The Swiss national team has just completed its concentration for the 2026 World Cup. The tournament starts in June, in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and for the Spaniards who live in Switzerland, the situation is what it is: you have two selections to follow. Technically. Because in the corridors of work, in the cafeteria or in the WhatsApp group of the building, nobody leaves you alone when there is a game of either.
What is not always anticipated is that football here is lived differently from Spain. The Swiss are amateurs, but they express it at a different pace. In the neighborhood bars, in the Badi, there is an enthusiasm that is noticeable but that does not overflow in the same way. When the team scores, people celebrate, but the neighbor upstairs doesn't call the police. It's another format.
For those who have roots in Spain, these World Cups generate conversations that reveal a lot about the degree of integration of each one: there are those who are clear that always Spain, there are those who say that in Switzerland I live and here I pay my taxes, and there are those who put the two flags in the window and let the ball decide. There is no right answer. What there is is that June is going to give a lot, on and off the field, and that more than one conversation in the office is going to start with "did you see the game?".