Switzerland national football team
| 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 (138)[1] | ||
| Top scorer | Alexander Frei (44) | ||
| FIFA code | SUI | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current |
14  (5 May 2016) | ||
| Highest | 3 (August 1993) | ||
| Lowest | 83 (December 1998) | ||
| Elo ranking | |||
| Current | 20 (9 September 2015) | ||
| Highest | 8 (June 1924) | ||
| Lowest | 62 (October 1979) | ||
| First international | |||
 France 1–0 Switzerland  (Paris, France; 12 February 1905) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Switzerland 9–0 Lithuania  (Paris, France; 25 May 1924) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
.svg.png){kind=small} 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 | Group Stage: 1996, 2004 and 2008 | ||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Football | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 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 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.[3]
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.[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 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.
World Cup recordMain article: Switzerland at the FIFA World Cup
Switzerland's record at FIFA World Cups.[5]
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European Championship recordMain article: Switzerland at the UEFA European Football Championship
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- *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
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   1996-1998 home
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     2004-2005 home
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     2005-2006 home
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     2006-2008 home
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 2008-2010 home
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   2008-2010 away
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     2010-2012 home
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     2010-2012 away
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Current squad
The following players have been called up to the squad for the friendly matches against Republic of Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 25 and 29, 2016.
Caps and goals updated on March 29, 2016 after the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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 | June 6, 1994 | 0 | 0 | Young Boys |
v. Lithuania, June 14, 2015 |
| DF | Johan Djourou | January 18, 1987 | 59 | 2 |  Hamburger SV |
v.  Austria, November 17, 2015
|
| DF | Fabian Lustenberger | May 2, 1988 | 3 | 0 | Hertha BSC |
v. Austria, November 17, 2015
|
| DF | Steve von Bergen | June 10, 1983 | 49 | 0 | Young Boys |
v.  England, September 8, 2015
|
| DF | François Affolter | March 13, 1991 | 5 | 0 | Luzern |
v.  Liechtenstein, June 10, 2015 PRE |
| MF | Valon Behrami | April 19, 1985 | 64 | 2 | Watford |
v.  Republic of Ireland, March 25, 2016 INJ
|
| MF | Xherdan Shaqiri | October 10, 1991 | 51 | 17 | Stoke City |
v. Republic of Ireland, March 25, 2016 INJ
|
| MF | Gökhan Inler | June 27, 1984 | 89 | 7 | Leicester City |
v. Austria, November 17, 2015
|
| MF | Valentin Stocker | April 12, 1989 | 33 | 5 | Hertha BSC |
v. Austria, November 17, 2015
|
| MF | Fabian Frei | January 8, 1989 | 7 | 1 | Mainz 05 |
v. Lithuania, June 14, 2015 |
| FW | Eren Derdiyok | June 12, 1988 | 50 | 10 |  Kasımpaşa |
v. Austria, November 17, 2015
|
| FW | Josip Drmić | August 8, 1992 | 25 | 8 | Hamburger SV |
v. Austria, November 17, 2015 |
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 Switzerland vs Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 29, 2016.[6]
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Most appearances
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Most goals
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Coaches
- Karl Rappan 1960 to November 11, 1963
-
Alfredo Foni – July 1, 1964 to 3 May 1967 - Erwin Ballabio – May 24, 1967 to November 2, 1969
- Louis Maurer – October 17, 1970 to October 10, 1971
- René Hüssy – June 22, 1973 to September 8, 1976
-
Miroslav Blažević – September 8, 1976 to March 30, 1977 - Roger Vonlanthen – March 30, 1977 to March 28, 1979
- Leo Walker – May 5, 1979 to December 21, 1980
- Paul Wolfisberg – March 24, 1981 to November 10, 1985
- Daniel Jeandupeux – March 12, 1986 to 26 April 1989
- Uli Stielike – June 21, 1989 to November 13, 1991
- Roy Hodgson – January 26, 1992 to November 15, 1995
-
Artur Jorge – March 13, 1996 to June 18, 1996 - Rolf Fringer – August 1, 1996 to October 11, 1997
- Gilbert Gress – March 25, 1998 to October 9, 1999
-
Enzo Trossero – August 16, 2000 to June 6, 2001 - Jakob "Köbi" Kuhn – August 15, 2001 – June 30, 2008
- Ottmar Hitzfeld – July 1, 2008 – July 13, 2014
-
Vladimir Petković – July 13, 2014 –
National Team Results
Recent results and future matches.[7] Blue background colour indicates competitive matches.
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
References
- ↑ FIFA Century Club
- ↑ "Switzerland 0–0 Ukraine (aet)". BBC Sport. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ↑ Doyle, Paul (27 May 2008). "Euro 2008 team preview No1: Switzerland". The Guardian (London).
- ↑ "World Cup 2010: Switzerland Set New Record For Number Of Minutes Without Conceding A Goal". goal.com. 21 June 2010.
- ↑ "FIFA World Cup - Statistics for Switzerland". FIFA.com.
- ↑ "Switzerland – Record International Players". RSSSF.
- ↑ "FIFA.com – Switzerland: Fixtures and Results".
External links
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