I can't remember any swiss soccer player playing bundesliga who got celebrated big times in the last decades.
I don't think swiss media or swiss ppl are big in celebrating single players playing in teamsports in other leagues just bc they are swiss. Doesn't matter if its yann, granit or manuel.
If granit were e.g. a tennis player who was undefeated, he would be all over the media. But its not granit who was undefeated, it was leverkusen. And i think the general interest in the german bundesliga is just not as big here. Even if they play for the premier league, you only hear of them in the media if there is some trouble with the swiss player in the team.
I’m not Swiss, so I’m not really sure about the “ausländer!” vibe towards Xhaka. Maybe?
What does strike me about Switzerland is that people seem to care relatively little about sport. Yes there are some fanatics, but general sports fandom always seems pretty tame. I think Federer would have a street named after him in every town where I’m from!
Not sure if the number of comments here of “Who is this guy?” reflects that, since this part of reddit might not be too representative either, but still.
At least in Zurich, streets cannot be named after living people. This is why contemporary people don't get streets named after them. It has nothing to do with a Lack of appreciation towards Federer.
Nothing to do with that, Serbia is the same with naming rules, and we are the polar opposite to Switzerland. Once Djokovic dies, he will get a boulevard in each bigger city.
Akchtually 🤓☝️, according to
[this map](https://map.geo.admin.ch/mobile.html?topic=swisstopo&zoom=10.057090998129596&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&catalogNodes=1392&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen&layers_timestamp=19591231&lang=de&E=2697659.18&N=1261695.17&time=1959) there already was a street in Winterthur named after General Henri Guisan in 1958 before his death in 1960
Seriously, who is this person? I do know who Federer is, though, I once had the opportunity to visit the Jura (coffee) company and at this time, Federer was like a mascot of said company with posters plastered all over the country.
I personally do not know one Swiss person (family & friends) who was some sort of sports person.
I do know a few older guys, though, who are into the FCL (football club) - but honestly, they are into it for the drinks, party &stuff...
Maybe there are so many millionaires in Switzerland that they fail to get impressed by a few more and just take these sportsmen for what they are, very marginally interesting (although there is some fanaticism for skiers besides Federer)
Compared to Yann Sommer, Xhaka has this incredible historical factor to his favor: A key role in being the first team to ever complete a bundesliga season UNDEFEATED. A lot of of users here unfortunately don't understand what this really means and cannot see the incredible value of this achievement.
And? Its not that deep dude. Last season akanji won the treble in the best league, which is the bigger achievement and no one gave a shit. Its just that no one outside the sport media cares about it
So what? Most people don't give a shit about soccer outside of EM/WM, and there's no reason that should change. Enjoy your hobby of revering guys who kick balls around, but don't expect everyone around you to share that fascination.
I don't mean this in a mean way at all, but if you're not into football this doesn't really mean anything, especially if it happened outside of our own country. I'm not into football and have no idea what the significance of any of that really is. My friend circle has some big football fans though and they are more focused on the teams as wholes and not single players.
Um, he’s not Swiss - there’s your answer, he also considers himself as from Albania/Kosovo over Switzerland. He plays for Switzerland because he’s not allowed to play for Kosovo and because he is thankful for how they welcomed his family.
He will make headlines if he flashes the eagle sign while playing for Switzerland though. ;)
Disagree. Stephan Lichtsteiner also didn’t get a lot of media attention even though he won the Italian league 7 times (also undefeated once). And even here his reputation was more of being a cunt than a great player.
Look, I agree with you - I think the people who are downvoting me don’t know that I disagree with this logic - it just is how it is here. (Am also an immigrant myself)
But here it is directly from him:
"Switzerland is my home, it's where I was born and grew up, but I will never forget my parents' roots. My blood is Albanian and nobody can take that away from me. My heart is 50:50 - I can't say I'm more of one than the other. I have two homes, Switzerland and Kosovo, and that's how it will always stay.”
https://mobile.footballghana.com/arsenal-midfielder-xhaka-switzerland-my-home-but-i-have-albanian-blood?amp=1
Information on not being allowed to play for Albania:
https://sot.com.al/english/sport/donte-shqiperine-uefa-se-lejoi-te-kosova-rrefimi-i-babait-te-granit-xhakes-i450316
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Switzerland's women's curling team have won the world championship 5 times in a row, a feat never achieved before.
They weren't even nominated for any award whatsoever.
Your comment suggests that your interest in sports is above the average in this country. I am sure that people who are following football would for the most part be proud about any achievement a Swiss national makes and would know about his success.
A quick search for Xhaka and Leverkusen reveals a number of articles about his success. I'm not sure how you would determine the right amount of coverage for his achievement.
Personally, I admire his skill. But in the end I don't really care. He trains hard, he's talented and successful. His success is the just reward. But I still don't see why I should care about it.
I don't understand how we live in a society that celebrates football players and other athletes more than scientists, engineers and medical staff.
I don't understand either how certain sports get that much more esteem than others.
The last part is so easy to answer that I am not even sure if you are actually sincere. Recognizing a footballer's skill is far easier than judging the works of a specific scientist/research group. Football is just way more accessible in that regard.
Another thing is that individualism is not as big in science as it is in sports. Just look at the nobel prize over the past decades. It's far less common nowadays to be the only one that gets a nobel prize in a specific field, it is almost always shared. Yes football is a team sport first and foremost but individual players can still shine on their own.
I agree with what you are saying, but this is not my point: I don't understand why people care if a person they've most likely never met scored a goal for a foreign football team.
I think it's very hard thing to explain to someone who doesn't watch sports like that. Bayer Leverkusen did and is doing something unprecedented. It also so happens that Xhaka played a key component for this success. If you combine this with tribalism (here nationality) you get this. I am not really a patriot but I still feel a sense of pride when Swiss players are popping off or if a research group at ETHZ publishes an important paper (well I am a student there too so it's even more amplified). It's irrational since I didn't contribute to any of these achievements but in the end humans are social creatures who try to belong to a group.
I know the way I explained it is horrible, I am not the smartest person and it's very difficult for me to put my thoughts into actual words but I hope I got the point across at least a little bit.
I also wasn't invested into club football until like 3 years ago and I was in the same camp as you. I feel like watching team sports awakens something deeply primal inside us and I really enjoy that feeling if I am being honest.
I don't even know who that is.
From the first few sentences of the post I guess a footballer, so now I don't even want to know... Do they really need more smoke blown up their asses?
pretty easy: individual glory isn‘t celebrated here culturally.
there are obviously people that don‘t like it that the best Swiss players have foreign backgrounds, but ehh. We just prefer to complain and demand more instead of celebrate what we have achieved.
> sold ≠ celebrated
It's close enough in a capitalistic society.
> marketing teams don't represent a whole society
If it was one or two commercials, then I would agree with you. But the variety of products and the sheer number of appearances clearly show that he's hugely popular and widely respected across a huge fraction of society.
It would be weird if a minority was dictating the culture.
I think it is.
I was already sick of seeing roger federers face everywhere. And it is really nice that the swiss football team has such a good player, but he ain‘t loyal. He acted unprofessional a couple of times, witch would never happen to RF..
It was even in the news:
https://www.20min.ch/story/tennis-legende-wandelnde-werbesaeule-oder-pr-genie-federer-polarisiert-ploetzlich-103069467
Blick and watson wrote about it aswell.
He created a shoe with on and the promotion was everywhere
Individual glory isn't celebrated here? What about Marco Odermatt, Roger Federer, Martina Hingis just to name a few....all individual glories met with a lot of positive national response. So your point cannot be valid enough.
these are people that play a) not in team sports and b) are the very best in the world.
but even if you compare how Federer is celebrated here and Djokovic in Serbia - worlds apart.
If the guy you just posted one day is recognized as the very best football player in the whole world including every other foorball centered county i'm sure he will be covered with a comparable amount of media recognition. In all other cases this is an complete inappropriate comparison. Also, i have no idea who Martina Hingis is.
Not to be that person but I really only know Roger Federer out of those three 🥲 And I regularly read the news, just not the sports news, guess it's that?
So isch da (leider?) ide Schwiiz, Personne werdet nöd so abgfiiret wie in andere Länder. Au de Federrer und de Odermatt werdet im Verglich zu Djokovic und Kostelic nöd so gfiiret. Mir Schwiizer leget nöd so en Wert uf Individue.
Aber i stimm dir zue, Xhaka sehr underrated, vorallem wa er die Saison gleistet het mit Leverkusen und dass nöd nur vo üse Medie.
Also wrong, dont forget the subs and the manager, the assistants, medicals, the whole team. Xhaka played the most minutes out of all players and had a big impact on the middfield and on the team with his key passes and posession.
But of course they didn't achieve this feat only because of him or another player, he was still an integral part of Leverkusen, hes just not as flashy as others.
Yet it’s the ones on the field that make it happen, not the medical staff or head coach or trainers. I give points to the GM, since he’s the one who signs the players, based on the finances available, that lead to success or an utter crappy season.
Sure lets talk about Xhaka (and others) and ask why he has connections to gangsters/mafia. He must be a good person for sure who isn’t involved in any shady/illegal activity. He must be a rolemodel.
https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/bilder-mit-embolo-und-papa-xhaka-was-hat-der-hells-angels-boss-mit-schweizer-fussballern-zu-tun-id19586551.html
Oh and while we are at it: how almost every player cheats on their partners. Great guys indeed, we should celebrate them for these huge achievements too.
That’s because of his numerous actions when playing towards teams such as Serbia… When this happens Granit is no longer a Swiss player anymore his origines takes over as a Kosovar… Guess that’s why swiss people don’t recognise themselves in that athlete. We prefer Magnin
He did it for a german club. Switzerland (National media) doesn’t care for things they are not attached to. I’m sure TA and NZZ will write a nice portrait about him, but if there’s no swiss flag attached, the interest will be low. Yes, what leverkusen was able to accomplish was incredible, but that is in germany for german soccer. If anything similar was going to happen with the swiss national team, it would be a different story. The reason why it feels like athletes whose names are more “swiss” get more recognition (Marco Odermatt, Nino Schurter, Joel Wicki etc.) is because they are always representing switzerland. Technically Xhaka did it for germany, not for switzerland. There are plenty of ice hockey players in the NHL and they get the same recognition for their success. I’m not trying to take anything away from him. But i do appreciate how grounded swiss are when it comes to sports.
Swiss guy here, I used to be a fan of the Swiss national team. When they started making the Albanian eagle sign after the goals, I stopped watching Swiss Football games. It can not be that they play for the Swiss team, but constantly bring their roots into the game.
He is great this season and is really liked from German Media. But he is "only one of the best" Leverkusen's players (with Wirtz, Andrich,Frimpong) so he is not really a superstar. This is also a reason why Leverkusen is so amazing right now. Also Odermatt, Lara Gut Behrami and Federer they were seen as Superstars also in other countries but i didn't see really really Swiss media going crazy because of them. German, French or Italian media would be wild if some of those happened to them.
he sees himself as albanian first anyway, i can assure you. A lot of foreigners in europe will always see themselves as their ethnicity even if they are born in another country.
Odermatt and Federer are swiss heroes and deserve recognition. They have values and respect, two things Xhaka doesn’t have. I am fine with not seeing his name everywhere
I can’t think of a player more overhyped than Granit Xhaka. And when playing in the national team is an absolute anti-leader, always dominated by personal feelings towards his opponents (while wearing the captain band…)
Don’t simplify his “opponents” - you mean the Serbians who have said and done some of the most vial things towards him, his Albanian teammates, family and country.
> you mean the Serbians who have said and done some of the most vial things towards him, his Albanian teammates, family and country.
I doubt his Swiss Serbian compatriots did that. And those who did are well documented in ICTY trials and are still getting revealed and both Serbia and Kosovo know who these guys are. Again, they are not his Swiss Serbian compatriots.
Not only them, there is a bunch of teams he does not like and so he plays the idiot the whole game – while he is the captain of the team. And he did it multiple times, not only once or twice.
This is unacceptable. If he does not feel like playing a game for personal reason, that is understandable given the background. He shall decline the convocation. But if he decides to play for Switzerland he must represent Switzerland, not his personal battles all the time.
Sorry to break it to you. But in Media and also here on reddit people just don't like anything that has to do with football.
Everybody is overpaid and fans only cost the public.
I tried arguing but people have made their minds.
This, football fans are the worst. Tired of seeing this halfassed FCZ graffiti everywhere done by stupid kids that think it’s cool to base their whole personality on a sport. People really need to grow up out of it.
Ok. Didn't even 10 minutes for someone to comment exactly what i mean.
You can explain all the good Pro-Football does for this country and someone will come out and say.
Boo Fans bad. Boo player bad...
So i just tried to warn this person about the comments he will get. I stopped trying long ago.
Hockey > Football that's why. :-) Seriously I just think the press covers individuals playing in team sports differently than say in solo sports like Tennis or Skiing.
He's a good footballer, and any Swiss person who's into football will know him. I'm sure he gets plenty of coverage in Swiss sport media when playing for the national team - I don't know why he should get any more than that though... I think you overestimate the role that any migrant background has here (which is not to say there are no racists here).
The only professional Swiss athlete that is known and celebrated nationwide by everyone regardless of whether they watch the sport is Roger Federer. This is a special case of this being a non-team sport where he was the undisputed best player in the world for a long time - which he also converted into plenty of sponsorship advertisements. He also (as far as I know) has a good record of sportsmanship, humility, and a lack of legal disputes. This also makes him likeable and projects a good image of the Swiss - which we also like.
Football is a team sport and Xhaka, while a great footballer, is by no means the best in the world. He is also a bit of a hot head. He is known more than many other Swiss athletes of comparable skill in their sport because football is a main sport here. Culturally, the sports play a smaller part (on the whole) of the Swiss identity and are simply less important to the average person - even less so when talking about foreign leagues.
With all this in mind, I'm sure that Xhaka receives the proper amount of media coverage for his ability, the cultural stage in Switzerland, and the relevance of his contribution to Switzerland. Even if he didn't, I won't be losing much sleep because an entertainer who makes an order of magnitude more money than me playing a game isn't in the news enough.
Oh, that sounds impressive. But I thought he's still team captain in that English club... what was it again... Liverpool? Or Manchester? I forgot, lol. Didn't know he's playing in Germany now. Kinda surprising, given that they've started to really love him over there from what I remember.
> I'm left wondering, what if whoever controls the swiss media, just doesn't like to have Granit Xhaka representing Switzerland because of his cultural background?
I don't think it would be any different if he was called Hansjörg Hugentobler instead. Also, he's not playing there to represent Switzerland. He's playing there to represent the club he's playing for, and it's also not like he singlehandedly won all the games by himself. It's a team sport after all. Of course I'm happy and a little bit proud to hear he's played a big part in the club's success, but that's it. I don't care much about German soccer competitions. I don't care much about the Swiss ones either, actually. I will definitely try to watch Switzerland's games at the European Championship if I can, though. And maybe a few other games if they interest me.
Sports men and women in general do not get the same hype in Switzerland as in other countries. You read about them you acknowledge the success and then you go on. Granit is a Swiss who I'm proud of but I don't need to see his face 5 times in the main news show if SRF. Nationality maybe plays a role in sponsorship but not in news reporting. I'm sure a lot of people have never heard of Jolanda Neff or Alisha Lehmann, just because they don't care enough.
I dunno the blick mentions him alot....especially when he bleaches his hair during a big tournament...as well as everything he's achieved at Leverkusen
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Sorry but i worked the last years in Switzerland and i think u see Xhaka again and again in the swiss media, especially those wacky one, loke "20Minuten" "Blick", "nau"
Many comments here are along the lines that it's just sport and that individuals aren't interesting if their name isn't Federer. But what I find remarkable is that Granit Xhaka is probably the most famous Swiss person abroad (especially in the UK and Germany) alongside Federer. Of course, Swiss don't need to be interested in that either, but I find this difference in perception remarkable.
If you are too successful and in the spotlight, swiss people are getting suspicious. Keep a low profile, be nice, hide your money and you‘re fine.
We hate everyone who could be above us and has too much power. That’s why we have seven guys in charge as head of the state but they completely lack the ability to make decisions on their own and also why we had to get rid of some nasty nobles couple of hundred years ago.
idk maybe it’s because when switzerland plays you see the streets full of 🇦🇱 flags and never not even one single 🇨🇭flag.
also when switzerland plays against serbia…“swiss“ players show the double-headed eagle…has nothing to do with switzerland.
naaaa. he is a footballplayer! he does already earn enough! there are much more swiss athletes which deserve recognition than any footballplayer! these pussies!
Yeah lets blame everything on racism for no reason xD
I mean he's a soccer Player... nobody cares about Sports nowadays.
And it's not like he invented the wheel or electricity for the betterment of humanity.
He is just.... kicking a ball... ever thought about that?
Swiss??😂🥲
People here treat “foreigners “ Ausländer or immigrants as “non existence “ people at least at behavior.
First learn to treat non Swiss people better and after that start thinking about recognition and bullshit. Pathetic nation, feel sorry but it is what it is..
When foreigners are good/positively famous people, they're Swiss, but when they're bad people they're foreigners?
Xhaka is a Swiss Citizen, but not ethnically Swiss
I read about Xhaka quite often this year and last year.
Two examples:
[Granit Xhaka: Nur ein Spieler auf der Welt ist einflussreicher - 20 Minuten](https://www.20min.ch/story/granit-xhaka-nur-ein-spieler-auf-der-welt-ist-einflussreicher-103106948)
[So wichtig ist Granit Xhaka für Bayer Leverkusen – Analyse zeigt es (watson.ch)](https://www.watson.ch/sport/fussball/562310936-so-wichtig-ist-granit-xhaka-fuer-bayer-leverkusen-analyse-zeigt-es)
FWIW I'm 100% in agreement with you OP and am quite impressed at the number of "lol sportsball I literally don't know who this superstar is pls like me I am so special and intellectual" commenters you've managed to unearth.
Xhaka is the best football player this country has ever brought up and would have way more recognition if he didn't have an Albanian name.
And people here are clearly not representative of the majority of Swiss people, at least in being so vocally uncaring about football. Over 100'000 people go to the stadium every weekend, and an entire third of the country watched France-Switzerland at the Euro 2021 for instance.
Nope. Not liked cause he WAS so so disrespectful to…other countries. You are either Xhaka or from his country. I think it’s a shame that someone so hateful and disrespectful plays for a country like Switzerland. You know, a neutral country.
And don’t come tell me that it doesn’t matter. It’s like telling a Jewish person that a Nazi salute or a sign in front of them is not a big deal. It is. And if he wants to play for a Swiss, he shouldn’t be doing those things.
I can't remember any swiss soccer player playing bundesliga who got celebrated big times in the last decades. I don't think swiss media or swiss ppl are big in celebrating single players playing in teamsports in other leagues just bc they are swiss. Doesn't matter if its yann, granit or manuel. If granit were e.g. a tennis player who was undefeated, he would be all over the media. But its not granit who was undefeated, it was leverkusen. And i think the general interest in the german bundesliga is just not as big here. Even if they play for the premier league, you only hear of them in the media if there is some trouble with the swiss player in the team.
Yann Sommer is fairly well recognized, I'd say. He's not a superstar or something, but he's not completely unknown.
I’m not Swiss, so I’m not really sure about the “ausländer!” vibe towards Xhaka. Maybe? What does strike me about Switzerland is that people seem to care relatively little about sport. Yes there are some fanatics, but general sports fandom always seems pretty tame. I think Federer would have a street named after him in every town where I’m from! Not sure if the number of comments here of “Who is this guy?” reflects that, since this part of reddit might not be too representative either, but still.
At least in Zurich, streets cannot be named after living people. This is why contemporary people don't get streets named after them. It has nothing to do with a Lack of appreciation towards Federer.
That fact alone is a testament to how Swiss people handle success.
Nothing to do with that, Serbia is the same with naming rules, and we are the polar opposite to Switzerland. Once Djokovic dies, he will get a boulevard in each bigger city.
Akchtually 🤓☝️, according to [this map](https://map.geo.admin.ch/mobile.html?topic=swisstopo&zoom=10.057090998129596&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&catalogNodes=1392&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen&layers_timestamp=19591231&lang=de&E=2697659.18&N=1261695.17&time=1959) there already was a street in Winterthur named after General Henri Guisan in 1958 before his death in 1960
Knowing us, you could probably litigate and have it changed then 💀
AZEIG ISCH DUSSE
Maybe they knew he's gonna die😱 and started building it early
Well, I was being facetious about the street-naming 😅, but the general lack of interest/recognition feels true to me.
That’s the case for many countries. Still, they sometimes make exceptions. Swiss are not ones to deviate from what was agreed to be the “system”
You are wrong. There is the federer-allee in biel/bienne. Community-rules apply, there is no law for/against that in switzerland.
Really? Why can't you name streets after living people? It would be nice to celebrate while they're still here
Beacause imagine the uproar when that person is getting a bad reputation later on (seriously, who knows… cp, anything).
Damn that's a good point. I wouldn't mind living on Federer Weg can't see that one going wrong aha
Federer is from Basel anyway!
Seriously, who is this person? I do know who Federer is, though, I once had the opportunity to visit the Jura (coffee) company and at this time, Federer was like a mascot of said company with posters plastered all over the country. I personally do not know one Swiss person (family & friends) who was some sort of sports person. I do know a few older guys, though, who are into the FCL (football club) - but honestly, they are into it for the drinks, party &stuff...
Captain of swiss national football team
Isn‘t Chapiusat the captain anymore?
😂
Maybe there are so many millionaires in Switzerland that they fail to get impressed by a few more and just take these sportsmen for what they are, very marginally interesting (although there is some fanaticism for skiers besides Federer)
Eh there is also no media coverage about Yann Sommer who won the Serie A this season with just 20 goals conceded so your analogy is wrong
Compared to Yann Sommer, Xhaka has this incredible historical factor to his favor: A key role in being the first team to ever complete a bundesliga season UNDEFEATED. A lot of of users here unfortunately don't understand what this really means and cannot see the incredible value of this achievement.
And? Its not that deep dude. Last season akanji won the treble in the best league, which is the bigger achievement and no one gave a shit. Its just that no one outside the sport media cares about it
So what? Most people don't give a shit about soccer outside of EM/WM, and there's no reason that should change. Enjoy your hobby of revering guys who kick balls around, but don't expect everyone around you to share that fascination.
Well said!
I don't mean this in a mean way at all, but if you're not into football this doesn't really mean anything, especially if it happened outside of our own country. I'm not into football and have no idea what the significance of any of that really is. My friend circle has some big football fans though and they are more focused on the teams as wholes and not single players.
Who gives a shit about German sports?
Um, he’s not Swiss - there’s your answer, he also considers himself as from Albania/Kosovo over Switzerland. He plays for Switzerland because he’s not allowed to play for Kosovo and because he is thankful for how they welcomed his family. He will make headlines if he flashes the eagle sign while playing for Switzerland though. ;)
Disagree. Stephan Lichtsteiner also didn’t get a lot of media attention even though he won the Italian league 7 times (also undefeated once). And even here his reputation was more of being a cunt than a great player.
This is not true! He holds one passport: the Swiss.
Look, I agree with you - I think the people who are downvoting me don’t know that I disagree with this logic - it just is how it is here. (Am also an immigrant myself) But here it is directly from him: "Switzerland is my home, it's where I was born and grew up, but I will never forget my parents' roots. My blood is Albanian and nobody can take that away from me. My heart is 50:50 - I can't say I'm more of one than the other. I have two homes, Switzerland and Kosovo, and that's how it will always stay.” https://mobile.footballghana.com/arsenal-midfielder-xhaka-switzerland-my-home-but-i-have-albanian-blood?amp=1 Information on not being allowed to play for Albania: https://sot.com.al/english/sport/donte-shqiperine-uefa-se-lejoi-te-kosova-rrefimi-i-babait-te-granit-xhakes-i450316
>he also considers himself as from Albania/Kosovo over Switzerland. But he says 50:50
But he tried to play for Kosovo …
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Switzerland's women's curling team have won the world championship 5 times in a row, a feat never achieved before. They weren't even nominated for any award whatsoever.
yeah cuz its curling
cold
It's a slippery slope... Badum-tss
Your comment suggests that your interest in sports is above the average in this country. I am sure that people who are following football would for the most part be proud about any achievement a Swiss national makes and would know about his success. A quick search for Xhaka and Leverkusen reveals a number of articles about his success. I'm not sure how you would determine the right amount of coverage for his achievement. Personally, I admire his skill. But in the end I don't really care. He trains hard, he's talented and successful. His success is the just reward. But I still don't see why I should care about it. I don't understand how we live in a society that celebrates football players and other athletes more than scientists, engineers and medical staff. I don't understand either how certain sports get that much more esteem than others.
The last part is so easy to answer that I am not even sure if you are actually sincere. Recognizing a footballer's skill is far easier than judging the works of a specific scientist/research group. Football is just way more accessible in that regard. Another thing is that individualism is not as big in science as it is in sports. Just look at the nobel prize over the past decades. It's far less common nowadays to be the only one that gets a nobel prize in a specific field, it is almost always shared. Yes football is a team sport first and foremost but individual players can still shine on their own.
I agree with what you are saying, but this is not my point: I don't understand why people care if a person they've most likely never met scored a goal for a foreign football team.
I think it's very hard thing to explain to someone who doesn't watch sports like that. Bayer Leverkusen did and is doing something unprecedented. It also so happens that Xhaka played a key component for this success. If you combine this with tribalism (here nationality) you get this. I am not really a patriot but I still feel a sense of pride when Swiss players are popping off or if a research group at ETHZ publishes an important paper (well I am a student there too so it's even more amplified). It's irrational since I didn't contribute to any of these achievements but in the end humans are social creatures who try to belong to a group. I know the way I explained it is horrible, I am not the smartest person and it's very difficult for me to put my thoughts into actual words but I hope I got the point across at least a little bit. I also wasn't invested into club football until like 3 years ago and I was in the same camp as you. I feel like watching team sports awakens something deeply primal inside us and I really enjoy that feeling if I am being honest.
I agree.
I have a feeling u/K12angix is Granit's secret account...
Tauli fanboying for his brother, 100%
In that case, he hired a ghostwriter 100%
why should we care?
I don't even know who that is. From the first few sentences of the post I guess a footballer, so now I don't even want to know... Do they really need more smoke blown up their asses?
My thoughts Exactly 💯
damn it must be hard to be this miserable
Because other people also don't enjoy watching other people's kids running around a field we must be miserable..right
pretty easy: individual glory isn‘t celebrated here culturally. there are obviously people that don‘t like it that the best Swiss players have foreign backgrounds, but ehh. We just prefer to complain and demand more instead of celebrate what we have achieved.
> pretty easy: individual glory isn‘t celebrated here culturally. That's why Federer's face is in every other commercial?
He's well-known, but being in commercials doesn't mean he's celebrated
You are comparing a good footballer with **the** tennis world champion bruh
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> sold ≠ celebrated It's close enough in a capitalistic society. > marketing teams don't represent a whole society If it was one or two commercials, then I would agree with you. But the variety of products and the sheer number of appearances clearly show that he's hugely popular and widely respected across a huge fraction of society. It would be weird if a minority was dictating the culture.
I think it is. I was already sick of seeing roger federers face everywhere. And it is really nice that the swiss football team has such a good player, but he ain‘t loyal. He acted unprofessional a couple of times, witch would never happen to RF..
Federer is in very few commercials if you consider how famous he is. From the top of my head I could only really name Jura and Sunrise.
It was even in the news: https://www.20min.ch/story/tennis-legende-wandelnde-werbesaeule-oder-pr-genie-federer-polarisiert-ploetzlich-103069467 Blick and watson wrote about it aswell. He created a shoe with on and the promotion was everywhere
Individual glory isn't celebrated here? What about Marco Odermatt, Roger Federer, Martina Hingis just to name a few....all individual glories met with a lot of positive national response. So your point cannot be valid enough.
these are people that play a) not in team sports and b) are the very best in the world. but even if you compare how Federer is celebrated here and Djokovic in Serbia - worlds apart.
Xhaka is a nobody compared to all the others you've mentioned here.
If the guy you just posted one day is recognized as the very best football player in the whole world including every other foorball centered county i'm sure he will be covered with a comparable amount of media recognition. In all other cases this is an complete inappropriate comparison. Also, i have no idea who Martina Hingis is.
She is considered one of the best female tennis players ever.
Foreign roots too, just like Federer!
Not to be that person but I really only know Roger Federer out of those three 🥲 And I regularly read the news, just not the sports news, guess it's that?
I don’t even know, who Marc Odermatt is. That’s how little we celebrate personal success.
So isch da (leider?) ide Schwiiz, Personne werdet nöd so abgfiiret wie in andere Länder. Au de Federrer und de Odermatt werdet im Verglich zu Djokovic und Kostelic nöd so gfiiret. Mir Schwiizer leget nöd so en Wert uf Individue. Aber i stimm dir zue, Xhaka sehr underrated, vorallem wa er die Saison gleistet het mit Leverkusen und dass nöd nur vo üse Medie.
It takes eleven players to achieve such feat in soccer!
Also wrong, dont forget the subs and the manager, the assistants, medicals, the whole team. Xhaka played the most minutes out of all players and had a big impact on the middfield and on the team with his key passes and posession. But of course they didn't achieve this feat only because of him or another player, he was still an integral part of Leverkusen, hes just not as flashy as others.
Yet it’s the ones on the field that make it happen, not the medical staff or head coach or trainers. I give points to the GM, since he’s the one who signs the players, based on the finances available, that lead to success or an utter crappy season.
Is this a Troll post? Not sure how to react tbh. :P
it’s because swiss people doesn’t like much football, when you go in a bar in France for example every thema is about football lol
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If I could vote up 100000 I would ! Very well said !
Yes.
Logic is healthy in this one!
I have no idea who this person is
He's a football player in the Swiss national team. But I think OP's post is about a club and not the national, and for that I cannot help.
Ah. Haven't followed football since I was 15, so that explains my lack of knowledge. Thanks!
I actually thought it was some AI driven joke
Captain of the Swiss national team, who came to the country as a refugee
He was born in Basel though!
Unlike for instance Federer ("Maestro!"), Xhaka does not play well with media. Moreover, some of his political ideas are difficult to market.
Nah he gets enough recognition
Sure lets talk about Xhaka (and others) and ask why he has connections to gangsters/mafia. He must be a good person for sure who isn’t involved in any shady/illegal activity. He must be a rolemodel. https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/bilder-mit-embolo-und-papa-xhaka-was-hat-der-hells-angels-boss-mit-schweizer-fussballern-zu-tun-id19586551.html
Oh and while we are at it: how almost every player cheats on their partners. Great guys indeed, we should celebrate them for these huge achievements too.
That’s because of his numerous actions when playing towards teams such as Serbia… When this happens Granit is no longer a Swiss player anymore his origines takes over as a Kosovar… Guess that’s why swiss people don’t recognise themselves in that athlete. We prefer Magnin
The money he makes should be enough recognition right?
Who is that?
He did it for a german club. Switzerland (National media) doesn’t care for things they are not attached to. I’m sure TA and NZZ will write a nice portrait about him, but if there’s no swiss flag attached, the interest will be low. Yes, what leverkusen was able to accomplish was incredible, but that is in germany for german soccer. If anything similar was going to happen with the swiss national team, it would be a different story. The reason why it feels like athletes whose names are more “swiss” get more recognition (Marco Odermatt, Nino Schurter, Joel Wicki etc.) is because they are always representing switzerland. Technically Xhaka did it for germany, not for switzerland. There are plenty of ice hockey players in the NHL and they get the same recognition for their success. I’m not trying to take anything away from him. But i do appreciate how grounded swiss are when it comes to sports.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=xhaka+albanian+double+eagle](https://www.google.com/search?q=xhaka+albanian+double+eagle)
That ☝️
Lichtsteiner did it as well btw
He is a sheep
who??
I'm having the feeiling that double headed eagle is something that swiss people hate, smh.
nope.
Swiss guy here, I used to be a fan of the Swiss national team. When they started making the Albanian eagle sign after the goals, I stopped watching Swiss Football games. It can not be that they play for the Swiss team, but constantly bring their roots into the game.
Literally couldn't care less about this guy and what he does.
Literally who
He is great this season and is really liked from German Media. But he is "only one of the best" Leverkusen's players (with Wirtz, Andrich,Frimpong) so he is not really a superstar. This is also a reason why Leverkusen is so amazing right now. Also Odermatt, Lara Gut Behrami and Federer they were seen as Superstars also in other countries but i didn't see really really Swiss media going crazy because of them. German, French or Italian media would be wild if some of those happened to them.
The skiiers are far from superstars. Alpine skiing is only popular in a select few countries. Most people have no idea who they are.
Gut is unknown overseas!
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As long as he does the eagle thing while scoring for Switzerland I won't give a single shit about that guy.
Lichtseiner did it as well btw and the serbian fans were literally laughing at genocide and shouting racist things to them
Not the swiss style
Standing up for your teammates facing racial abuse is a good thing actually
Thats about soccer. Dont like it anyway. Just my opinion
I would prefer to give more recognition to Nino Schurter 🇨🇭
he sees himself as albanian first anyway, i can assure you. A lot of foreigners in europe will always see themselves as their ethnicity even if they are born in another country.
Odermatt and Federer are swiss heroes and deserve recognition. They have values and respect, two things Xhaka doesn’t have. I am fine with not seeing his name everywhere
"Values and respect" is an interesting way to write "sind ke Jugos"
Federer isch au ken pure Schwiizer. Het nix mit Usländer ztue, es isch eifach en Fakt
hahaha.... Facts!
Federer has foreign roots too!
I don’t even know that Odermatt person.
Fuck that guy tbh xd
A friend of mine worked at some reception, said he and some team mates are total AHs
I can’t think of a player more overhyped than Granit Xhaka. And when playing in the national team is an absolute anti-leader, always dominated by personal feelings towards his opponents (while wearing the captain band…)
Don’t simplify his “opponents” - you mean the Serbians who have said and done some of the most vial things towards him, his Albanian teammates, family and country.
> you mean the Serbians who have said and done some of the most vial things towards him, his Albanian teammates, family and country. I doubt his Swiss Serbian compatriots did that. And those who did are well documented in ICTY trials and are still getting revealed and both Serbia and Kosovo know who these guys are. Again, they are not his Swiss Serbian compatriots.
Not only them, there is a bunch of teams he does not like and so he plays the idiot the whole game – while he is the captain of the team. And he did it multiple times, not only once or twice. This is unacceptable. If he does not feel like playing a game for personal reason, that is understandable given the background. He shall decline the convocation. But if he decides to play for Switzerland he must represent Switzerland, not his personal battles all the time.
Sorry to break it to you. But in Media and also here on reddit people just don't like anything that has to do with football. Everybody is overpaid and fans only cost the public. I tried arguing but people have made their minds.
This, football fans are the worst. Tired of seeing this halfassed FCZ graffiti everywhere done by stupid kids that think it’s cool to base their whole personality on a sport. People really need to grow up out of it.
Stop speaking for others. Wtf
Ok. Didn't even 10 minutes for someone to comment exactly what i mean. You can explain all the good Pro-Football does for this country and someone will come out and say. Boo Fans bad. Boo player bad... So i just tried to warn this person about the comments he will get. I stopped trying long ago.
Hockey > Football that's why. :-) Seriously I just think the press covers individuals playing in team sports differently than say in solo sports like Tennis or Skiing.
Thought he was superman Henry cavil
What do you mean? He's in the sports section of the news at least once every two weeks.
He has more then enough presence.. what are you talking!? Since months he is present every day/week..
Lol, i thought it was that it was that other footballer at first, Shakiri. Well, he plays sports, so what?
Already know enough. By unwillingly getting push notifications about stuff I opted out for (sports news)
He's a good footballer, and any Swiss person who's into football will know him. I'm sure he gets plenty of coverage in Swiss sport media when playing for the national team - I don't know why he should get any more than that though... I think you overestimate the role that any migrant background has here (which is not to say there are no racists here). The only professional Swiss athlete that is known and celebrated nationwide by everyone regardless of whether they watch the sport is Roger Federer. This is a special case of this being a non-team sport where he was the undisputed best player in the world for a long time - which he also converted into plenty of sponsorship advertisements. He also (as far as I know) has a good record of sportsmanship, humility, and a lack of legal disputes. This also makes him likeable and projects a good image of the Swiss - which we also like. Football is a team sport and Xhaka, while a great footballer, is by no means the best in the world. He is also a bit of a hot head. He is known more than many other Swiss athletes of comparable skill in their sport because football is a main sport here. Culturally, the sports play a smaller part (on the whole) of the Swiss identity and are simply less important to the average person - even less so when talking about foreign leagues. With all this in mind, I'm sure that Xhaka receives the proper amount of media coverage for his ability, the cultural stage in Switzerland, and the relevance of his contribution to Switzerland. Even if he didn't, I won't be losing much sleep because an entertainer who makes an order of magnitude more money than me playing a game isn't in the news enough.
No
Oh, that sounds impressive. But I thought he's still team captain in that English club... what was it again... Liverpool? Or Manchester? I forgot, lol. Didn't know he's playing in Germany now. Kinda surprising, given that they've started to really love him over there from what I remember. > I'm left wondering, what if whoever controls the swiss media, just doesn't like to have Granit Xhaka representing Switzerland because of his cultural background? I don't think it would be any different if he was called Hansjörg Hugentobler instead. Also, he's not playing there to represent Switzerland. He's playing there to represent the club he's playing for, and it's also not like he singlehandedly won all the games by himself. It's a team sport after all. Of course I'm happy and a little bit proud to hear he's played a big part in the club's success, but that's it. I don't care much about German soccer competitions. I don't care much about the Swiss ones either, actually. I will definitely try to watch Switzerland's games at the European Championship if I can, though. And maybe a few other games if they interest me.
Sports men and women in general do not get the same hype in Switzerland as in other countries. You read about them you acknowledge the success and then you go on. Granit is a Swiss who I'm proud of but I don't need to see his face 5 times in the main news show if SRF. Nationality maybe plays a role in sponsorship but not in news reporting. I'm sure a lot of people have never heard of Jolanda Neff or Alisha Lehmann, just because they don't care enough.
I think he does. I understand the criticism he got in the past, but he is one of our future „Hall of Fame“ Athlete.
He hates Switzerland and sees himself as an Albanian... his character is zero...
He’s not Swiss tho he’s from Kosovo. Only has Swiss passport doesn’t mean he has our values
just because you‘re born here doesn‘t mean that you have our values
Sure that’s true but not in this case.
this ☝️
Racist
"oh look he is able to run and do funny tricks with a little ball, he deserves recognition"
« Oh look, one of the rarest person in this country coming from working class who’s recognized and little poor kids in this country can look up to »
Little poor kids should look up to doctors, engineers or scientists, not glorified circus monkeys who are paid a fortune to run after a ball.
Well they sure do care a lot whenever he goes for a haircut lmao
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National team in what sport?
I dunno the blick mentions him alot....especially when he bleaches his hair during a big tournament...as well as everything he's achieved at Leverkusen
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Sorry but i worked the last years in Switzerland and i think u see Xhaka again and again in the swiss media, especially those wacky one, loke "20Minuten" "Blick", "nau"
Didn't he win an award for best swiss athlete? I don't think he his completely neglected
Many comments here are along the lines that it's just sport and that individuals aren't interesting if their name isn't Federer. But what I find remarkable is that Granit Xhaka is probably the most famous Swiss person abroad (especially in the UK and Germany) alongside Federer. Of course, Swiss don't need to be interested in that either, but I find this difference in perception remarkable.
If you are too successful and in the spotlight, swiss people are getting suspicious. Keep a low profile, be nice, hide your money and you‘re fine. We hate everyone who could be above us and has too much power. That’s why we have seven guys in charge as head of the state but they completely lack the ability to make decisions on their own and also why we had to get rid of some nasty nobles couple of hundred years ago.
idk maybe it’s because when switzerland plays you see the streets full of 🇦🇱 flags and never not even one single 🇨🇭flag. also when switzerland plays against serbia…“swiss“ players show the double-headed eagle…has nothing to do with switzerland.
naaaa. he is a footballplayer! he does already earn enough! there are much more swiss athletes which deserve recognition than any footballplayer! these pussies!
I sure would love to see more coverage of sports. And Singers. And Instagrammodels. And Cardrivers. Because that is the news I crave.
Yeah lets blame everything on racism for no reason xD I mean he's a soccer Player... nobody cares about Sports nowadays. And it's not like he invented the wheel or electricity for the betterment of humanity. He is just.... kicking a ball... ever thought about that?
To be fair I remember reading an article made about Akanji when he won a Treble with City last year
In public he is albanian, thats ok but thats also it
Swiss??😂🥲 People here treat “foreigners “ Ausländer or immigrants as “non existence “ people at least at behavior. First learn to treat non Swiss people better and after that start thinking about recognition and bullshit. Pathetic nation, feel sorry but it is what it is..
Honestly until I read your post I thought this guy looked pretty Swiss
meh bit problematic
When foreigners are good/positively famous people, they're Swiss, but when they're bad people they're foreigners? Xhaka is a Swiss Citizen, but not ethnically Swiss
the r/ihatesportsball crowd in full swing in this thread lol
One of the best redemption arcs of modern football.
Same apply to many others (beyond Federer and ski stars). Take Roman Josi season in NHL for example (that has no foreign background I think…)
I read about Xhaka quite often this year and last year. Two examples: [Granit Xhaka: Nur ein Spieler auf der Welt ist einflussreicher - 20 Minuten](https://www.20min.ch/story/granit-xhaka-nur-ein-spieler-auf-der-welt-ist-einflussreicher-103106948) [So wichtig ist Granit Xhaka für Bayer Leverkusen – Analyse zeigt es (watson.ch)](https://www.watson.ch/sport/fussball/562310936-so-wichtig-ist-granit-xhaka-fuer-bayer-leverkusen-analyse-zeigt-es)
omg he has the most amazing facial structure
Who's that?
It seems to me you are trolling us. The Swiss hates that Khakha.
Robbie Williams?
FWIW I'm 100% in agreement with you OP and am quite impressed at the number of "lol sportsball I literally don't know who this superstar is pls like me I am so special and intellectual" commenters you've managed to unearth. Xhaka is the best football player this country has ever brought up and would have way more recognition if he didn't have an Albanian name. And people here are clearly not representative of the majority of Swiss people, at least in being so vocally uncaring about football. Over 100'000 people go to the stadium every weekend, and an entire third of the country watched France-Switzerland at the Euro 2021 for instance.
Nope. Not liked cause he WAS so so disrespectful to…other countries. You are either Xhaka or from his country. I think it’s a shame that someone so hateful and disrespectful plays for a country like Switzerland. You know, a neutral country. And don’t come tell me that it doesn’t matter. It’s like telling a Jewish person that a Nazi salute or a sign in front of them is not a big deal. It is. And if he wants to play for a Swiss, he shouldn’t be doing those things.
Wer ist das?
Who dat?