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 2002 U-17 European Championship was won by the Nati.
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. [1]
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.[2]
[edit] Recent history
[edit] 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.[3]
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] World Cup 2010
Qualifying Group 2
| | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |  Switzerland | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 21 |  Greece | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 10 | +10 | 20 |  Latvia | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 15 | +3 | 17 |  Israel | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 10 | +10 | 16 |  Luxembourg | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 25 | −21 | 5 |  Moldova | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 18 | −12 | 3 | | |
[edit] 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 (1934,1938,1954). They gained a silver medal in the 1924 Olympic games in Paris. The U-17-squad became European champions in 2002, with a 4–2 win after a penalty shootout against France . Furthermore, Switzerland qualified for the semi-finals of the U-21-Euro 2002.
| 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 | | | 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Current Squad
The following players have been selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Israel on the 10 and 14 of October 2009, respectively.
| No. | Pos. | Player | DoB (Age) | Caps | Goals | Club | | 1 | GK | Diego Benaglio | September 8, 1983 (1983-09-08) (age 26) | 23 | 0 | Wolfsburg | | 2 | DF | Stephan Lichtsteiner | January 16, 1984 (1984-01-16) (age 25) | 22 | 0 | Lazio | | 3 | DF | Reto Ziegler | January 16, 1986 (1986-01-16) (age 23) | 7 | 1 | Sampdoria | | 4 | DF | Philippe Senderos | February 14, 1985 (1985-02-14) (age 24) | 35 | 3 | Arsenal | | 5 | DF | Steve von Bergen | June 10, 1983 (1983-06-10) (age 26) | 7 | 0 | Hertha BSC | | 6 | MF | Benjamin Huggel | July 7, 1977 (1977-07-07) (age 32) | 34 | 1 | Basel | | 7 | MF | Tranquillo Barnetta | May 22, 1985 (1985-05-22) (age 24) | 46 | 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | | 8 | MF | Gökhan Inler | June 27, 1984 (1984-06-27) (age 25) | 30 | 1 | Udinese | | 9 | FW | Alexander Frei | July 15, 1979 (1979-07-15) (age 30) | 70 | 40 | Basel | | 10 | FW | Blaise Nkufo | May 25, 1975 (1975-05-25) (age 34) | 27 | 7 | Twente | | 11 | MF | Johan Vonlanthen | February 1, 1986 (1986-02-01) (age 23) | 39 | 7 | Zürich | | 12 | GK | Marco Wölfli | August 22, 1982 (1982-08-22) (age 27) | 2 | 0 | Young Boys | | 13 | DF | Heinz Barmettler | July 21, 1987 (1987-07-21) (age 22) | 0 | 0 | Zürich | | 14 | MF | Marco Padalino | December 8, 1983 (1983-12-08) (age 25) | 6 | 1 | Sampdoria | | 15 | MF | Hakan Yakin | February 22, 1977 (1977-02-22) (age 32) | 79 | 20 | Luzern | | 16 | MF | Gelson Fernandes | September 2, 1986 (1986-09-02) (age 23) | 20 | 1 | Saint-Étienne | | 17 | DF | Christoph Spycher | March 30, 1978 (1978-03-30) (age 31) | 44 | 0 | Eintracht Frankfurt | | 18 | FW | Eren Derdiyok | June 12, 1988 (1988-06-12) (age 21) | 15 | 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | | — | GK | Johnny Leoni | June 30, 1984 (1984-06-30) (age 25) | 0 | 0 | Zürich | | — | DF | Stéphane Grichting | March 30, 1979 (1979-03-30) (age 30) | 31 | 1 | Auxerre | | — | MF | Pirmin Schwegler | March 9, 1987 (1987-03-09) (age 22) | 1 | 0 | Eintracht Frankfurt | |
[edit] Recent call ups
| No. | Pos. | Player | DoB (Age) | Caps | Goals | Club | | — | GK | Eldin Jakupović | October 2, 1984 (1984-10-02) (age 25) | 1 | 0 |  Lokomotiv Moscow | | — | DF | Patrick Müller | December 17, 1976 (1976-12-17) (age 32) | 81 | 3 | Monaco | | — | DF | Johan Djourou | January 18, 1987 (1987-01-18) (age 22) | 24 | 1 | Arsenal | | — | DF | Mario Eggimann | January 24, 1981 (1981-01-24) (age 28) | 8 | 0 | Hannover 96 | | — | DF | Ludovic Magnin | April 20, 1979 (1979-04-20) (age 30) | 61 | 3 | Stuttgart | | — | DF | Alain Nef | February 6, 1982 (1982-02-06) (age 27) | 3 | 1 | Triestina | | — | MF | Valon Behrami | April 19, 1985 (1985-04-19) (age 24) | 24 | 2 | West Ham United | | — | MF | Blerim Džemaili | April 12, 1986 (1986-04-12) (age 23) | 10 | 0 | Parma | | — | MF | Almen Abdi | October 21, 1986 (1986-10-21) (age 23) | 6 | 0 | Zürich | | — | MF | Valentin Stocker | April 12, 1989 (1989-04-12) (age 20) | 3 | 1 | Basel | | — | MF | Alberto Regazzoni | April 5, 1983 (1983-04-05) (age 26) | 3 | 0 | Young Boys | | — | FW | Marco Streller | June 18, 1981 (1981-06-18) (age 28) | 30 | 11 | Basel | | — | FW | Albert Bunjaku | November 29, 1983 (1983-11-29) (age 26) | 1 | 0 | Nürnberg | |
[edit] 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 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 -
[edit] External links
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| 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists | | | Champions | | | | Runners-up | | | | Third place | | | | Fourth place | | | | Eliminated in quarter-finals | | | | Eliminated in round of 16 | | | | Eliminated in group stage | | |
| UEFA Euro 2008 finalists | | | Champions | | | | Runners-up | | | | Eliminated in semi-finals | | | | Eliminated in quarter-finals | | | | Eliminated in group stage | | |
