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Switzerland national football team

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This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Switzerland women's national football team.

Switzerland
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Schweizer pati, La Nati, Rossocrociati
AssociationSwiss Football Association
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachVladimir Petković
CaptainStephan Lichtsteiner
Most capsHeinz Hermann (118)[1]
Top scorerAlexander Frei (42)
FIFA codeSUI
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current11 Increase 3 (24 November 2016)
Highest3 (August 1993)
Lowest83 (December 1998)
First international
 France 0–2 Switzerland 
(Paris, France; 12 February 1905)
Biggest win
  Switzerland 9–0 Lithuania 
(Paris, France; 25 May 1924)
Biggest defeat
  Switzerland 0–9 England 
(Basel, Switzerland; 20 May 1909)
 Hungary 9–0 Switzerland 
(Budapest, Hungary; 29 October 1911)
World Cup
Appearances10 (first in 1934)
Best resultQuarter-finals: 1934, 1938 and 1954
European Championship
Appearances4 (first in 1996)
Best resultRound of 16, 2016
Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Silver medal – second place 1924 Paris Team

The Switzerland national football team (also known as the Schweizer Nati in German, La Nati in French, Squadra nazionale in Italian) is the national football team of Switzerland. The team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association.

The team's logo, ASF-SFV, represents the Swiss Football Association's initials in Switzerland's official languages: ASF represents both French (Association Suisse de Football) and Italian (Associazione Svizzera di Football), and SFV is German (Schweizerischer Fussballverband). In Romansh, the association is abbreviated as ASB (Associaziun Svizra da Ballape).

Its best performances in the World Cup have been reaching the quarter-finals three times, in 1934, 1938 and when the country hosted the event in 1954. Switzerland also won silver at the 1924 Olympics. The youth teams have been more successful, winning the 2002 U-17 European Championship and the 2009 U-17 World Cup.

In 2006, Switzerland set a FIFA World Cup record by being eliminated from the competition despite not conceding a goal, losing to Ukraine in a penalty shootout in the last 16, by failing to score a single penalty – becoming the first national team in Cup history to do this.[2] They would not concede a goal until their second group stage game in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, giving up a goal in the 74th minute against Chile, setting a World Cup Finals record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal.

Switzerland co-hosted UEFA Euro 2008 with Austria, making their third appearance in the competition. As with the two previous appearances, they did not clear the group stages.

History

20th century

Switzerland earned the silver medal at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. It was beaten 3–0 by Uruguay in the final.

The team participated in its first FIFA World Cup in 1934, where it reached the quarter-final before losing to Czechoslovakia. Switzerland again reached the quarter-final stage in 1938, losing to Hungary. Switzerland hosted the tournament in 1954 and reached the quarter-final for a third time, where the team was beaten 7–5 by neighbouring Austria. The Swiss also qualified for the World Cup in 1950, 1962 and 1966, losing in the first round on each occasion.

After the appointment of English manager Roy Hodgson in 1992, Switzerland rose to its highest ever position in the FIFA World Rankings and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. At the tournament finals, the team qualified for the second round by beating Romania and drawing with host nation the United States. Switzerland lost 3–0 to Spain in the second round.

The team then qualified for its first ever UEFA European Championship. For the finals of UEFA Euro 1996, Hodgson was replaced by the Portuguese Artur Jorge. The team finished bottom of Group A after a draw with England and defeats to the Netherlands and Scotland.

Recent history

Euro 2004

Switzerland qualified for the Euro 2004 in Portugal by finishing first in Group 10 of the qualifying, ahead of Russia and the Republic of Ireland.

After a 0–0 draw against Croatia, they lost 0–3 against England and 1–3 against France, and thus ended on the last place in group B of the main tournament.

Johann Vonlanthen became the youngest scorer ever in the Euro championships when he equalised against France, beating the record (set only four days earlier by Wayne Rooney) by three months.[3]

World Cup 2006

The Swiss line-up against China, just before World Cup 2006

The World Cup 2006 in Germany was the first World Cup for Switzerland since their participation at the World Cup 1994. After finishing second behind France in qualifying group 4, they defeated Turkey on away goals in the play-off round 2–0 and 2–4 (4–4 aggregate) to qualify for the main tournament.

In the group stage, they played again against France. The game played in Stuttgart ended in a goalless draw. After defeating Togo 2–0 in Dortmund and South Korea also 2–0 in Hannover, they finished first in group G and qualified for the knockout stage. In the second round of the tournament, they faced Ukraine in Cologne. The game had to be decided in a penalty shootout since no goal was scored after 120 minutes. Ukraine won the shootout 3–0. Switzerland was the only team in tournament not to have conceded a goal during regulation time in their matches. Switzerland's top scorer at the tournament was Alexander Frei with two goals. When Switzerland lost 3–0 on penalties, that was the first time in history that a team lost on penalties without scoring a single goal in the penalties. It was also the first time in World Cup history that team left the tournament without conceding a goal.

Euro 2008

Switzerland co-hosted the Euro 2008 together with Austria and was therefore automatically qualified. Switzerland played all matches of group A in Basel. After losing the opening game 0–1 to the Czech Republic and the second game 1–2 against Turkey, they were already eliminated from their home tournament after only two games. Consolation came from the 2–0 victory over Portugal in the final group stage game. All three goals by Switzerland were scored by Hakan Yakin.

World Cup 2010

Qualification: Switzerland played in group 2 of the UEFA qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Despite an embarrassing home loss against Luxembourg (1–2), they finished first in their group, ahead of Greece, Latvia and Israel.

Group stage: In their first game in Group H, the team achieved a 1–0 win thanks to a goal from midfielder Gélson Fernandes against Spain, who were the eventual competition winners. Switzerland then lost their second game to Chile and thus needed a win by two goals in the last match against Honduras to advance to the next round. However, they managed only a scoreless draw and eventually placed third in their group.

Trivia: The goal by Mark González in the 75th minute of the game against Chile, ended a 559-minute streak without conceding a goal in World Cup matches, beating the record previously held by Italy by nine minutes.[4]

Euro 2012

Qualification: Switzerland ended qualification for Group G in third place, behind England and Montenegro. This meant that for the first time since the 2002 World Cup, Switzerland did not qualify for a major international tournament.

World Cup 2014

Switzerland qualified for the 2014 World Cup by winning UEFA qualification Group E. At the tournament, the team progressed from Group E by finishing second behind France,who beat the Swiss 5-2. They qualified by beating Ecuador 2-1 and, courtesy of a Xherdan Shaqiri hat-trick, defeating Honduras 3-0. However, the Nati were eliminated in the round of 16 by Argentina following an incredibly late goal in extra time by Ángel Di María. This was to be Ottmar Hitzfeld's last ever game in charge, as he retired afterwards.

Euro 2016

Switzerland were drawn in qualifying Group G. Switzerland booked their berth at UEFA Euro 2016 with a 7–0 win over San Marino on 9 October 2015. They started Group A with a 1–0 win over debutants Albania at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens. There was also a lot of pre-match hype for this game, as brothers Granit Xhaka of Switzerland and Taulant Xhaka of Albania faced off, making it the first time in the history of the European Championships that 2 brothers representing 2 different teams had played each other. Defender Fabian Schär scored the winner early on with a glancing header, with Granit Xhaka being named man of the match.

Switzerland then drew 1–1 with Romania at Parc de Princes, Paris, with yet another man of the match performance from Xhaka. In the match, Romanian forward Bogdan Stancu scored the first goal off a penalty given from shirt tugging by Stephan Lichtsteiner, before Admir Mehmedi equalized soon after the second half began.

Switzerland secured qualification to the knockout stages after earning a 0–0 draw with hosts France in Lille, where goalkeeper Yann Sommer was named man of the match for a solid performance. This game received quite a bit of post-match attention, as the shirts of Breel Embolo, Admir Mehmedi and Granit Xhaka (twice for the latter) all ripped, with Valon Behrami bursting the ball as he went in to tackle Antoine Griezmann. Poster boy Xherdan Shaqiri went on to jokingly say "I hope Puma does not produce condoms", after the German manufacturer had been humiliated.

In the knockout stages, the Swiss played Group B runners-up Poland in Saint-Étienne. Jakub Błaszczykowski opened the scoring before, in the dying moments of the game, Xherdan Shaqiri arguabaly scored the best goal of the tournament and the best goal in the history of the game with a beautiful bicycle kick to take the game to extra time. It eventually went to a penalty shoot-out after a goalless 120 minutes, with nine out of ten penalties being converted, the exception being Granit Xhaka, who blazed Switzerland's second penalty wide. Switzerland eventually lost 5–4 on penalties, in what was a very memorable yet heartbraking tournament for La Nati.

Competitive record

The Swiss are yet to earn a major trophy; the closest they have come was the quarter-finals of the World Cup on three occasions (1934, 1938 and 1954) and they won a silver medal in the 1924 Olympic games in Paris. The youth teams have been more successful, as the U-17-squad became European champions in 2002 and World champions in 2009 and the U-21 squad qualified for the semi-finals of the U-21-Euro 2002.

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Match kits

The Switzerland home kit is red shirts, white shorts, and red socks and the away is the reversed of the kits is white shirts, red shorts, and white socks, although the shorts and socks of each kit are interchangeable if there is a minor clash. The uniform is manufactured by Puma until the end of 2017–18 season.

Historical kits

1994–1996 home
1996–1998 home
2004–2005 home
2005–2006 home
2006–2008 home
2008–2010 home
2008–2010 away
2010–2012 home
2010–2012 away

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification game against Faroe Islands on 13 November 2016.
Caps and goals updated on 13 November 2016 after the match against Faroe Islands.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
21 1GK Yann Sommer (1988-12-17) 17 December 1988 (age 35) 25 0 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach
12 1GK Marwin Hitz (1987-09-18) 18 September 1987 (age 37) 2 0 Germany FC Augsburg
1GK Yvon Mvogo (1994-06-06) 6 June 1994 (age 30) 0 0 Switzerland Young Boys
2 2DF Stephan Lichtsteiner (Captain) (1984-01-16) 16 January 1984 (age 40) 88 6 Italy Juventus
20 2DF Johan Djourou (1987-01-18) 18 January 1987 (age 37) 66 2 Germany Hamburger SV
13 2DF Ricardo Rodríguez (1992-08-25) 25 August 1992 (age 32) 45 1 Germany VfL Wolfsburg
22 2DF Fabian Schär (1991-12-20) 20 December 1991 (age 32) 28 7 Germany 1899 Hoffenheim
3 2DF François Moubandje (1990-06-21) 21 June 1990 (age 34) 11 0 France Toulouse
6 2DF Silvan Widmer (1993-03-05) 5 March 1993 (age 31) 8 0 Italy Udinese
24 2DF Nico Elvedi (1996-09-30) 30 September 1996 (age 28) 3 0 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach
2DF Léo Lacroix (1992-02-27) 27 February 1992 (age 32) 0 0 France Saint-Étienne
11 3MF Valon Behrami (1985-04-19) 19 April 1985 (age 39) 73 2 England Watford
16 3MF Gélson Fernandes (1986-09-02) 2 September 1986 (age 38) 62 2 France Rennes
15 3MF Blerim Džemaili (1986-04-12) 12 April 1986 (age 38) 55 6 Italy Bologna
10 3MF Granit Xhaka (1992-09-27) 27 September 1992 (age 32) 50 6 England Arsenal
14 3MF Valentin Stocker (1989-04-12) 12 April 1989 (age 35) 36 6 Germany Hertha BSC
3MF Renato Steffen (1991-11-03) 3 November 1991 (age 33) 5 0 Switzerland Basel
7 3MF Denis Zakaria (1996-11-20) 20 November 1996 (age 27) 3 0 Switzerland Young Boys
3MF Edimilson Fernandes (1996-04-15) 15 April 1996 (age 28) 1 0 England West Ham United
2DF Remo Freuler (1992-04-15) 15 April 1992 (age 32) 0 0 Italy Atalanta
9 4FW Eren Derdiyok (1988-06-12) 12 June 1988 (age 36) 56 11 Turkey Galatasaray
18 4FW Admir Mehmedi (1991-03-16) 16 March 1991 (age 33) 50 7 Germany Bayer Leverkusen
4FW Haris Seferović (1992-02-22) 22 February 1992 (age 32) 38 8 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months and are still available for a call up.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Roman Bürki (1990-11-14) 14 November 1990 (age 33) 6 0 Germany Borussia Dortmund v.  Faroe Islands, 13 November 2016 INJ
DF Michael Lang (1991-02-08) 8 February 1991 (age 33) 20 2 Switzerland Basel v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
DF Timm Klose (1988-05-09) 9 May 1988 (age 36) 15 0 England Norwich City v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
DF Philippe Senderos (1985-02-14) 14 February 1985 (age 39) 57 5 Scotland Rangers UEFA Euro 2016 PRE
MF Shani Tarashaj (1995-02-07) 7 February 1995 (age 29) 5 0 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt v.  Faroe Islands, 13 November 2016 INJ
MF Xherdan Shaqiri (1991-10-10) 10 October 1991 (age 33) 59 18 England Stoke City v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
MF Fabian Frei (1989-01-08) 8 January 1989 (age 35) 9 1 Germany Mainz 05 v.  Hungary, 7 October 2016 INJ
MF Luca Zuffi (1990-09-27) 27 September 1990 (age 34) 4 0 Switzerland Basel v.  Hungary, 7 October 2016 INJ
MF Pajtim Kasami (1992-06-02) 2 June 1992 (age 32) 12 2 England Nottingham Forest v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 29 March 2016
FW Breel Embolo (1997-02-14) 14 February 1997 (age 27) 17 2 Germany Schalke 04 v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016

INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
RET Retired from international football.
PRE Preliminary squad.

Most appearances and goals

Most number of appearances and goals for the Swiss national team. Players in bold are still playing for the national team. Last updated after the match against Faroe Islands, 13 November 2016.[6]

Coaches

Vladimir Petković is the current manager
Nationality Name Term
Austria Karl Rappan 1960 – 11 November 1963
Italy Alfredo Foni 1 July 1964 – 3 May 1967
Switzerland Erwin Ballabio 24 May 1967 – 2 November 1969
Switzerland Louis Maurer 17 October 1970 – 10 October 1971
Switzerland René Hüssy 22 June 1973 – 8 September 1976
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Miroslav Blažević 8 September 1976 – 30 March 1977
Switzerland Roger Vonlanthen 30 March 1977 – 28 March 1979
Switzerland Leo Walker 5 May 1979 – 21 December 1980
Switzerland Paul Wolfisberg 24 March 1981 – 10 November 1985
Switzerland Daniel Jeandupeux 12 March 1986 – 26 April 1989
Germany Uli Stielike 21 June 1989 – 13 November 1991
England Roy Hodgson 26 January 1992 – 15 November 1995
Portugal Artur Jorge 13 March 1996 – 18 June 1996
Austria Rolf Fringer 1 August 1996 – 11 October 1997
France Gilbert Gress 25 March 1998 – 9 October 1999
Argentina Enzo Trossero 16 August 2000 – 6 June 2001
Switzerland Jakob "Köbi" Kuhn 15 August 2001 – 30 June 2008
Germany Ottmar Hitzfeld 1 July 2008 – July 2014
SwitzerlandBosnia and Herzegovina Vladimir Petković 1 July 2014 – present

National team results

Main article: Switzerland national football team results

Recent results and future matches.[7] Blue background colour indicates competitive matches.

Date Competition Opponent Venue Score Swiss scorers (International goal) Referee
13 November 2015 Friendly  Slovakia Slovakia Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava 2–3 Derdiyok (10th), Drmić (8th)
17 November 2015 Friendly  Austria Austria Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna 2–1 Seferović (6th), Seferović (7th)
25 March 2016 Friendly  Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland Aviva Stadium, Dublin 0–1
29 March 2016 Friendly  Bosnia and Herzegovina Switzerland Stadion Letzigrund, Zürich 0–2
28 May 2016 Friendly  Belgium Switzerland Stade de Genève, Geneva 1–2 Džemaili (6th)
3 June 2016 Friendly  Moldova Switzerland Stadio di Cornaredo, Lugano 2–1 Namașco (o.g.), Mehmedi (4th)
11 June 2016 EC2016  Albania France Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens 1–0 Schär (6th)
15 June 2016 EC2016  Romania France Parc des Princes, Paris 1–1 Mehmedi (5th)
19 June 2016 EC2016  France France Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille 0–0
25 June 2016 EC2016  Poland France Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne 1–1 Shaqiri (18th)
6 September 2016 WC2018-Q  Portugal Switzerland St. Jakob-Park, Basel 2–0 Embolo (2nd), Mehmedi (6th)
7 October 2016 WC2018-Q  Hungary Hungary Groupama Arena, Budapest 3–2 Seferović (8th), Rodríguez (1st), Stocker (6th)
10 October 2016 WC2018-Q  Andorra Andorra Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella 2–1 Schär (7th), Mehmedi (7th)
13 November 2016 WC2018-Q  Faroe Islands Switzerland Swissporarena, Lucerne 2–0 Derdiyok (11th), Lichtsteiner (6th),
25 March 2017 WC2018-Q  Latvia Switzerland
9 June 2017 WC2018-Q  Faroe Islands Faroe Islands Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn

Swiss youth teams

See also

References

  1. ^ FIFA Century Club
  2. ^ "Switzerland 0–0 Ukraine (aet)". BBC Sport. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2008.
  3. ^ Doyle, Paul (27 May 2008). "Euro 2008 team preview No1: Switzerland". The Guardian. London.
  4. ^ "World Cup 2010: Switzerland Set New Record For Number Of Minutes Without Conceding A Goal". goal.com. 21 June 2010.
  5. ^ "FIFA World Cup – Statistics for Switzerland". FIFA.com.
  6. ^ "Switzerland – Record International Players". RSSSF.
  7. ^ "FIFA.com – Switzerland: Fixtures and Results".
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