As the club commissions a series of hand-drawn player portraits from local schools, Chur find themselves pulled into an unlikely title race – their own form surging just as those around them begin to falter.

Across the city, in classrooms, community centres and even at the training ground, imperfect sketches of Alberto Arroyo, Xabier Iriondo and Mauro Frey are beginning to appear. Lines are uneven, proportions exaggerated, details guessed rather than known – but the essence is unmistakable. Because what these players are doing on the pitch is no less striking.

Arroyo has 17 goal involvements – four goals and thirteen assists in just 1,800 minutes – dictating games with a quiet authority. Iriondo has added eight (five goals, three assists), while Frey, with six (four goals, two assists), continues to arrive in the moments that matter. Together, they are not just producing – they are reshaping how Chur attack, how they move, how they win. Five consecutive league victories – 2–0 against Basel, 2–0 against Luzern, 4–1 away at Lugano, 3–0 over Vaduz and a controlled 2–1 win against Servette – have revealed a level of tactical fluency that has, until now, only existed in fragments under Iñaki Arriola.

Against Basel, the midfield was crowded and suffocating, compressing space and overwhelming their central three. Against Vaduz, the breakthrough came down the right, an overlapping full-back stretching the pitch at just the right moment. Days later against Servette, the same idea reappeared on the opposite flank – Feitknecht, himself with twelve contributions (five goals, seven assists), interchanging with Arroyo as Chur shifted the point of attack with precision.

Europe has followed a similar pattern. A disciplined 0–0 draw at home to Sporting CP laid the foundation, before two decisive away victories against Sparta Praha and Feirense secured qualification and allowed Chur to bypass the first knockout round entirely. In Portugal, the structure remained, but the tempo changed – quicker, more direct, deliberately bypassing the press to attack the space left behind it. It is this adaptability that has carried them here.

After 21 games, Chur sit on 39 points – one ahead of Young Boys, two clear of Basel, and with two games in hand on both. The table suggests opportunity. The performances suggest something more because this does not feel accidental anymore. And yet, like the drawings that now line the walls of the city, it is not perfect. Not finished. Not fixed in place.

There are still lines to be added. Details to be defined. Moments that could reshape the entire image. But for now, Chur are exactly where they have drawn themselves to be – and in a title race where every detail matters, this is a picture that is beginning to take shape.