Switzerland national football team
This article is about the Swiss men's national football team. For the women's team, see here.
The Swiss national football team (abbreviated "Nati" [ˈnat͡si], French Équipe de Suisse de football, Italian Nazionale di calcio della Svizzera, Rhaeto-Romanic Squadra naziunala da ballape da la Svizra) is the selection team of the Swiss Football Association (SFV). The A-Team, as it is called by the SFV, represents Switzerland at international level. It has been coached by Vladimir Petković since July 2014.
The Swiss played their first international match in 1905 against France. The A team's greatest success to date was winning the silver medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics, while the greatest success of a junior team was the U-17 World Cup title in 2009. From the 1930s to the 1960s, Austrian Karl Rappan left his mark on Swiss football; he introduced the Swiss bar and coached the team at three World Cups. The 1954 World Cup was held in Switzerland.
The 1960s saw the beginning of an unsuccessful era that lasted almost 30 years. National coach Roy Hodgson brought the team close to the top of the world again, qualifying for the 1994 World Cup and the 1996 European Championship. Under national coach Köbi Kuhn, the Swiss qualified for the 2004 European Championship and the 2006 World Cup. As hosts, they were automatically eligible to take part in the 2008 European Championship together with Austria. Under Ottmar Hitzfeld, Switzerland qualified for the 2010 World Cup and the 2014 World Cup, and under Vladimir Petković for the 2016 European Championship, 2018 World Cup and the 2021 European Championship.
Game Clothes
Classic away jersey
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Classic home jersey |
Since the first international match in 1905, the kit worn by Swiss national team players has remained more or less unchanged. For home matches, it consists of a red jersey, white shorts and red socks. The red colour usually corresponds to that of the Swiss flag. At away matches, the colour scheme is reversed. Occasionally, the team plays entirely in red or white. For three quarters of a century, the jersey featured a distinctive white Swiss cross above the left breast (in a circular red field on the away jersey). Over the years, the size of the cross decreased by about a third. At the beginning of the 1980s, the cross was replaced by the logo of the Football Association. In this, the cross is only partially recognizable. The official team supplier is Puma. Only in a friendly match against Denmark on 4 September 1999 did Switzerland play in blue jerseys, and on 11 October 2006 against Austria in gold-coloured jerseys. More and more often, the jerseys are lavishly designed with many details by the outfitter and the federation. For the 2021 European Football Championship, new away jerseys were designed that feature four rectangular stripes in different colours. The stripes consist of Swiss crosses, which are supposed to stand for the four official languages of Switzerland.
Tournament Participations
The Swiss national team has yet to win a title. The most significant success is winning the silver medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, when they only lost to Uruguay in the final. The best result at world championships is reaching the quarter-finals three times (1934, 1938, 1954). In its first three appearances at European Championship finals (1996, 2004, 2008), Switzerland was eliminated after the group matches, while at the 2016 European Championship in France the team reached the round of 16 for the first time.
In recent times, the juniors in particular have attracted attention with outstanding performances. The U-17 national team was European champion in 2002 and world champion in 2009. The Swiss also qualified for the semi-finals of the U-21 European Championship in 2002, the U-19 European Championship in 2004 and the U-17 European Championship in 2009. The Swiss U-20 team also qualified for the 2005 World Youth Championship.
| Participation in world championships → Main article: Swiss national football team/World Cups | |||||||
| Year | Host | Result | S | U | N | Gates | Article |
| 1934 | Italy | Quarterfinal | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5:5 | Article |
| 1938 | France | Quarterfinal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5:5 | Article |
| 1950 | Brazil | Preliminary round | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4:6 | Article |
| 1954 | Switzerland | Quarterfinal | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11:11 | Article |
| 1962 | Chile | Preliminary round | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2:8 | Article |
| 1966 | England | Preliminary round | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1:9 | Article |
| 1994 | USA | Round of 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5:7 | Article |
| 2006 | Germany | Round of 16 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4:0 | Article |
| 2010 | South Africa | Preliminary round | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1:1 | Article |
| 2014 | Brazil | Round of 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7:7 | Article |
| 2018 | Russia | Round of 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5:5 | Article |
| Participation in European Championships → Main article: Swiss national football team/European championships | |||||||
| Year | Host | Result | S | U | N | Gates | Article |
| 1996 | England | Preliminary round | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1:4 | Article |
| 2004 | Portugal | Preliminary round | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1:6 | Article |
| 2008 | Switzerland and Austria | Preliminary round | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3:3 | Article |
| 2016 | France | Round of 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3:2 | Article |
| 2021 | Europe | qualified | : | Article | |||
| Participation in European Football Cups | ||||||
| Year | Result | S | U | N | Gates | Article |
| 1927–1930 | rank 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 11:28 | - – |
| 1931–1932 | rank 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 16:30 | - – |
| 1933–1935 | rank 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 13:24 | - – |
| 1936–1938 | * | 1 | 1 | 6 | 16:25 | - – |
| 1948–1953 | rank 5 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 12:25 | - – |
| 1955–1960 | Rank 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10:37 | - – |
* Due to the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, the competition was terminated prematurely.
| Participation in Olympic Games | |||||||
| Year | Location | Result | S | U | N | Gates | Article |
| 1924 | Paris | 2nd place (silver medal) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16:6 | Article |
| 1928 | Amsterdam | Preliminary round | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0:4 | Article |
| 2012* | London | Preliminary round | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2:4 | Article |
* Qualification of the U-21 national team
