This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, Football Finance Lab may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
FC Thun are well on their way to winning the first Swiss championship in the club’s history, and the most astonishing thing about it is that the club from the Bernese Oberland are newly promoted. In this article, we examine what makes the club so strong, whether this is a modern-day Cinderella story or whether the club’s success is being driven by an investor. We also look at how FC Thun has evolved from facing imminent insolvency in 2023 to becoming the favourites for the title in 2026.
If you’re following FC Thun from abroad, a reliable VPN can help you access Swiss Super League broadcasts securely. We personally recommend NordVPN for stable connections and fast streaming performance.
Financial Collapse, Investor Entry and the Turning Point in 2023
To understand the club’s financial problems and its history over recent years, one has to go back a long way. We go back to the 2005/2006 season, when FC Thun took part in the Champions League group stage. This was the club’s sporting heyday, having celebrated a runners-up finish the previous season and subsequently qualified for the Champions League. Participation in the Champions League brings the club €20.67 million, which is a financial windfall. The club is completely overwhelmed by this windfall and is relegated to the second division in 2008. After a two-year absence from the top flight, the club managed to remain in the Super League for 10 consecutive years up to the 2019/20 season. The relegation was also accompanied by financial problems, which is why FC Thun signed a contract with the Pacific Media Group to ensure the club’s survival. The Pacific Media Group is a US investor group which, under a multi-club ownership structure (you can find a detailed explanation of multi-club ownership and the background to it here), holds shares in various football clubs. On top of this comes the COVID-19 pandemic, which presents the club with further economic challenges in addition to its relegation.
By 2023, the time has come and FC Thun is facing certain closure, including the revocation of its licence. In 2023, FC Thun has negative equity of €4.7 million and reports a loss of €1.71 million. To offset this, sponsors such as the insurance company Visana, which provides a profit-sharing scheme for daily sickness benefits, are stepping in to help. Nevertheless, the club has debts of €355,000, which can only be avoided through further external assistance. FC Thun sells shares to Beat Fahrni for €384,000. This prevents the club from going into administration. In addition, Fahrni injects a further €2.2 million in capital into the club, giving Thun some breathing space. However, this does not last long and merely secures operations for the following season. During this season, much of the money is used to settle outstanding debts, and the club again records a loss of €3.1 million. Consequently, Fahrni increases his shareholding once more, raising it to 31.4%. He pays a further €950,000 for this additional stake, thereby enabling FC Thun to retain its licence for the 2025/26 season. In that season, FC Thun returns to the top flight after five years in the second division.
Beat Fahrni’s Influence: Restructuring, Cost Cuts and Strategic Control
So, our analysis has brought us to the current season, in which FC Thun, following promotion and five years in the second division, is on the verge of winning the first league title in the club’s history. Although the influence of the new part-owner, Beat Fahrni, has only spanned a short period during this time, it is precisely during this period that the most has happened – something we will examine in more detail in this section. Off the pitch, Fahrni has overseen a major restructuring. CEO Annelis Straubhaar left her post after less than a year. The €2.2 million in capital injected into the club by Fahrni was also conditional on structural changes being implemented. These changes have indeed taken place, resulting, for example, in significant changes to the board of directors. Beat Fahrni currently chairs this board and took over the role of CEO following Straubhaar’s departure. A few days ago, however, he announced his intention to step down from this role at the end of the season. This is likely due to Fahrni’s many other commitments, as he is also the CEO of Timetool (a software developer) and of Uxan Sports AG, a sports consultancy he founded just 1.5 years ago. In his dual role as CEO of FC Thun and Uxan, Fahrni made another controversial decision. The marketing, sales, HR and IT departments were outsourced to Uxan, and nine employees from these departments were taken on by his new company. However, these employees now do not work exclusively for FC Thun, but can also be deployed for other clients, including, for example, rivals Young Boys Bern. This is intended to pool efficiencies and further reduce FC Thun’s operating costs. However, this could create a conflict of interest for Uxan if, for example, it were to take on the marketing for both Thun and Young Boys.
Beat Fahrni has secured another deal regarding the stadium that will reduce the club’s operating costs in future. The stadium was purchased by the insurance group and club sponsor Visana from the Arena Thun cooperative for just 1.1 million euros. Visana is leasing the stadium to the club rent-free and is also granting the club the naming rights for the stadium, enabling the club to generate further additional revenue. Furthermore, Visana has committed to paying FC Thun €329,000 annually over the next 10 years to support youth and women’s football. Whilst Fahrni has been extremely active on the financial front and has brought about various changes, he has not made any adjustments on the sporting side. Coach Mauro Lustrinelli, for example, has been in charge at FC Thun for four years following the conclusion of the season. Furthermore, the club has not splashed out on the transfer market. According to the website Transfermarkt.de, only €1.7 million was invested in the squad following promotion. By way of comparison, the champions of the previous two seasons, FC Basel and Young Boys Bern, invested significantly more than Thun, at 17.8 million and 19 million euros respectively. This is also reflected in the squad values, where FC Thun, at 22.43 million euros, does not even reach half the figure of either of the other two clubs (FC Basel 57.4 million and Young Boys 65.67 million euros). The likely upcoming championship is therefore quite surprising despite Beat Fahrni’s financial backing and is not linked to any major investments on his part. His investments have merely ensured that FC Thun could survive its financial crisis and manage its day-to-day operations. It will be interesting to see whether Fahrni views his involvement as a long-term commitment or as a speculative move to generate additional income through the sale of his shares. Given the club’s current surge in form, now would be the ideal time to maximise profits from selling shares. However, given his close involvement with the club, it seems more likely that he will remain with the club for the long term rather than simply as an external investor.
