Switzerland Today

Greetings from Bern,

Good news and bad news for fans of Swiss sport: the good news is that Olympic medals are already hanging around a couple of Swiss necks (a silver for mountain biker Mathias Flückiger, pictured, and a bronze for shooter Nina Christen). The (possibly) bad news is that Vladimir Petkovic, the most successful national football manager ever, could be off to France. #dontpoachourcoach

Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

In the news Will Vladimir Petkovic follow his nose to Bordeaux?

• Earlier this month Vladimir Petkovic was only one penalty shootout from becoming the first manager of the Swiss national team to reach the semifinal of a major international tournament. As it turned out, Spain’s penalty takers held their nerve better than their Swiss opponents, but Petkovic, 57, remains the most successful Swiss manager ever. And this success has attracted the eye of headhunters – on Monday the Swiss Football Association confirmed that French club Bordeaux had approached him. What’s more, Petkovic had reportedly asked to be released from his contract, due to run until the end of next year (probably). How will this play out? And if Petkovic goes, who will replace him? Watch this space!
• One silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic is that social distancing, mask-wearing and other measures/restrictions have led to a 20% drop in other highly infectious diseases. On Monday the Federal Office of Public Health revealed that around 65,000 cases of certain highly infectious diseases – such as tuberculosis, salmonella or Legionnaires’ disease – were reported last year. The decline ranged from 15% to 90% compared with expected values based on 2015-2019. Only the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis increased.  

Keystone / Joe Giddens

Weigh in Are you following the Tokyo Olympics?

Some people think the only thing more boring than the Summer Olympics is the Winter Olympics. But what do you think? Do you follow specific events – or specific athletes? Let us know!

Dolls vagabond Mäddel Fuchs

Culture corner Swiss photographer Martin “Mäddel” Fuchs is known for his irony and humour.

“Always try to feature a heartbeat in your pictures” is an old photography tip – a tip Mäddel Fuchs happily ignores. In this interview and gallery, the 70-year-old from Zurich tells us why.