Samuel Spichiger from Switzerland could be a first. The 25-year-old wants to be the first football player from the Alpine Republic to recommend himself to the Arizona Cardinals for an invitation to training camp. Spichiger was still an ice hockey player in his youth.

Munich – German football players in the NFL are no longer a rarity, but the Swiss Samuel Spichiger could be a novelty. The 25-year-old linebacker is the first footballer from the Alpine republic to compete for one of the coveted NFL squad spots.

Spichiger was recently invited by the two-time Super Bowl champion Arizona Cardinals to a try-out, but it is not to remain with this trial training of several days. “Of course I hope to get an opportunity to recommend myself for a squad spot and to be invited to the training camp,” Spichiger explained. No Swiss has ever been offered such an opportunity before, just as no Swiss has ever been invited to a try-out before.

Spichiger used contacts of an agent

Spichiger, who has been in the USA since the end of March, made use of previous contacts in order to be able to put himself in the shop window of the oldest football team still in existence in the USA: “I sent my tape of the games to NFL teams via an agent I knew from ice hockey and hoped to audition for a team. Then it worked out with the Cardinals,” the Swiss informed.

In Switzerland, Spichiger, who played junior ice hockey for Biel and Langenthal, only plays for the Langenthal Invaders in the 3rd division. The step into the NFL therefore seems almost utopian, but Spichiger is not afraid of this, he wants to continue making history. However, there have already been NFL stars with Swiss roots in Ben Roethlisberger and Olivier Vernon.