Switzerland national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  The Switzerland national football team's greatest result in any official competition arrived in defeat. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, they reached the final and lost 3-0 to Uruguay, earning a silver medal. That finish has stood as the pinnacle of Swiss football for a century.

  The team represents a nation with four official languages and is administered by the Swiss Football Association. Its history crosses a hundred years of World Cup and European Championship competition. What drove this program and which players carried it are the first questions. How Switzerland eventually reached the later rounds of major tournaments is the answer this documentary builds toward.

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• 2. Records in Both Directions

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  On the 22nd of July 1946, in Luxembourg City, Switzerland was awarded the right to host the 1954 World Cup without any competing bid. When the tournament arrived, the Swiss finished second in their group behind England and qualified for the quarter-finals through a play-off win against Italy. There, they faced Austria and lost 7-5. That scoreline still stands as the highest-scoring match in World Cup history.

  At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Switzerland set a record that ran in the opposite direction. They held former world champions France to a 0-0 draw, then beat Togo 2-0 and defeated South Korea 2-0 to win the group. In the round of sixteen, Switzerland faced Ukraine, played out ninety goalless minutes, and lost on a penalty shootout. They were eliminated without having conceded a single goal, a feat no other team in World Cup history had managed. Critics described the match against Ukraine as the worst game the tournament had ever produced.

  In 2010, Switzerland opened the South Africa World Cup with a 1-0 win over eventual champions Spain. Gelson Fernandes scored the goal. When Chile's Mark Gonzalez scored in the 75th minute of their second group game, it ended a long streak. Switzerland had gone 559 consecutive minutes in World Cup play without conceding, beating the previous record held by Italy by nine minutes. Switzerland still did not advance past the group stage. Four years later, in Brazil, Angel Di Maria scored in the 118th minute against Switzerland, ending their 2014 World Cup campaign in the round of sixteen.

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• 3. The Hodgson Years

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  In 1992, Switzerland appointed English manager Roy Hodgson as head coach. The Swiss had not qualified for any major tournament since 1966. By August 1993, the transformation was visible. Switzerland had climbed to 3rd in the FIFA World Rankings, a position that remains their highest ever.

  Hodgson's qualifying campaign for the 1994 World Cup placed Switzerland in a group with Italy, Portugal, and Scotland. Against Italy, they won at home and led 2-0 in the away match before settling for a 2-2 draw. From Scotland, they collected four points, winning 3-1 at home and drawing 1-1 away. Their only defeat came in Porto, where they lost 1-0 to Portugal. Switzerland qualified for the tournament having lost just one game.

  On the 18th of June 1994, Switzerland opened the World Cup against hosts United States inside the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, an indoor arena. The match ended 1-1. They beat Romania 4-1 next. A 2-0 loss to Colombia in their final group game still left them qualified. Spain eliminated them 3-0 in the round of sixteen. Hodgson left after the tournament. Switzerland would not qualify for another World Cup until 2006.

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• 4. The Double-Headed Eagle

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  Xherdan Shaqiri's winning goal against Serbia gave Switzerland a 2-1 victory in their 2018 World Cup group match. The result mattered. But the celebrations that followed the goalscorers mattered more.

  Both Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka were of Albanian descent. After each scored, they crossed their hands to form the silhouette of a double-headed eagle, the official emblem of Albania. Stephan Lichtsteiner also performed the gesture. Many observers read the display as an Albanian nationalist symbol, and it spread widely in international media. FIFA examined the incident and decided not to ban any of the three players.

  Switzerland's route to that match had begun with a 1-1 draw against Brazil in their group opener. After the Serbia win, they drew 2-2 with Costa Rica in the final group game, with goals from Blerim Dzemaili and Josip Drmic. Switzerland finished second in Group E before Sweden eliminated them 1-0 in the round of sixteen.

  Before the tournament, Switzerland had been ranked 6th in the FIFA World Rankings, higher than eventual World Cup winners France. France would go on to lift the trophy.

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• 5. The Record Holders

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  Alexander Frei retired from international football in 2011 as Switzerland's all-time leading scorer, with 42 goals in 84 appearances. His tally remains the benchmark against which Swiss strikers are measured.

  Close behind Frei sit two players tied on 34 goals: Kubilay Turkyilmaz, who played 64 times for Switzerland, and Max Abegglen with 68 appearances. Turkyilmaz played between 1988 and 2001; Abegglen's career ran from 1922 to 1937. Xherdan Shaqiri scored 32 goals across 125 appearances between 2010 and 2024, placing him fourth on the all-time list.

  Granit Xhaka leads the appearances table with 145 caps and has been part of the squad since 2011. Ricardo Rodriguez, with 137 caps across the same era, ranks second. Yann Sommer accumulated 94 caps in goal. Haris Seferovic closed his international career in 2023 with 25 goals from 93 appearances. Breel Embolo has scored 24 goals across 86 appearances and remains active with the national team.

  One of the more striking individual records belongs to Johan Vonlanthen. At UEFA Euro 2004, he scored against France to become the youngest goalscorer in European Championship history. He surpassed a record set four days earlier by England's Wayne Rooney, beating Rooney's mark by three months in age. It was Switzerland's only goal of that tournament; they finished bottom of a group containing France, England, and Croatia.

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• 6. The Knockout Years

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  UEFA Euro 2020 was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Switzerland had finished third in Group A, behind Italy, Wales, and Turkey, but advanced to the knockout round as one of the best third-placed teams. Their round-of-sixteen opponent was France, the reigning World Cup holders.

  Switzerland trailed 1-3 in the second half. They scored twice to level at 3-3 and won the penalty shootout that followed. It was Switzerland's first knockout-stage victory in a major tournament since the 1938 World Cup, more than eighty years earlier. The quarter-final against Spain followed a similar trajectory. Switzerland equalized after going behind, forced a penalty shootout, and were eliminated after converting only one of four spot-kicks.

  At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Switzerland qualified from their group before losing 6-1 to Portugal in the round of sixteen. Euro 2024 returned them to better fortune. In the round of sixteen, Switzerland beat Italy, the defending European champions, and reached the quarter-finals. It was the second time they had gone that deep in European Championship history. The first had come at Euro 2020.

  A squad of 26 players was named for pre-tournament friendlies against Jordan on the 31st of May and Australia on the 6th of June 2026. Head coach Murat Yakin, who took charge on the 9th of August 2021, will lead the side into the 2026 World Cup.

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