Chappuis and Thailand daring to dream

The 25-year-old lifted the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009 with Switzerland, before turning down an offer from Juventus and seeing a potential move to Hamburg in the German Bundesliga collapse.

It was an inauspicious start, but nowadays Chappuis is an icon in Thailand, a country relishing its 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifying journey.

The War Elephants are currently competing in the decisive third round of the AFC qualifying section for the first time ever and will continue their bid for glory against Saudi Arabia in Bangkok on Thursday and away in Japan five days later.

"I'm really happy with how my life and my career have developed," Chappuis told FIFA.com recently.

"However, given what I know now, when I look back, I sometimes think that maybe I should've accepted the offer from Juventus after winning the U-17 World Cup. Then again, at the time I was nervous about going abroad and leaving my family."

Chappuis may now be far away from the bright lights of Serie A, the Bundesliga or the Premier League, where former team-mates Haris Seferovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka from the Swiss U-17 class of 2009 ply their trade, but the attacking midfielder is successfully forging his own path in professional football.