Parmelin’s red cap steals the show in Vancouver

Guy Parmelin went to Vancouver to watch Switzerland’s World Cup round-of-32 match against Algeria and, naturally, ended up becoming part of the spectacle himself. The Swiss president wore a bright red cap bearing the slogan “Switzerland Great Since 1291”, a phrase that did not require much imagination to be read as a wink at Donald Trump’s campaign merchandise. In politics, symbolism often arrives wearing a hat.

Parmelin said on X that he was proud to stand behind the national team in the knockout match. That is the sort of statement every president is expected to make, ideally without distracting from the football. Yet the cap did the opposite: it turned a routine show of support into a small exercise in self-presentation, one that was bound to travel faster than any sober diplomatic message.

The scene itself was hardly accidental. Parmelin sat in the stands next to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the Walliser who has long understood that global sport and national vanity are rarely strangers. The match took place in Vancouver, while Parmelin was already on a broader economic and science mission in North America. On Monday he had met the US trade representative Jamieson Greer, and the trip is also due to continue to Mexico.

Back home, several Swiss parliamentarians joined the celebration on X after Switzerland’s advance. Philipp Matthias Bregy of the Centre said, via his son, that getting up early had been worth it. Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter, also of the Centre, drew the same conclusion. Patrick Hässig of the GLP went one better and echoed Parmelin’s own slogan. One can almost hear the collective sigh of a country that likes to think of itself as modest, even when its politicians dress like campaign strategists.

The episode says less about football than about the modern urge to wrap politics in easy symbols. Switzerland, which likes to present itself as sober, prosperous and above the fray, still cannot resist a bit of theatrical patriotism when the cameras are on. Parmelin’s cap was harmless enough, but it also fit a familiar pattern: public office, a sporting event and a slogan that wants to be innocent while clearly hoping to be memorable. In that sense, it worked.

Written by Thorben Thiede thorben.thiede@alpineweekly.com