Swiss Government to Honour Roger Federer with Special Currency

Published 12/02/2019, 8:47 AM EST

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Former World number 1, Roger Federer, is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated sports stars in Switzerland. So, to pay tribute to the legendary tennis player, Swissmint dedicated a commemorative coin to him. In fact, he is the first living person to receive the honour.

On Sunday, Swissmint confirmed that it will be celebrating Roger Federer with a 20-franc silver coin. This coin will have an issue date of January 23, 2020 and will be available to the public very soon. In addition to that, it plans to release a second coin with a different design – the “Roger Federer” 50-franc gold coin – a couple of months later.

In a statement, the government declared that Roger Federer is the best-known Swiss person both on and off the court. In addition to his countless tennis records, including the most grand slam men’s singles titles, he also runs a charitable foundation for children in southern Africa and was the first Swiss UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

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According to Swissmint, Federer is “the perfect ambassador for Switzerland. He has a unique way of embodying likability, down-to-earthness, success and eloquence”.

Anticipating high demand for the coin, Swissmint has launched for the first time a pre-sale of an “uncirculated quality” of the coin. Federer fans can purchase the uncirculated coin for CHF30 ($30) from December 2-19 through the Swissmint website. Proof-quality coins will only be available from the issue date onwards.

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Swissmint has occasionally introduced commemorative coins celebrating Swiss historical events, people and organisations. In 2019, commemorative coins were dedicated to the Apollo 11 moon landing and the centenary of the Circus Knie. Even the legend himself responded and was honoured to be paid tribute to in such a manner.

However, it has transpired that, immediately after the announcement, the Swissmint website crashed. Apparently, everybody thronged the website to buy the coins and overloaded it. It remains to be seen how long it will take to get the site back up and running.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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