Switzerland National Football Team in the FIFA World Cup

Map showing the journey of Switzerland national football team in FIFA world cups.



Switzerland Football History

Governed by the Swiss Football Association, the Swiss national football team made its FIFA World Cup debut in the second FIFA World Cup of 1934 held in Italy. Its ASF-SFV logo is an abbreviation of (ASF) Association Suisse de Football in French and Associazione Svizzera di Football in Italian and SFV is for Schweizerischer Fussballverband in German. Popularly known as Schweizer Nati, La Nati and Squadra nazionale in German, French, and Italian languages respectively, the national team hasn’t tasted any big success in their soccer playing career over a span of 80 years.

Despite their good show in not conceding any goal in the 2006 World Cup, the team was eliminated from the tournament after they lost 3-0 to Ukraine in a penalty shootout. It holds the record of being the only soccer team in the history of FIFA to have been eliminated without granting any goal. Another interesting record of the Swiss football team is of holding the opposition’s goal for 559 minutes in the World Cup. They started in the 2006 World Cup and never conceded any goal until the 2010 World Cup match against Chile that halted their goalless streak.

Switzerland’s Success Story

When we talk about Switzerland’s national football team’s success, the 1924 Olympic Games’ silver medal has to be mentioned, which they earned while facing a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Uruguay. They entered the quarterfinals three times in the 1934, 1938, and 1954 FIFA World Cups but never went ahead to bag the title. Their recent years’ performance has been impressive, with the team reaching round 1 of the European Championships of 1996, 2004, and 2008. The Swiss national team has qualified for the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and it would be interesting to see how this “defensive strategy” team fares in the tournament. This will be their 10th appearance in all the FIFA World Cups.

Switzerland squad
Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/GER)
Roman Buerki (Grasshopper)
Yann Sommer (Basel)
Defenders: Johan Djourou (Hamburg/GER)
Michael Lang (Grasshopper)
Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus/ITA)
Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg)
Fabian Schaer (Basel)
Philippe Senderos (Valencia/ESP)
Steve von Bergen (Young Boys)
Reto Ziegler (Sassuolo/ITA)
Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER)
Valon Behrami (Napoli)
Blerim Dzemaili (Napoli)
Gelson Fernandes (Freiburg/GER)
Goekhan Inler (Napoli)
Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich/GER)
Valentin Stocker (Basel)
Forwards: Josip Drmic (Nurnberg/GER)
Mario Gavranovic (Zurich)
Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg)
Haris Seferovic (Real Sociedad/ESP)
Granit Xhaka (Borussia Moenchengladbach/GER)
On standby
Goalkeeper: Marwin Hitz (Augsburg/GER)
Defenders: Timm Klose (Wolfsburg)
Silvan Widmer (Udinese/ITA)
Midfielders and forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen/GER)
Fabian Frei (Basel)
Pajtim Kasami (Fulham/ENG)
Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt)

 

 

 

Switzerland’s performance in all FIFA World Cups:

 

World Cup Year World Cup Hosting Nation FIFA Qualification Quarter Final Birth Semi Final Birth Third Place Secured Reached Final Title Won
2010 South Africa Yes No
2006 Germany Yes No
2002 South Korea No
1998 France No
1994 United States Yes No
1990 Italy No
1986 Mexico No
1982 Spain No
1978 Argentina No
1974 West Germany No
1970 Mexico No
1966 England Yes No
1962 Chile Yes No
1958 Sweden No
1954 Switzerland Yes Yes No
1950 Brazil Yes No
1938 France Yes Yes No
1934 Italy Yes Yes No
1930 Uruguay Did Not Play
Total 19 World Cups 9 3 0 0 0

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