Switzerland

Nickname(s) Schweizer Nati Association Swiss Football Association Head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld Captain Alexander Frei Most caps Heinz Hermann (117) Top scorer Alexander Frei (40) FIFA code SUI FIFA ranking 24 Highest FIFA ranking 3 (August 1993) Lowest FIFA ranking 83 (December 1998) Elo ranking 23 Highest Elo ranking 8 (June 1924) Lowest Elo ranking 62 (October 1979) Home colours Away colours First international France 1 - 0 Switzerland (Paris, France; 12 February 1905) Biggest win Switzerland 9 - 0 Lithuania (Paris, France; 25 May 1924) Biggest defeat Hungary 9 - 0 Switzerland (Budapest, Hungary; 29 October 1911) World Cup Appearances 8 (First in 1934) Best result Quarterfinals, 1934, 1938, 1954 European Championship Appearances 3 (First in 1996) Best result Round 1, 1996, 2004 and 2008 Olympic medal record Men’s Football Silver 1924 Paris Team

The Swiss national football team (also known as the Schweizer Nati in German, La Nati in French and Squadra nazionale in Italian) is the national football team of Switzerland and is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. 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. 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. In October 2009, Switzerland booked their place at the 2010 World Cup finals with a goalless draw against Israel at St Jacob stadium in Basel. Recent history Euro 2004 Qualification: Switzerland qualified for the Euro 2004 in Portugal by finishing first in group 10 of the qualifying, ahead of Russia and Ireland. Group stage: 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. Trivia: 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. World Cup 2006 The Swiss line-up against China, just before World Cup 2006 Qualification: 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 in the play-off round 2–0 and 4–2 to qualify for the main tournament. Group stage: 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. Round of 16: 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. Trivia: 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 2 goals.....

Euro 2008 Qualification: Switzerland co-hosted the Euro 2008 together with Austria and was therefore automatically qualified. Group stage: 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. Trivia: 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, they finished first in their group, ahead of Greece, Latvia and Israel. Group stage Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Honduras 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Chile 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Euro 2012 Qualification Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  England 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Bulgaria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Wales 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  Montenegro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   Bulgaria  — 2 Sep '11 7 Sep '10 26 Mar '11 11 Oct '11 England  3 Sep '10 — 12 Oct '10 4 Jun '11 6 Sep '11 Montenegro  4 Jun '11 7 Oct '11 — 8 Oct '10 3 Sep '10 Switzerland  6 Sep '11 7 Sep '10 11 Oct '11 — 12 Oct '10 Wales  8 Oct '10 26 Mar '11 2 Sep '11 7 Oct '11 — 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 record Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA 1930 Did Not Enter - - - - - - - 1934 Quarter-finals 7/16 2 1 0 1 5 5 1938 Quarter-finals 7/15 3 1 1 1 4 6 1950 Round 1 6/13 3 1 1 1 4 6 1954 Quarter-finals 8/16 4 2 0 4 11 11 1958 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1962 Round 1 16/16 3 0 0 3 2 8 1966 Round 1 16/16 3 0 0 3 1 9 1970 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1974 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1978 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1982 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1986 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1990 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 1994 Round 2 16/24 4 1 1 2 5 7 1998 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 2002 Did not Qualify - - - - - - - 2006 Round 2 10/32 4 2 2 0 4 0 2010 Qualified - - - - - - - Total 8/18 26 8 5 13 37 51 European Championship record Year Round GP W D* L GS GA 1960 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1964 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1968 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1972 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1976 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1980 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1984 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1988 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1992 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 1996 Round 1 3 0 1 2 1 4 2000 Did not Qualify - - - - - - 2004 Round 1 3 0 1 2 1 6 2008 Round 1 3 1 0 2 3 3 2012 - - - - - - Total 3/13 9 1 2 6 5 13 *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil. Match kits The Swiss kit consists of two different outfits. The red shirt and white shorts are for home play, and the white shirt and red shorts are for away. The jersey is manufactured by Puma. Current squad The following 23 players have been nominated on 11 May 2010 for the World Cup in South Africa. No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Diego Benaglio September 8, 1983 (1983-09-08) (age 26) 25 0 Wolfsburg 12 GK Marco Wölfli August 22, 1982 (1982-08-22) (age 27) 4 0 Young Boys 21 GK Johnny Leoni June 30, 1984 (1984-06-30) (age 25) 0 0 Zürich 2 DF Stephan Lichtsteiner January 16, 1984 (1984-01-16) (age 26) 26 0 Lazio 3 DF Ludovic Magnin April 20, 1979 (1979-04-20) (age 31) 62 3 Zürich 4 DF Philippe Senderos February 14, 1985 (1985-02-14) (age 25) 38 5 Fulham 5 DF Steve von Bergen June 10, 1983 (1983-06-10) (age 27) 10 0 Hertha BSC 13 DF Stéphane Grichting March 30, 1979 (1979-03-30) (age 31) 33 1 Auxerre 17 DF Reto Ziegler January 16, 1986 (1986-01-16) (age 24) 10 1 Sampdoria 22 DF Mario Eggimann January 24, 1981 (1981-01-24) (age 29) 8 0 Hannover 96 6 MF Benjamin Huggel July 7, 1977 (1977-07-07) (age 32) 36 2 Basel 7 MF Tranquillo Barnetta May 22, 1985 (1985-05-22) (age 25) 50 6 Bayer Leverkusen 8 MF Gökhan Inler June 27, 1984 (1984-06-27) (age 25) 34 2 Udinese 11 MF Valon Behrami April 19, 1985 (1985-04-19) (age 25) 26 2 West Ham United 14 MF Marco Padalino December 8, 1983 (1983-12-08) (age 26) 7 1 Sampdoria 15 MF Hakan Yakin February 22, 1977 (1977-02-22) (age 33) 80 20 Luzern 16 MF Gelson Fernandes September 2, 1986 (1986-09-02) (age 23) 22 1 Saint-Étienne 20 MF Pirmin Schwegler March 9, 1987 (1987-03-09) (age 23) 3 0 Eintracht Frankfurt 23 MF Xherdan Shaqiri October 10, 1991 (1991-10-10) (age 18) 1 0 Basel 9 FW Alexander Frei July 15, 1979 (1979-07-15) (age 30) 73 40 Basel 10 FW Blaise Nkufo May 25, 1975 (1975-05-25) (age 35) 29 7 Seattle Sounders FC 18 FW Albert Bunjaku November 29, 1983 (1983-11-29) (age 26) 2 0 Nürnberg 19 FW Eren Derdiyok June 12, 1988 (1988-06-12) (age 21) 19 2 Bayer Leverkusen Recent call ups No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Eldin Jakupovic October 2, 1984 (1984-10-02) (age 25) 1 0 Lokomotiv Moscow DF Patrick Müller December 17, 1976 (1976-12-17) (age 33) 81 3 Monaco DF Johan Djourou January 18, 1987 (1987-01-18) (age 23) 24 1 Arsenal DF Heinz Barmettler July 21, 1987 (1987-07-21) (age 22) 1 0 Zürich DF Jonathan Rossini April 5, 1989 (1989-04-05) (age 21) 1 0 Sassuolo DF Alain Nef February 6, 1982 (1982-02-06) (age 28) 3 1 Triestina MF Almen Abdi October 21, 1986 (1986-10-21) (age 23) 6 0 Le Mans MF Blerim Džemaili April 12, 1986 (1986-04-12) (age 24) 10 0 Parma MF Valentin Stocker April 12, 1989 (1989-04-12) (age 21) 3 1 Basel MF Johan Vonlanthen February 1, 1986 (1986-02-01) (age 24) 40 7 Zürich MF Alberto Regazzoni April 5, 1983 (1983-04-05) (age 27) 3 0 Young Boys MF Davide Chiumento November 22, 1984 (1984-11-22) (age 25) 1 0 Luzern DF Christoph Spycher March 30, 1978 (1978-03-30) (age 32) 47 0 Young Boys FW Marco Streller June 18, 1981 (1981-06-18) (age 28) 32 11 Basel 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. Norway, 14 November 2009. Most appearances Name Years Caps Heinz Hermann 1978–1991 117 Alain Geiger 1980–1996 112 Stéphane Chapuisat 1989–2004 103 Johann Vogel 1995–2007 94 Patrick Müller 1998–2008 81 Most goals Name Years Goals Alexander Frei 2001–now 40 Kubilay Türkyilmaz 1988–2001 34 Max Abegglen 1922–1937 34 André Abegglen 1927–1943 29 Jacques Fatton 1946–1955 29 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 Hussy - June 22, 1973 to September 8, 1976 Miroslav Blaževic - 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 - Schedule and recent results Recent results and future matches. Blue background color indicates competitive matches. Date Competition Opponent Venue Score Swiss scorers (International goal) Ref 10 October 2009 WC2010-Q  Luxembourg Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg 3 – 0 Senderos (4), Senderos (5), Huggel (2) [1] 14 October 2009 WC2010-Q  Israel St. Jakob-Park, Basel 0 – 0 [2] 14 November 2009 Friendly  Norway Stade de Genève, Geneva 0 – 1 [3] 3 March 2010 Friendly  Uruguay AFG Arena, St. Gallen 1 – 3 Inler (1) [4] 1 June 2010 Friendly  Costa Rica Stade Tourbillon, Sion 0 – 1 [5] 5 June 2010 Friendly  Italy Stade de Genève, Geneva 1 – 1 Inler (2) [6] 16 June 2010 WC2010  Spain M. Mabhida, Durban 21 June 2010 WC2010  Chile N. Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth 25 June 2010 WC2010  Honduras Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein Source : wikipedia