Detail

Before moving into Arena Thun in 2011, FC Thun played their home matches at Stadion Lachen which served the club well for over 57 years between 1954-2011 but was no longer fit for purpose. In the early 2000s, the Swiss Football Association re-evaluated their stadium safety criteria with Stadion Lachen and FC Lucerne’s ground found to fall short of requirements. Given a grace period to either renovate or build a new stadium. FC Thun expressed a desire to construct a new state-of-the-art ground but the club initially faced funding issues. Traditionally stadiums in Switzerland and other European countries were financed by public funds as they are seen as belonging to the community, but the citizens of Thun rejected funding the new stadium with taxpayer money in 2006. Facing an uncertain future without a stadium, FC Thun explored other financing options and eventual signed a deal with a commercial property development company, HRS, who offered to invest in a new stadium in a new location complete with shopping centre, approximately 1.8 km northwest of Stadion Lachen, on the outskirts of town. The club agreed to the proposal and constructed began in the Spring of 2010, with the inaugural match, a 2-2 draw, held little over a year later against 1. FC Köln on the 9th July 2011. In February 2014 the operator of the stadium announced they had sold the naming rights with Arena Thun becoming Stockhorn Arena.

DRIVING The stadium’s address for satnav is as follows: Weststrasse 12, 3604 Thun, Switzerland Car Parks Parking is available at the nearby “Panorama Center” on a first-come first-served basis for the flat rate of 10.00 CHF. TRAIN Thun Railway Station is well connected to the rest of Switzerland with numerous InterCity and RegioExpress services around the country. BUS From the central train station you can catch bus number 3 to Stockhorn Arena in just under 15 minutes. On matchdays additional services are run in order to satisfy the increased demand and to ease congestion. AIRPORTS AND FLYING Bern Airport, 26 km north, is the closest International Airport to the City of Thun with the nearby Flugplatz Thun only used by private and non-commercial airlines.