Xhaka, Shaqiri and 128 years of footballing history: soccer in Switzerland
Soccer 101
TSS
4.9 • 853 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We're traveling to a land that tends to fly under-the-radar when it comes to the hype machine, but has been quietly influential in world soccer since the mid-19th century: Switzerland. What is the history of the country's top flight, how has the league evolved over time, who are its biggest and most successful clubs, and what role has the league played in shaping the Swiss national team.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome everybody to Soccer 101. My name is Taylor Rockwell. I apologize we have not posted an episode in a couple weeks, |
| 0:22.0 | nor did we give you notice that that would be the case. I was on vacation, Graham was on vacation, |
| 0:26.8 | but now we're both back, and we are here to talk about the Trailblazers, the Innovators. |
| 0:32.2 | It's the Swiss, the Swiss, the only European league to keep on playing right through World War II, a pioneer in world |
| 0:39.7 | soccer. With that second point in mind, Graham Ruffin, here's my opening question to you. |
| 0:44.2 | Is Switzerland quietly insanely influential in the history of the growth and spread of world soccer? |
| 0:49.7 | A question I would not have asked prior to researching this episode. |
| 0:53.0 | Oh, wow. It feels like you've maybe got more on this than I do. So I definitely agree that Switzerland as a football nation maybe gets overlooked more than it should. And I've been to Switzerland. It's a lovely country. I've been a few times, actually. I haven't been for a while. But it's a country that I like visiting. I haven't been to a Swiss football match. And after researching this episode, I'd like to change that soon. |
| 1:13.5 | But tell me more about their influence as a football nation. |
| 1:17.6 | I mean, starting off, kind of forgot that both FIFA and UEFA are headquartered there. |
| 1:22.0 | That's pretty influential. They're a founding member of FIFA at that. |
| 1:25.8 | They are very influential in establishing national selections |
| 1:29.2 | that leads to national teams, that leads to the creation of FIFA. But then also from my research, |
| 1:35.2 | like, there are always, you know, different ways in which football spreads, but one of the primary |
| 1:39.1 | ones from what I read as to why it spreads to Switzerland when it does, because it's really |
| 1:44.0 | early on. It's like 1850s Switzerland when it does, because it's really early on. |
| 1:44.5 | It's like 1850s to 1870s. |
| 1:47.1 | And it's basically British like prep schools or boarding schools where British students are going with international faculty, some of whom are British. |
| 1:56.9 | So they start to embrace the playing of football, so too to the faculty and staff. And then it kind of spreads from there. So they start to embrace the playing of football, so too, to the faculty and staff. |
| 2:01.4 | And then it kind of spreads from there. |
| 2:03.8 | So they are pioneering and how early they adopted. |
| 2:07.0 | I think it's like one of the clubs that's formed. |
... |
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