5 Examples, When The World Confused Sweden With The Swiss Councilor Of Basel For Violating Covid Regulations

Because a Koran was burned in Sweden, a Swiss flag was recently burned in Pakistan. It is another chapter in the history of two countries that share the terrible fate of being constantly confused.

We can understand that people in Spain or China have difficulty distinguishing between Switzerland (Spanish: «Suiza», Chinese: «ruishi») and Sweden («Suecia» and «ruidian»). At least in China, both consulates-general have been working on this since 2012 with a Swedish-Swiss campaign.

Okay, both countries are in Europe, both are officially politically neutral, share the “Schw-” (or “Sw-” in English) and it can get really, really cold in both countries. Otherwise, the chances of confusion have basically ended: Sweden is over twelve times the size of Switzerland, the flags are nothing alike, and “-eiz” and “-eden” don’t sound the same at all – “-itzerland” and “-” -eden» certainly not, so it is surprising why in the US it is particularly difficult to tell the two countries apart.

But before we delve deeper into the Americans’ knowledge of geography, let’s remind you of these five examples of more or less embarrassing mix-ups between Sweden and Switzerland. And these show: European countries also make the mistake from time to time – sometimes even our own neighbors…

Spotify IPO, 2018

In April 2018, Spotify celebrated its IPO in New York. What was an extremely successful day for the Swedish streaming service turned out to be more of a minor disaster for the New York Stock Exchange: instead of the Swedish, the square Swiss flag hung there.

Fortunately, the mishap was noticed pretty quickly and they were exchanged. The New York Stock Exchange took it humorously, tweeting, “We hope everyone enjoyed our fleeting tribute to our neutral role in setting prices this morning.”

At the SCB competition in Grenoble, 2019

The SC Bern players were amazed when they not only saw the Swedish flag above their heads before the game against hosts Grenoble, but also had to listen to the Swedish national anthem.

The Bernese players either looked down in shame or laughed off their host’s misfortune. In any case, it did not bother them: the “Mutzen” won the game 3-1 and secured a ticket to the round of 16 of the Champions Hockey League.

The ice hockey club Bern was also compliant afterwards and sent the French a postcard a few days later. It contained an invitation to the Jungfraujoch and the words: “We are not accusing you of confusing Switzerland with Sweden. That happens to the best neighbours.” Sweden is undoubtedly a beautiful country – but Switzerland also has very beautiful places.

Mix up in the Philippines, 2009

Confusing it with humor was a little less appropriate in this case. In April 2009, news agency SDA published a correction. It read as follows:

Two Swedes were arrested in the south of the Philippines on Friday – and not two Swiss, as the police initially mistakenly reported. They allegedly ran a cybersex business. The Swiss Embassy in Manila has cleared up the confusion. According to the police, the two Swedes were arrested in a police raid in a suburb of Cagayan de Oro City, 835 kilometers south of the capital Manila. In addition, 17 young women were arrested. Six of them were caught committing sexual acts in front of a camera connected to the internet via a computer.

When asked, the FPS Foreign Affairs was initially unable to confirm the Philippine police’s report that two Swiss nationals had been arrested. “Investigation by the Manila Representation” eventually revealed a misunderstanding.

Shaqiri is a Swede for Liverpool, 2018

Xherdan Shaqiri moved from Stoke City to Liverpool in 2018. The Premier League club also welcomed the Swiss on Instagram.

But for some reason, after signing the contract, they thought Shaqiri was a Swede – or so the person in charge of social media thought. Fortunately for her, the error was quickly spotted and fixed.

By the way, shortly before Shaqiri’s move to Liverpool, the Swiss national team lost to Sweden at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. For those who thought Sweden and Switzerland were the same, this match must have caused some confusion…

Joe Biden at the NATO summit, 2022

Now who thought, “When will Donald Trump be on this list?” comes out cheated. The Republican was a master at finding blunders, but he never actually made one.

However, Trump was not long out of office when his successor accomplished the feat. At the NATO summit in the summer of 2022, Joe Biden told the media that Finnish President Sauli Niinistö had suggested “calling the head of government in Switzerland about her accession aspirations”.

One thing you have to give the Americans in this case: they can handle it with humor. The US president immediately noted his faux pas: “Switzerland, my God… I really want to expand NATO, of course,” he joked, adding that he meant Sweden, of course.

(lacquer)