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
Association Swiss Football Association
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Vladimir Petković
Captain Gökhan Inler
Most caps Heinz Hermann (117)
Top scorer Alexander Frei (42)
FIFA code SUI
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 12 Decrease 1 (3 December 2015)
Highest 3 (August 1993)
Lowest 83 (December 1998)
First international
 France 1–0 Switzerland  
(Paris, France; 12 February 1905)
World Cup
Appearances 10 (First in 1934)
Best result Quarter-finals: 1934, 1938 and 1954
European Championship
Appearances 4 (First in 1996)
Best result Group Stage: 1996, 2004 and 2008
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.[1] 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 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 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 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.[2]

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.

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 3 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 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.[3]

Euro 2012

Qualification: Switzerland ended qualification for group G in third place, behind England and Montenegro. This meant that for the first time since Euro 2004, 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, but were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Argentina following a late goal in extra time by Ángel Di María.

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.

Competitive record

So far the Swiss have earned no 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 Swiss home kit is all-red and the change is all-white, 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 to the squad for the friendly matches against Slovakia and Austria on November 13 and 17, 2015.
Caps and goals updated on November 17, 2015 after the match against Austria.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Yann Sommer 27 (1988-12-17) December 17, 1988 (age 36) 15 0 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach
1GK Roman Bürki (1990-11-14) November 14, 1990 (age 34) 4 0 Germany Borussia Dortmund
1GK Marwin Hitz (1987-09-18) September 18, 1987 (age 37) 2 0 Germany FC Augsburg
2DF Stephan Lichtsteiner (1984-01-16) January 16, 1984 (age 40) 79 5 Italy Juventus
2DF Johan Djourou (1987-01-18) January 18, 1987 (age 37) 59 2 Germany Hamburger SV
2DF Fabian Schär (1991-12-20) December 20, 1991 (age 33) 17 5 Germany 1899 Hoffenheim
2DF Michael Lang (1991-02-08) February 8, 1991 (age 33) 13 2 Switzerland Basel
2DF Timm Klose (1988-05-09) May 9, 1988 (age 36) 12 0 Germany VfL Wolfsburg
2DF François Moubandje (1990-06-21) June 21, 1990 (age 34) 8 0 France Toulouse
2DF Silvan Widmer (1993-03-05) March 5, 1993 (age 31) 5 0 Italy Udinese
2DF Fabian Lustenberger (1988-05-02) May 2, 1988 (age 36) 3 0 Germany Hertha BSC
3MF Gökhan Inler (Captain) (1984-06-27) June 27, 1984 (age 40) 89 7 England Leicester City
3MF Valon Behrami (1985-04-19) April 19, 1985 (age 39) 63 2 England Watford
3MF Gélson Fernandes (1986-09-02) September 2, 1986 (age 38) 53 2 France Rennes
3MF Xherdan Shaqiri (1991-10-10) October 10, 1991 (age 33) 51 17 England Stoke City
3MF Valentin Stocker (1989-04-12) April 12, 1989 (age 35) 33 5 Germany Hertha BSC
3MF Pajtim Kasami (1992-06-02) June 2, 1992 (age 32) 10 2 Greece Olympiacos
3MF Luca Zuffi (1990-09-27) September 27, 1990 (age 34) 3 0 Switzerland Basel
4FW Eren Derdiyok (1988-06-12) June 12, 1988 (age 36) 50 10 Turkey Kasımpaşa
4FW Admir Mehmedi (1991-03-16) March 16, 1991 (age 33) 38 3 Germany Bayer Leverkusen
4FW Haris Seferović (1992-02-22) February 22, 1992 (age 32) 27 7 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
4FW Josip Drmić (1992-08-08) August 8, 1992 (age 32) 25 8 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach

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 Yvon Mvogo (1994-06-06) June 6, 1994 (age 30) 0 0 Switzerland Young Boys v.  Lithuania, June 14, 2015
DF Ricardo Rodríguez (1992-08-25) August 25, 1992 (age 32) 33 0 Germany VfL Wolfsburg v.  Austria, November 17, 2015 INJ
DF Steve von Bergen (1983-06-10) June 10, 1983 (age 41) 49 0 Switzerland Young Boys v.  England, September 8, 2015
DF François Affolter (1991-03-13) March 13, 1991 (age 33) 5 0 Switzerland Luzern v.  Liechtenstein, June 10, 2015 PRE
MF Granit Xhaka (1992-09-27) September 27, 1992 (age 32) 39 6 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach v.  Austria, November 17, 2015 INJ
MF Renato Steffen (1991-11-03) November 3, 1991 (age 33) 2 0 Switzerland Young Boys v.  Austria, November 17, 2015 INJ
MF Blerim Džemaili (1986-04-12) April 12, 1986 (age 38) 45 5 Italy Genoa v.  Estonia, October 12, 2015
MF Fabian Frei (1989-01-08) January 8, 1989 (age 35) 7 1 Germany Mainz 05 v.  Lithuania, June 14, 2015
FW Breel Embolo (1997-02-14) February 14, 1997 (age 27) 7 1 Switzerland Basel v.  Austria, November 17, 2015 INJ

|} 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 Austria vs Switzerland, 17 November 2015.[5]

Coaches

Vladimir Petković is the current manager

National Team Results

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Main article: Switzerland national football team results

Recent results and future matches.[6] Blue background colour indicates competitive matches.

Date Competition Opponent Venue Score Swiss scorers (International goal) Referee
27 March 2015 EC2016-Q  Estonia Switzerland Swissporarena, Lucerne 3 – 0 Schär (5th), Xhaka (6th), Seferović (5th)
31 March 2015 Friendly  United States Switzerland Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich 1 – 1 Stocker (4th)
10 June 2015 Friendly  Liechtenstein Switzerland Stockhorn Arena, Thun 3 – 0 Džemaili (4th), Shaqiri (16th), Džemaili (5th)
14 June 2015 EC2016-Q  Lithuania Lithuania LFF Stadium, Vilnius 2 – 1 Drmić (5th), Shaqiri (17th)
5 September 2015 EC2016-Q  Slovenia Switzerland St. Jakob-Park, Basel 3 – 2 Drmić (6th), Stocker (5th), Drmić (7th),
8 September 2015 EC2016-Q  England England Wembley Stadium, London 0 – 2
9 October 2015 EC2016-Q  San Marino Switzerland AFG Arena, St. Gallen 7 – 0 Lang (2nd), Inler (7th), Mehmedi (3rd), Djourou (2nd),
Kasami (2nd), Embolo (1st), Derdiyok (9th)
12 October 2015 EC2016-Q  Estonia Estonia A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn 1 – 0 Own goal
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
29 March 2016 Friendly  Bosnia and Herzegovina Switzerland Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich

Swiss youth teams

References

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External links

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