Football's "Röstigraben" (Rösti ditch)

Derbies between clubs from French-speaking Switzerland – here Lausanne-Sport against Neuchâtel Xamax – are not uncommon in the dieci Challenge League.

 

 

A quarter of the Swiss population lives in French-speaking Switzerland. In domestic football, however, these proportions are not quite reflected. Four French-speaking clubs will play in the Super League next season, three in the dieci Challenge League. French-speaking Switzerland is going full steam ahead!

 

A virtual war of football philosophies was going on in Swiss football for a long time. The French speakers – above all, successful Servette F.C. – relied on panache and elegance, with their stars playing technically refined football. Yet, people accused them of a lack of fighting spirit and commitment. On the other hand, the German-speaking Swiss – characteristically the great Grasshoppers Zurich (GC) – demonstrated an impressive winning mentality and never left anything on the pitch. However, they sometimes had to hear that their football was more of a fight than a game.

 

As late as the 1990s, the differences were evident in the national team, where the coaches had the almost impossible task of reconciling the two fundamentally different concepts. It is telling that they achieved their first qualification for a World Cup in half an eternity under a foreign coach in 1994: Englishman Roy Hodgson managed to forge the two camps into one unit, bringing their strengths to bear.

 

Today, the once striking differences between French- and German-speaking Switzerland have largely disappeared, and football's "Röstigraben" has closed. Each side has adopted positive characteristics from the other – with the pleasant effect that our national team is as strong as ever.

The first dieci store in French-speaking Switzerland opened in Pully near Lausanne in 2017.

 

 

A rapprochement took place not only in football but also in the culinary field. In 2017, dieci opened its first store in French-speaking Switzerland, at Pully near Lausanne. Not everyone was initially enthusiastic about the newcomer: several times, our couriers had their tyres slashed. But even this could not stop us from delivering authentic Italian delights to the people of French-speaking Switzerland. Nowadays, dieci operates stores in Geneva, Morges, Neuchâtel, Fribourg and most recently in Sion, its 41st location.

 

The question remains whether the country's two regions like their pizzas as differently as they once liked their football. The answer is yes and no: people on both sides of the Röstigraben appreciate the variety of our crispy pizzas, although they prefer them a bit meatier in French-speaking Switzerland. The Pizza Rustico with Swiss ham, bacon, onions, and garlic is especially popular.

 

Pizza Rustico and their colleagues have obviously also made Western Switzerland's footballers stronger: last season, four French-speaking clubs played in the dieci Challenge League, with three getting promoted ...