Winkeln St. Gallen

Down at Gründenmoos, the fixture that gets circled first is the one against KF Dardania St. Gallen 1, a meeting close enough to home that the club's own bulletin has run it under the plain heading of a derby in the ground itself. FC St. Otmar SG sits on the same city map and turns up in the same low-tier fixture list, and there was a Sunday in August 2020 when a game against FC Rapperswil-Jona 2 got the same word attached to it in the local press — proof that in this corner of Winkeln, rivalry is measured in tram stops, not trophies. FC Winkeln plays in the lower reaches of Swiss amateur football, in the 2. Liga regional under the Ostschweizer Fussballverband, a level where a run in the Schweizer Pokal counts as the highlight of a season rather than a formality. The club has reached that stage by winning the Ostschweizer Cup, most recently in 2022/23, the third time in its history that a regional title has opened the door to the national competition. Once there, the results have swung wide: a 1-7 defeat to FC Concordia Basel in 2021/22, then a penalty-shootout win over FC Mutschellen after a 3-3 draw in 2023/24 before FC Lausanne-Sport ended the run. In August 2026 the two sides met again, and Winkeln went through once more, 4-3 after extra time, setting up another tie with Lausanne-Sport. The club was founded on 1 July 1930 and has played in black and white ever since, out of a ground that holds 4,500 with room for about 1,900 to sit. The name attached to that 2026 win over Mutschellen belongs to Ledior Mamusha, a midfielder born in 2007 who scored twice, including the extra-time winner. It echoes an older story at the club: Sven Lehmann came through Winkeln's youth side before St. Gallen took him into their academy, then came back after injuries ended his professional career and, in 2016/17, finished as the leading scorer in the 2. Liga interregional with 25 goals.