Peter Knäbel will become president of the Swiss Football Association on Saturday – his election is a small revolution

On Saturday, Swiss football will gather at the House of Sports in Ittigen—and truly, Swiss football in all its breadth, with representatives from across the country, from professional and amateur clubs alike, a total of 101 delegates. And by the time the meeting is over, they will have made a remarkable decision. The new president of the Swiss Football Association (SFV) will be Peter Knäbel. His election is considered certain; there is no opposing candidate.

Knäbel will succeed Dominique Blanc, an entrepreneur from Vaud, who succeeded Peter Gilliéron, a lawyer from Bern, like his predecessor, Ralph Zloczower, who succeeded another lawyer, Marcel Mathier, a Valais native.

Peter Knäbel is neither an entrepreneur nor a lawyer. He graduated from high school in Germany and studied law for a few semesters, but then devoted himself entirely to football.

Knäbel was a professional footballer, a central midfielder, who played over 200 games in the German Bundesliga and also a few in Switzerland, for Winterthur and St. Gallen. He worked as a youth coach while still a professional himself, as he was interested in training early on. He later became head of youth development at FC Winterthur and FC Basel. He was technical director of the Swiss Football Association (SFV) for five years, from 2009 to 2014. He then moved to Germany, to HSV and Schalke 04. He also explained football to people on television and in the NZZ newspaper .

Knäbel's predecessors had worked their way up to the top of the SFV over many years, as officials in regional associations, in the league, or within the SFV. Football, too, has demanded a truly Swiss slog from its protagonists. But for Knäbel, who, at 58, will be a relatively young president, the old rules don't apply.

There's something revolutionary about his election, if only because it's never been seen before: someone like Knäbel as SFV president, this football expert with a wealth of experience. And a native German, raised in the Ruhr region, but living in Switzerland for many years and, of course, holding a Swiss passport.

It wasn't long ago, just a few months ago, that Knäbel was considered an outsider. The verdict of people well versed in the intricacies of Swiss football at the time was "no chance." This was because Knäbel is running for the Swiss Football League (SFL), the candidate of the professional division, which, in the three-chamber system of Swiss football, receives only 28 votes at the delegate assembly. The First League receives 26, the Amateur League 47. Their candidate, Zurich native Sandro Stroppa, was initially considered the favorite.

But Knäbel, the gifted rhetorician, has been traveling extensively in recent months, speaking at events, promoting himself and his ideas. Behind the scenes, the SFL lobbied for its candidate. And when the decisive chamber, the First League, convened at the end of April to hear the two candidates, Knäbel clearly won the race.

He simply showed more stature for the position, says someone who was there. Stroppa received only a handful of votes. A few days later, the amateur division candidate with a long career as an official withdrew his application.

Knäbel is the first candidate from the professional division to make the leap to the top of the SFV since Ralph Zloczower over twenty years ago. Knäbel's election can be interpreted as an admission by Swiss football that things are no longer as good as they were a few years ago. Or, to paraphrase Laurent Prince: "Knäbel's election demonstrates that they want to strengthen their core business and have a clear compass." Prince is a connoisseur of Swiss football; when Knäbel left the SFV in 2014, he took over as Technical Director for five years.

The men's national team, the flagship and financial powerhouse of the SFV, has qualified for 10 of the last 11 finals. This is a record that even major football nations like Italy cannot boast. However, many of the players who have shaped the team in recent years have retired or are approaching the end of their careers.

Talents like Granit Xhaka or Xherdan Shaqiri are currently nowhere in sight. Moreover, young Swiss players are increasingly finding it difficult to find a job at Swiss clubs. This sparked a debate about youth development in the fall, in which Knäbel also became involved.

A few weeks later, the SFL nominated him as its presidential candidate. Knäbel campaigned with the slogan "For Swiss Football." He positioned himself as a candidate who was thinking not only about the top, but also about the broader field. He spoke about artificial turf pitches and sports policy. But, of course, his wealth of experience was his asset. "We are in a dangerous situation," he diagnosed in an interview with "Sonntags-Blick."

Knäbel enjoys an excellent reputation in the industry. He was in charge of youth development at FC Basel when the club developed talents such as Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka. Later, as technical director of the Football Association, he further developed the great legacy of his predecessor, Hansruedi Hasler.

In Germany, Knäbel's record is mixed. As sporting director at Schalke, he was unable to halt the club's decline. Knäbel was criticized for his lack of charisma, but Andreas Ernst, Schalke reporter for the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, still praises him for his conceptual and strategic work.

Extremely intelligent. A quick thinker. Meticulous. A motivator. A great person. These are other attributes that come up in conversations.

Expectations are high. Knäbel is expected to professionalize, break up rigid structures, and lead more strongly than his predecessors. After Stroppa's resignation, he wanted to wait for the election before commenting in detail on his plans. But he already made it clear during the election campaign that he wants to focus less on representation and more on shaping things. This is consistent with Knäbel's intention to hold the office full-time.

But there are also voices that warn against expecting too much from Knäbel, pointing out that while the president is the face of the association, he is ultimately just part of a nine-member board, where alliances need to be forged if one wants to make a difference.

There are plenty of issues within the association. There are the aforementioned problems with youth development, which also raise an uncomfortable question: how well and innovatively training is still being provided in this country. There's the promotion of women's football. There's the waiting list of 10,000 children for whom no football club has room.

Perhaps Knäbel will soon have to fill the most important position in the Swiss Football Association: National coach Murat Yakin's contract will only continue after the World Cup qualifiers in the fall if Switzerland secures participation in the finals. And Yakin's boss, national team director Pierluigi Tami, who hasn't always made a strong impression as a leader, has already announced his departure at the end of 2026.

If things go as everyone expects on Saturday morning in Ittigen, Knäbel will be the new president of the SFV starting in August. The association where he once served as technical director. A position now filled in a modernized form by Patrick Bruggmann, the head of the development department. The association where he was also considered for national team director. It's the position Pierluigi Tami has held since 2019. Knäbel will soon lead both Bruggmann and Tami.

Knäbel knows a lot, has seen a lot, and that raises many questions: How does Knäbel interpret his role? How much scope does he allow himself? How great is his claim to power? How much power will he be given? These are questions that arise for every president. But after this election, they arise even more than usual.