as the club of the workers. But its the RotBlau who are regarded as the number one foe, mainly down to an incident in the last day of the 2005–06 season when FC Basel only needed a draw to clinch the title at home against FC Zürich, who had the cheek to spoil the party and score in the last minute to take the title. After the final whistle, players and fans from both teams started fighting on the pitch and in the stands. Since that day, fans from FC Zürich and FC Basel pretty much detest each other with a passion. 
And then six minutes later we had our second goal of the night, I. Aliu whipped in a nice high corner for A. Nef to power home a header where the goalie had no chance, albeit you might wonder why the Lugano defence were a little static. Two nil and I was barely even into my burger and beer!
You just know when you get a high scoring first half that Sods law dictates that the second half will be shit, that’s the way it always goes, and sure enough it was. Zurich did the work and relaxed a little to give Lugano some chances but they were mostly long ranges efforts and Yanick Brecher in the FCZ goals was equal to anything that came at him. Lugano quite simply were not up to the same high temp and level that FC Zurich were at. 
Like the days out in Zurich, a great city for drinking in, wandering round and for football hopping. Albeit it is expensive but heh ho it is Switzerland. Was good seeing how much of a crowd FCZ brought to the Stadion Letzigrund compared to their rivals Grasshoppers, it was slightly bigger but not as large as I had expected considering they are the “big team” in the city! Still they were a noisy bunch all game and I just love the Stadion Letzigrund big game atmosphere. One can only imagine what its like when the place is even half full!!
So the town is well known for its wooden pedestrian bridge between itself and the nearby village of Hurden. Built in 2001, crossing the Lake Zürich, the bridge symbolizes the fact that over the centuries locals have crossed between Lake Zurich and Obersee, mostly on boats, but also on a wooden bridge that was constructed by Count Rudolf IV the Wise and Duke of Austria. In 1358 this structure was a handy little earner as there was a toll set up on the bridge, that’s why he was considered a wise man! It is also important to acknowledge that there were other bridges from prehistory, and in the Roman times, so this crossing was and is of an important cultural and historical significance to the local area. 
Arriving early to the town, it was good to see at least one bar open on the promenade. Nice looking bar from the outside, ventured in to a very small bar. A few people came in, looked like they were in town for some sort of sporting gig, so the small bar, with an interesting wooden and nautical themed decor, was actually quite busy. Ordered a Falken bier (from Schaffhausen), poured well and not too bad to drink for the first beer of the day. 
Vaduz started the game much better and scored after about half an hour, a well worked goal deservedly putting them in the front. Devic squaring the ball lovely for Mathys to easily slot home. 
This spurred England on, and it was them as they dictated the play and had a few more chances to increase the lead. Lingard should have scored, or at least hit the target when Alli set him up perfectly, while Kane had two bites of the cherry from close on but couldn’t connect. Those chances would come back to bite them on the ass later!
But England held out, just about, to extra time. Expect they didn’t really, as Croatia, continued into the added time, with more of the same, and it was no surprise at all when Mandzukic scored a perfect strikers goal, as the English defence fell asleep and pretty much put Croatia into the final. You just knew England had no idea how to come back after that. Game over!
At half time I would have said that Belgian were bossing it a bit, especially in the centre with Kevin pinging the ball around, so France on the 51st minute kind of scored against the run of play, when Umtiti headed to the back of the net from a corner, one nil to France. 
The game started off all Croatia, moving the ball around the pitch dominating possession, so naturally France went up and scored! The story of their World Cup! Griezmann got a free and from it he floated a lovely ball into the box that Mandzukic unfortunately headed into his own net. Unlucky. 
Croatia came more into it in the second half as England let the foot off the gas, Brozovic hitting the post. That should have woke England up but it didn’t. Sterling still on the pitch, fannying around, while Kane not showing any leadership on the pitch. Perisic, on the other hand, was showing grit by pushing his side forward every chance he had, and all that hard work came off as he scored the equalizer beating the defender to shot for goal, a bit too easy for Croatia. England were now on the ropes. Brozovic missed another chance, an empty goal after a rare blunder by Pickford. Vrsaljko also had Stones clear off the line with a shot. Mandzukic was excellent and had a great shot well saved by Pickford, while Vida at the other end had Sterling ,and Rashford when he came on, had them both in his pocket, well defended considering the speed of those two players. And then at the centre of it all Modric pinning the ball all around the pitch, brilliant to watch, a world class performance if I ever saw one. 
France V Belgium: Great start to the game from both teams, Pogba to Mbappe but Courtois quick off his line, A Hazard shot which Varane just headed over. Alderweireld then with a tight angled shot that seen Lloris saving superbly, up the other end Pavard seeing his shot well saved by Courtois. If anything it was the goalkeepers that were the busiest in the opening exchanges. 
It was all Belgium, Kevin again bossing midfield, Hazard doing his stuff on the wings, Lukaku always a danger up front. 
E Hazard, with a great one two with De Bruyne, scored the second for Belgium killing the game as a contest and so the Belgians take the third spot. A good World cup for both teams, but England were lucky that they got such an easy route to the semi’s, they wont get that again for a while, while the Belgians must be wondering how they didn’t make the final since they were easily the best footballing team in this years tournament. Roll on the Euros 2020!
I’d like to know why Southgate keeps picking Sterling? Do team bonding sessions go a little too far?
After England scored the second, an easy free header from Alli, they pretty much controlled the whole game after that. Was easy for them in the second half showing it is amazing what a little bit of confidence can do to a team. 
Game eventually went for a draw full time, and to be fair to the Russian manager he put on a few fairly attacking substitutions in the hope of getting the win, while the Croatian manager, Zlatko Dalić, EVENTUALLY, pushed Modric more forward in the hope they might snatch a winner.
England fans are proud of their team, but if I am honest I would be a little pissed if I was English, they really had an excellent chance of making the final and kind of fucked it all up. Those chances dont come round very often, once every 30 years more or less! But fair dues to Croatia, they well deserved to make the final as they are a better footballing team and Modric surely deserves to play in the final after all his years of entertainment that he has given the footballing world. 
But once again Belgium struck on the counter, with a superb goal by De Bruyne shooting to the corner from just outside the box, what a great goal from a very classy player. This was starting to look worrying for Brazil, 2 down inside half an hour. It was all from a quick break from a Brazilian corner, Lukaku doing most of the running to by pass midfield and give it to Keven to work his magic. 
By the end Belgium hung on, just about. I have to say I take my hat of to Martinez, their manager, he has them well coached, and every players knows exactly what they have to do on the pitch, a really well drilled operation. Plus it looks like they are enjoying their football too, which always helps.. 
The deadlock was finally broken in the 40 minute when a beautifully weighted free kick from Griezmann found the head of Varane, who scored with a lovely header to put France one up.
At half time I would have said that Belgian were bossing it a bit, especially in the centre with Kevin pinging the ball around, so France on the 51st minute kind of scored against the run of play, when Umtiti headed to the back of the net from a corner, one nil to France. 
