Thun out to shine against Rapid

FC Thun will look to make it through to the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds from their maiden group stage campaign, which starts with the visit of SK Rapid Wien.

Previous meetings
• This is the first time these sides have met in European competition while neither has played a club from their opponents' country.

• Swiss and Austrian clubs have met in 22 previous UEFA games, with the Swiss teams having the better of them with the record W9 D8 L5 (W6 D3 L2 at home – W3 D5 L3 in Austria). Swiss clubs are unbeaten in their last eight games against opposition from Austria (W4 D4) and it is also eight games (D3 L5) since an Austrian side won on Swiss soil, SK Admira Wacker Wien winning 1-0 at FC Luzern in the UEFA Cup second round on 24 October 1990.

Match background
• Thun are competing in the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time, having lost to Stoke City FC in the play-offs two years ago. They memorably made it to the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, finishing third in their section to earn a transfer to the UEFA Cup round of 32, where they lost to Hamburger SV.

• Thun have won five of their six games since entering this season's UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round, eliminating FK Partizan in the play-offs. They have won all three of their European home games this season without conceding, scoring six goals.

• This is Rapid's fourth attempt on the group stage of this competition, though they have yet to successfully navigate their way through to the last 32. They conceded 40 goals in the course of those 18 previous group stage fixtures.

• Rapid are unbeaten in their last five European games (W4 D1) but have lost all but two of their nine UEFA Europa League group stage away fixtures, barring a 1-1 draw at Celtic FC in 2009/10 and a 2-0 win at PFC CSKA Sofia the following season.

Team facts
• Thun qualified for the UEFA Europa League with a fifth-placed finish in the 2012/13 Swiss Super League, while Rapid finished third in the Austrian Bundesliga.

• The national teams of Austria and Switzerland have met 42 times in official international games, Austria claiming 25 wins to Switzerland's 12. The Swiss, however, have won the two most recent encounters – friendly games in Zurich in 2007 (3-1) and Klagenfurt in 2010 (1-0).

Coach information
• Urs Fischer took charge of Thun in November 2012 following a long spell working with FC Zürich, where he was in charge of various youth teams before becoming assistant and then senior coach. The centre-back made a record 545 Swiss league appearances – over 300 of them for Zürich where he played his first and last games. In between he captained FC St Gallen and was capped four times by Switzerland.

• Zoran Barišić's second spell as Rapid coach commenced in spring 2013, and the midfielder has deep roots with the club. Born in Vienna but of Croatian descent, he was among the key performers as Rapid reached the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final and won the Austrian title the same year, and later won three titles at FC Tirol Innsbruck. He returned to the Rapid youth ranks to start his coaching career.