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Where are all the Nati fans? Breel Embolo on Tuesday evening in the poorly attended Kybunpark.
KEYSTONE
Although the association even gave away tickets, only 8,363 Nati fans came to the St.Gallen Kybunpark against Luxembourg. The last time there were fewer was during Covid. Although there are reasons for this, the SFA is disappointed.
The last time there were so few fans in St.Gallen's Kybunpark was probably at an FC St.Gallen preparation match, said SRF commentator Sascha Ruefer during the 3:1 victory of the national team on Tuesday evening.
There were just 8,363 fans in the stadium. By comparison, the last match between St.Gallen and Lausanne before the international break had more than twice as many spectators (1,17579).
8,363 fans, including several hundred with free tickets distributed by the SFA to the surrounding football clubs. The last time there were fewer was at a 2021 national team home match against Greece in Basel. However, that was shortly after the coronavirus pandemic - admission only possible with a Covid certificate. To find a lower number of spectators without Covid restrictions, you have to go back further. In 2019, there were 8,318 fans at the Tourbillon in Sion for the 4:0 win over Gibraltar, and only 4,170 at the Cornaredo in Lugano in November 2018 for the embarrassing 0:1 against Qatar.
blue Sport shows the top 6 home games with the fewest fans in the stadium for 15 years, leaving out international matches with Covid restrictions.
There are clearly reasons for the low attendance against Luxembourg. On the one hand, there is the moderately attractive opponent and the fact that it is neither a World Cup qualifier nor a Nations League match, but a simple test. The time and place make things even more difficult.
If kick-off is at 20:45 on a Tuesday evening in St.Gallen, fans from western Switzerland or Ticino will no longer be able to get home by public transport. "We therefore wanted to bring the game forward. But that was not possible logistically and due to the TV rights," says Adrian Arnold, head of communications at the SFA, to blue Sport. They knew that the stadium would not be sold out, Arnold continues, "but of course this number of spectators is disappointing."
Perhaps the recent poor results - 8 games in a row without a win - are also a reason. Or the fact that Granit Xhaka and Manuel Akanji, the two biggest Swiss stars of the moment, were missing.
Is the Nati fan slump a reason to sound the alarm? Not really! Want to bet that the Nati fans will fill the stadiums again in the next home games in the fall? Then the test is over and it's down to the wire against Kosovo, Slovenia and Sweden. World Cup qualifiers.
