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 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and the 2009 FIFA 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 round of 16, by failing to score a single penalty - becoming the first national team in Cup history to do this. They would not concede a goal until their second group stage match in the 2010 World Cup, conceding a goal in the 74th minute to 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 progress past the group stage.
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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 to finish last in Group B.
Johann Vonlanthen became the youngest scorer ever in the Euro championships when he equalised against France, breaking the record (set only four days earlier by Wayne Rooney) by three months.
World Cup 2006
The 2006 World Cup in Germany was the first World Cup for Switzerland since 1994. After finishing second behind France in qualifying Group 4, they defeated Turkey on the away goals rule 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 in Stuttgart, a 0-0 draw. After defeating Togo 2-0 in Dortmund and South Korea also 2-0 in Hannover, they finished first in Group G to qualify for the knockout stage. There, they faced Ukraine in Cologne, with the match having to be decided via a penalty shootout after 120 scoreless minutes were played; Ukraine won 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 a team lost on penalties without scoring a single goal in the penalties, and also the first time in World Cup history a team left the tournament without conceding a goal.
Euro 2008
Switzerland co-hosted the Euro 2008 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 match. All three Switzerland goals in the tournament 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.
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 Schweizer Nati opened their campaign in the Brazilian capital of Brasília on 15 June against Ecuador, in the team's first ever meeting. At a goal apiece after an evenly fought game, the Swiss hit their opponents with a swift counter attack, with full back Ricardo Rodríguez capping off an incredible performance with a low cross across the box to striker Haris Seferovi? who fired the ball into the top corner, earning a valuable three points for the team in the dying minutes.
They then moved on to the toughest match of their group, against France in Salvador. Unfortunately, it was a painful game, going down 5-0. Although Blerim D?emaili and Granit Xhaka pulled two goals back, the result would end 5-2 to the French, meaning Switzerland's final match would decide their fate in the World Cup.
Going to Manaus knowing that only a win would secure their place in the last 16, they faced Honduras. They eventually qualified courtesy of a beautiful hat-trick from Xherdan Shaqiri, which was the World Cup's 50th hat-trick and only the second one from a Swiss at the finals, following legend Josef Hügi from the 1954 World Cup.
Finishing second in the group behind the French, Switzerland earned a match against Argentina. The Nati managed to keep them out for almost two hours of football, but a goal from Ángel Di María in extra time, just two minutes from penalties, sealed the fate of the Swiss. A heartbreaking end to their tournament, it was head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld's last match in charge, as he retired after the tournament.
Euro 2016
Switzerland was drawn in qualifying Group G and booked its berth at Euro 2016 with a 7-0 win over San Marino on 9 October 2015. They started Group A with a 1-0 win over European Championship debutants Albania at Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens. There was also much 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 two brothers representing two 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. Goalkeeper Yann Sommer also received a lot of praise from the Swiss fans, after an incredible save from a one-one-one with Albanian midfielder Shkelzen Gashi in the game's late stages, pushing the ball to safety over the bar.
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 from 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 Puma-made shirts of Breel Embolo, Admir Mehmedi and Granit Xhaka (twice for the latter) all ripped, with Valon Behrami also bursting the match ball when he went in to tackle Antoine Griezmann. After the match, Xherdan Shaqiri went on to jokingly say, "I hope Puma does not produce condoms."
In the knockout stages, the Swiss played Group B runners-up Poland in Saint-Étienne. Jakub B?aszczykowski opened the scoring for Poland only for Shaqiri, in the dying moments of the match, to score arguably the best goal of the tournament with a bicycle kick to take the match to extra time. It eventually went to a penalty shoot-out after a goalless extra time period, 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 memorable yet heartbreaking tournament for La Nati.
Competitive record
Switzerland is 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 under-17 squad became European champions in 2002 and World champions in 2009, while the under-21 squad qualified for the semi-finals of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
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. Ever since the team was established in 1895, they have always had the same colour code for both Home and Away kits, keeping it as tradition and homage to the national colours derived from the flag. The uniform is manufactured by Puma until the end of 2017-18 season.
Historical kits
Current squad
The following players have been called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification games against Hungary on 7 October and Portugal on 10 October, 2017.
Caps and goals updated on 10 October 2017 after the match against Portugal.
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.
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 Portugal, 10 October 2017.
Coaches
National team results
Recent results and future matches. 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
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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