Switzerland national football team

Switzerland

Nickname(s)	Schweizer pati, La Nati, Rossocrociati
Association	Swiss Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Vladimir Petković
Captain	Stephan Lichtsteiner
Most caps	Heinz Hermann (118)[1]
Top scorer	Alexander Frei (42)
FIFA code	SUI
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	11 3 (24 November 2016)
Highest	3 (August 1993)
Lowest	83 (December 1998)
Elo ranking
Current	16 2 (1 December 2016)
Highest	8 (June 1924)
Lowest	62 (October 1979)
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
Appearances	10 (first in 1934)
Best result	Quarter-finals: 1934, 1938 and 1954
European Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 1996)
Best result	Round of 16, 2016

Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
	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.

World Cup record Switzerland's record at FIFA World Cups.[5] Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA 1930 Did Not Enter 1934 Quarter-Finals 7th 2 1 0 1 5 5 1938 7th 3 1 1 1 5 5 1950 Group Stage 6th 3 1 1 1 4 6 1954 Quarter-Finals 8th 4 2 0 2 11 11 1958 Did Not Qualify 1962 Group Stage 16th 3 0 0 3 2 8 1966 16th 3 0 0 3 1 9 1970 Did Not Qualify 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 Round of 16 16th 4 1 1 2 5 7 1998 Did Not Qualify 2002 2006 Round of 16 10th 4 2 2 0 4 0 2010 Group Stage 19th 3 1 1 1 1 1 2014 Round of 16 11th 4 2 0 2 7 7 2018 To Be Determined 2022 Total Quarter-Finals 10/20 33 11 6 16 45 59

European Championship record Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA 1960 Did Not Enter 1964 Did Not Qualify 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 Group Stage 13th 3 0 1 2 1 4 2000 Did Not Qualify 2004 Group Stage 15th 3 0 1 2 1 6 2008 11th 3 1 0 2 3 3 2012 Did Not Qualify 2016 Round of 16 11th 4 1 3 0 3 2 Total Group Stage 4/15 13 2 5 6 8 15

*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.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
21	GK	Yann Sommer	17 December 1988	25	0	Borussia Mönchengladbach
12	GK	Marwin Hitz	18 September 1987	2	0	FC Augsburg
	GK	Yvon Mvogo	6 June 1994	0	0	Young Boys
2	DF	Stephan Lichtsteiner (Captain)	16 January 1984	88	6	Juventus
20	DF	Johan Djourou	18 January 1987	66	2	Hamburger SV
13	DF	Ricardo Rodríguez	25 August 1992	45	1	VfL Wolfsburg
22	DF	Fabian Schär	20 December 1991	28	7	1899 Hoffenheim
3	DF	François Moubandje	21 June 1990	11	0	Toulouse
6	DF	Silvan Widmer	5 March 1993	8	0	Udinese
24	DF	Nico Elvedi	30 September 1996	3	0	Borussia Mönchengladbach
	DF	Léo Lacroix	27 February 1992	0	0	Saint-Étienne
11	MF	Valon Behrami	19 April 1985	73	2	Watford
16	MF	Gélson Fernandes	2 September 1986	62	2	Rennes
15	MF	Blerim Džemaili	12 April 1986	55	6	Bologna
10	MF	Granit Xhaka	27 September 1992	50	6	Arsenal
14	MF	Valentin Stocker	12 April 1989	36	6	Hertha BSC
	MF	Renato Steffen	3 November 1991	5	0	Basel
7	MF	Denis Zakaria	20 November 1996	3	0	Young Boys
	MF	Edimilson Fernandes	15 April 1996	1	0	West Ham United
	DF	Remo Freuler	15 April 1992	0	0	Atalanta
9	FW	Eren Derdiyok	12 June 1988	56	11	Galatasaray
18	FW	Admir Mehmedi	16 March 1991	50	7	Bayer Leverkusen
	FW	Haris Seferović	22 February 1992	38	8	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	14 November 1990	6	0	Borussia Dortmund	v.  Faroe Islands, 13 November 2016 ^INJ
DF	Michael Lang	8 February 1991	20	2	Basel	v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
DF	Timm Klose	9 May 1988	15	0	Norwich City	v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
DF	Philippe Senderos	14 February 1985	57	5	Rangers	UEFA Euro 2016 ^PRE
MF	Shani Tarashaj	7 February 1995	5	0	Eintracht Frankfurt	v.  Faroe Islands, 13 November 2016 ^INJ
MF	Xherdan Shaqiri	10 October 1991	59	18	Stoke City	v.  Andorra, 10 October 2016
MF	Fabian Frei	8 January 1989	9	1	Mainz 05	v.  Hungary, 7 October 2016 ^INJ
MF	Luca Zuffi	27 September 1990	4	0	Basel	v.  Hungary, 7 October 2016 ^INJ
MF	Pajtim Kasami	2 June 1992	12	2	Nottingham Forest	v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 29 March 2016
FW	Breel Embolo	14 February 1997	17	2	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]

Most appearances # Name Years Caps 1 Heinz Hermann 1978–1991 118 2 Alain Geiger 1980–1996 112 3 Stéphane Chapuisat 1989–2004 103 4 Johann Vogel 1995–2007 94 5 Gökhan Inler 2006– 89 6 Stephan Lichtsteiner 2006– 88 7 Hakan Yakin 2000–2011 87 8 Alexander Frei 2001–2011 84 9 Patrick Müller 1998–2008 81 10 Severino Minelli 1930–1943 80

Most goals # Name Years Caps Goals 1 Alexander Frei 2001–2011 84 42 2 Kubilay Türkyilmaz 1988–2001 62 34 Max Abegglen 1922–1937 68 34 4 André Abegglen 1927–1943 52 29 Jacques Fatton 1946–1955 53 29 6 Adrian Knup 1989–1996 49 26 7 Josef Hügi 1951–1961 34 23 8 Charles Antenen 1948–1962 56 22 9 Lauro Amadò 1935–1948 54 21 Stéphane Chapuisat 1989–2004 103 21

Coaches

Vladimir Petković is the current manager

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

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

Swiss youth teams

• Switzerland national under-23 football team (also known as Swiss Olympic)
• Switzerland national under-21 football team
• Switzerland national under-20 football team
• Switzerland national under-19 football team
• Switzerland national under-18 football team
• Switzerland national under-17 football team
• Switzerland national under-16 football team

See also

• List of Switzerland international footballers

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".

External links

• Official website
• www.Hattrick.ch
• RSSSF archive of results 1905–
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1905–