Stephan Lichtsteiner (40) - a professional himself until four years ago, now at the start of his coaching career. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Flavio Peter (left) was already present at Wettswil's 2017 Cup match against FC Basel with Davide Callà.
Image: Keystone
Stephan Lichtsteiner (40) - a professional himself until four years ago, now at the start of his coaching career. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Flavio Peter (left) was already present at Wettswil's 2017 Cup match against FC Basel with Davide Callà.
Image: Keystone
A year ago, Wettswil-Bonstetten narrowly lost to FC Winterthur after conceding two late goals. Can the first division team now pull off the cup surprise with Stephan Lichtsteiner on the sidelines?
16.08.2024, 05:15
16.08.2024, 08:46
SDA
The picture that presents itself to onlookers on this early Thursday evening at the Moos sports facility in Wettswil is emblematic of the village club in the Säuliamt: a good 26 hours before FC Wettswil-Bonstetten's second cup clash against FC Winterthur and a good year after the painful 2-0 defeat in the first duel due to goals conceded in the 87th and 90th minute, there is a lot of activity.
Martin Meili, the president, gives information to media representatives on the forecourt of the restaurant. In the background, his son Patrick rolls past with a forklift truck, while his wife Petra helps out in service due to a staff shortage. A little further back, a group is working on steel scaffolding. The young men are cheerfully erecting the temporary stand for Friday evening's cup match. Players from the first team are also there more than an hour before the start of the final training session.
Yes, the upcoming Cup highlight requires effort from many of the club's players. And yes, the amateur club, in which the municipalities of Stallikon, Wettswil and Bonstetten make common cause, is an extremely family-run club. "We are extremely well anchored in the region," says Martin Meili, and rightly so. All of the juniors come from the three municipalities in question, and the players' catchment area is limited to the Zurich region.
Regional showcase club
The club is playing in the 1st League Classic, Switzerland's fourth-highest division, for the 13th time in a row this season. For the seventh time since 2010, the team has fought its way into the main round of a cup duel with a Superliga club. The highlight was advancing to the round of 16 in 2015, when Wettswil-Bonstetten were only stopped by FC Thun (1:2).
"We are in a very solid position," says Flavio Peter. As captain of the first team, the former FC Lucerne U18 junior sets the pace in central midfield and was also the team's top scorer last season with 16 goals. Peter has now been playing for FCWB for ten years without exception.
The money for this consistency at a high amateur level does not come from cup matches against big clubs - the costs for security and setting up and dismantling the infrastructure are too high for that - nor from a megalomaniac patron. A close-knit, broad-based core within the club and loyal sponsors from the region ensure that FCWB has a solid foundation. "We don't get involved in financial adventures," emphasizes Meili.
In addition, although the players are amateurs, they pursue their hobby with great ambition during the three to four high-quality training sessions per week. "We are ambitious players who sacrifice a lot for football. And we have a great team spirit and are good friends with each other," says Peter. "With us, the players don't disappear in all directions after the final whistle."
Lichtsteiner an "absolute stroke of luck"
And now there is also Stephan Lichtsteiner on the touchline. Lichtsteiner, 108-time Swiss international and captain of the national team for many years, was a permanent fixture at the then Italian serial champions Juventus Turin and later at Arsenal in the English Premier League. "He is an absolute stroke of luck for us. His meticulousness and attention to detail is impressive," says Meili about the ex-professional, who fortunately for FCWB lives in the area and initially joined the club's senior team as a player.
The 40-year-old Lichtsteiner has now been coach of the FC Wettswil-Bonstetten first team since July. With a 2-0 win against Linth 04 and a 0-0 draw against Winterthur's U21s, the season got off to a successful start with the prominent coach on the sidelines. "That's atypical for us. We don't normally start the season well," says Peter.
When asked about the coach, the captain goes into raptures: "It's unique to have such a famous footballer on the touchline. When someone like that speaks to you, you naturally listen very carefully. Sometimes it's almost a bit difficult for a non-professional to understand what he's trying to tell us in a short space of time. But we're taking it step by step and it's looking good so far."
Finding solutions, not stonewalling
Lichtsteiner himself sees the task at Wettswil-Bonstetten as a "good next step from the juniors to the men" after a year as assistant coach of the Swiss U18 national team and two years as U15 and U16 coach of the FC Basel juniors. He is aware that he is dealing with amateurs at FCWB and that there is less time for training than he was used to as a professional.
Lichtsteiner cites "passion, training, fun and variety" as key words for his approach. His training sessions include many playful elements. He wants to show the players how to find solutions, he says.
So far, things have gone well with Lichtsteiner and FC Wettswil-Bonstetten. Will the coach with the big name also help the club to its first coup over a Superliga club at the seventh attempt? One thing is clear for Lichtsteiner: "We want to cut a good figure. We're certainly not going to sit at the back for 90 minutes and hope for the lucky punch. That's important to me."
