Loyalties split in family with Germany and Switzerland to cheer

Daniel Loepfa, 41 and his wife, Susanne Jokisch, may need to practise diplomacy over dinner in the coming weeks. Loepfa, on leave from his job with the Swiss Ministry of Finance, was born in Switzerland while Ms Jokisch, a German, works at the embassy in Abu Dhabi. Their two boys, aged seven and four, hold dual citizenship, though Mr Loepfa says they will back their dad, and Switzerland, first. During the World Cup, it means the household will have two teams to cheer for.

That is, unless Germany and Switzerland cross paths. "It could be a family internal battle when maybe Switzerland will play Germany in the final," says Mr Loepfa, one of about 1,000 Swiss living in the UAE. "But for this, Switzerland must perform very well." Indeed, the earliest the two sides could meet is in the semi-finals. Mr Loepfa believes that if Switzerland cannot advance, at least out of its group, in this tournament, "they will never do it."

Switzerland, ranked 24th in the world by Fifa, managed a 1-1 draw with Italy, the reigning world champions, last Saturday. Mr Loepfa believes that the result bodes well for the Swiss, who open their tournament against Spain, the winners of the European Championship in 2008. "This will be a crucial match," he says. "I hope they can at least make a draw and then it looks good. The Swiss team, you never know. One day they play very well and the next day they have a problem."

For Susanne Baumgartner, the executive director of the Swiss Business Council, the matches will be a chance for expatriates from her country to mingle with supporters of the national team they are playing. The council is finalising a venue to watch the match against Spain and plan to invite the Spaniards to watch it with them. "If we win we are happy, but normally we lose," says Ms Baumgartner. "So it is just nice to get together and cheer your team on."

Switzerland, along with Austria, hosted Euro 2008, but the tournament did not go well for the Swiss, who finished last in their group. However, for the Swiss ambassador to the UAE, Wolfgang Amadeus Bruelhart, that tournament was a chance to raise his country's profile here and to pass the baton on to South Africa. A Euro 2008 bus travelled the emirates and a football was signed by the rulers of each of the seven emirates.

"The idea was to motivate and to make awareness of Europe," Mr Bruelhart says. "That was a great experience, I must say. We included South Africa in the signing of the ball." The ambassador is trying to arrange a friendly match between the UAE and Switzerland. He hopes it will happen next year.