Switzerland reimagines itself

A few days before the first game kicked off in the 2014 World Cup, voters in Switzerland narrowly passed a proposal to introduce immigration quotas within the European Union.  Several pictures did the rounds of the Internet not long afterwards, showing what the Swiss team in Brazil would look like without immigrant players.

The pictures represent an overly simplified version of a complicated issue, but they do make the simple point that without immigration—EU or not—15 of the 23-man squad would not have been available. That number includes the team’s star player, Xherdan Shaqiri -- born in Kosovo when it was part of Yugoslavia and who also holds Albanian nationality -- as well as the goal scorer in Switzerland’s opening game, Haris Seferovic, who was born in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. (A study of players’ origins showed that Switzerland has the most players at the World Cup whose parents and grandparents weren’t born in the country they represent.)

I’m from the United Kingdom, but lived for 20 years of my life in France, just over  the border from Switzerland, where I went to school, played sports and later lived and worked, so the issue of Swiss immigration is close to my heart.

Like many non-French who made the daily commute, I quickly found myself identifying more with Switzerland than with France. Switzerland's International and multicultural society made someone like myself, living somewhere between three countries, feel right at home.

Seeing Switzerland compete on the international stage and in the case of this World Cup, with success, fills me with an immense sense of pride. They’re a team that has historically been written off well before the first whistle, but after winning the under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2009 and heading into the Round of 16 after finishing second in their group behind France, Switzerland have proved themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Football in Switzerland isn't glamorous. The stadiums aren't huge and the paychecks aren't either, and the Swiss have a very "Swiss" approach to their style of play that can be summed up in one word: efficient.

In a country with four national languages that is better known for banking and geopolitical neutrality than for football, the effect that the Swiss team has on it’s population is immense. For people like me, proud to call Switzerland a second home, the Swiss football team is both a symbol of acceptance and of pride.

Hopp Suisse. 

*As told to Africasacountry. George Powell worked in Geneva, Switzerland as a producer and sub editor at the European Broadcasting Union. He now works in Rio de Janeiro as an independent journalist.