European Football Championship 2016 / Switzerland

This article covers the Swiss national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France. For Switzerland it was the fourth participation in a European Championship finals.

qualification

Xherdan Shaqiri , Swiss top scorer in qualifying

The Switzerland completed the qualification for the European Championship in Group E . After the 2014 World Cup, in which Switzerland was eliminated in the round of 16 and Ottmar Hitzfeld's tenure as national coach ended, she met England in the first qualifying game under new national coach Vladimir Petković and lost 2-0. The English were the only team to win all games and become group winners. The Swiss also lost the second game, but then secured second place with seven wins and only one defeat in England and thus directly qualified for the European Championship finals. The Slovenes failed as group third in the play-offs against the Ukraine.

In total, Petković used 32 players, but none in all 10 games. Josip Drmic and Xherdan Shaqiri , who was also the Swiss top scorer with four goals, were missing only once . A total of 14 players entered the list of goalscorers. The Swiss also benefited from two own goals. In the first game against San Marino a newcomer came with Silvan Widmer , in the following game against Lithuania with François Moubandje and Marco Schönbächler two more newcomers and in the second game against San Marino with Luca Zuffi and Renato Steffen two more newcomers came to their first international appearances.

Games

All results from a Swiss perspective

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
09/08/2014	St. Jakob-Park , Basel	England	0: 2 (0: 1)	0: 1, 0: 2 Danny Welbeck (58th, 90th + 4 ′)
09/10/2014	Ljudski vrt , Maribor ( SVN )	Slovenia	0: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Milivoje Novakovič (79th / penalty)
14/10/2014	Stadio Olimpico , Serravalle ( SMR )	San Marino	4: 0 (3: 0)	1-0, 2-0 Haris Seferović (10th, 23rd), 3-0 Blerim Džemaili (30th), 4-0 Xherdan Shaqiri (79th)
11/15/2014	AFG Arena , St. Gallen	Lithuania	4: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Giedrius Arlauskis (66th / own goal), 2-0 Fabian Schär (68th), 3-0, 4-0 Xherdan Shaqiri (80th, 90th)
03/27/2015	Swissporarena , Lucerne	Estonia	3: 0 (2: 0)	1-0 Fabian Schär (17th), 2-0 Granit Xhaka (27th), 3-0 Haris Seferović (80th)
06/14/2015	LFF Stadium , Vilnius ( LTU )	Lithuania	2: 1 (0: 0)	0: 1 Fiodor Černych (64th), 1: 1 Josip Drmić (69th), 2: 1 Xherdan Shaqiri (84th)
05.09.2015	St. Jakob-Park , Basel	Slovenia	3: 2 (0: 1)	0: 1 Milivoje Novakovič (45th), 0: 2 Boštjan Cesar (48th), 1: 2 Josip Drmić (80th), 2: 2 Valentin Stocker (84th), 3: 2 Josip Drmić (90th + 4th) ′)
09/08/2015	Wembley Stadium , London ( ENG )	England	0: 2 (0: 0)	0-1 Harry Kane (67th), 0-2 Wayne Rooney (84th / penalty)
09/10/2015	AFG Arena , St. Gallen	San Marino	7: 0 (1: 0)	1-0 Michael Lang (17th), 2-0 Gökhan Inler (55th / penalty), 3-0 Admir Mehmedi (65th), 4-0 Johan Djourou (72nd / penalty), 5-0 Pajtim Kasami ( 75th), 6-0 Breel Embolo (80th / penalty), 7-0 Eren Derdiyok (89th)
October 12, 2015	A. Le Coq Arena , Tallinn ( EST )	Estonia	1: 0 (0: 0)	1-0 Ragnar Klavan (90 + 4 ′ / own goal)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	England	10	10	0	0	031: 300	+28	30th
2.	Switzerland	10	7th	0	3	024: 800	+16	21st
3.	Slovenia	10	5	1	4th	018:110	+7	16
4th	Estonia	10	3	1	6th	004: 900	−5	10
5.	Lithuania	10	3	1	6th	007:180	−11	10
6th	San Marino	10	0	1	9	001:360	−35	01

preparation

After the end of the qualification, the Swiss played two friendly matches on November 13th and 17th, the first of which was lost 3-2 to European Championship participants Slovakia and the second was won 2-1 against Austria , another European Championship participant . On March 25, 2016, they lost 2-1 to EM participants Ireland in Dublin , with Shani Tarashaj coming on as a newcomer. On March 29th, Bosnia-Herzegovina , which missed the European Championship finals in the play-offs against Ireland, will be the next opponent in Zurich . The immediate preparations for the European Championship will take place in Ticino , where the team will move into the Hotel Villa Sassa in Lugano from May 22nd to June 3rd and train in the Stadio di Cornaredo from May 23rd . On May 28, a friendly against Belgium , the top European team in the FIFA world rankings , was lost 2-1 in Geneva and won 2-1 in Lugano on June 3 against Moldova . On June 6th, the trip to Montpellier will follow , where Switzerland will be staying at the Vichy Spa Hotel. The training ground will be the Stade de la Mosson .

Squad

A preliminary squad of 28 players named on 18 May 2016 with coach Vladimir Petković on Gökhan Inler abandoned due to lack of match practice. Players from 19 clubs were nominated, most (3) from Borussia Mönchengladbach . The largest contingent played in the German Bundesliga (11 players).

After Renato Steffen injured himself in a league game on May 22, 2016 and was unable to play for the European Championship, the roster was reduced to 23 players on May 30, 2016.

No.	position	Surname	society	birth date	NM Sp.	NM gates	debut
21st	goalkeeper	Roman Bürki	Borussia Dortmund	Nov 14, 1990	5	0	2014
12	goalkeeper	Marwin Hitz	FC Augsburg	Sep 18 1987	2	0	2015
01	goalkeeper	Yann summer	Borussia Monchengladbach	Dec 17, 1988	19th	0	2012	4th
05	Defense	Steve from Bergen	BSC Young Boys	June 10, 1983	50	0	2006
20th	Defense	Johan Djourou	Hamburger SV	Jan. 18, 1987	61	2	2006	4th		1
04th	Defense	Nico Elvedi	Borussia Monchengladbach	Sep 30 1996	1	0	2016
06th	Defense	Michael Lang	FC Basel	0Feb 8, 1991	17th	2	2013	2
02	Defense	Stephan Lichtsteiner	Juventus Turin	Jan. 16, 1984	81	5	2006	4th
03	Defense	François Moubandje	Toulouse FC	June 21, 1990	11	0	2014
13	Defense	Ricardo Rodríguez	VfL Wolfsburg	Aug 25, 1992	38	0	2011	4th
22nd	Defense	Fabian Schär	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	Dec 20, 1991	20th	5	2013	3	1	2
11	midfield	Valon Behrami	Watford FC	Apr 19, 1985	67	2	2005	4th		1
15th	midfield	Blerim Džemaili	CFC genoa	Apr 12, 1986	49	6th	2006	4th
16	midfield	Gelson Fernandes	Rennes stadium	0Sep 2 1986	56	2	2007	3
08th	midfield	Fabian Frei	1. FSV Mainz 05	0Jan. 8, 1989	9	1	2011	1
23	midfield	Xherdan Shaqiri	Stoke City	Oct 10, 1991	54	17th	2010	4th	1
17th	midfield	Shani Tarashaj	Grasshoppers Zurich	0Feb 7, 1995	4th	0	2016	1
10	midfield	Granite Xhaka	Borussia Monchengladbach	27 Sep 1992	44	6th	2011	4th		1
14th	midfield	Denis Zakaria	BSC Young Boys	Nov 20, 1996	2	0	2016
19th	attack	Eren Derdiyok	Kasımpaşa Istanbul	June 12, 1988	52	10	2008	1
07th	attack	Breel Embolo	FC Basel	Feb 14, 1997	11	1	2015	4th
18th	attack	Admir Mehmedi	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	16. Mar. 1991	43	4th	2011	4th	1
09	attack	Haris Seferović	Eintracht Frankfurt	Feb 22, 1992	31	7th	2013	4th

Coach: Vladimir Petković

Players who were only in the preliminary roster

After Renato Steffen was injured, four other players were canceled on May 30, 2016.

position	Surname	society	Date of birth	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut	Last use	EM games
goalkeeper	Yvon Mvogo	BSC Young Boys	0June 6, 1994	0	0
Defense	Philippe Senderos	Grasshoppers Zurich	Feb. 14, 1985	57	5	2005	May 28, 2016	3 (2008)
Defense	Silvan Widmer	Udinese Calcio	05th Mar 1993	7th	0	2014	May 28, 2016
midfield	Renato Steffen	FC Basel	0Nov 3, 1991	4th	0	2015	29 Mar 2016
midfield	Luca Zuffi	FC Basel	27 Mar 1990	4th	0	2015	29 Mar 2016

Remarks:

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} as of June 25, 2016

Finals

Lens Paris Lille Montpellier Lugano Saint-Etienne (AF)

Venues (green = won, yellow = draw, black = not yet played), quarters (blue), preparatory training camp (pink)

At the draw for the six final groups on December 12, 2015, Switzerland was placed in Pot 2. Switzerland was drawn to group A with hosts France, Romania and Albania. Before that, Albania had five wins and one draw in six games - all in competitive games (qualifications for the 1966 and 2014 World Cups and the 2004 European Championship). The 1-0 win against Albania saw the first brother duel in a European Championship finals between Taulant Xhaka, who plays for Albania, and his brother Granit, who plays for Switzerland . Against France, on the other hand, the record was negative in 37 games before the European Championship: 12 wins, nine draws and 16 defeats, most recently with 2: 5 at the 2014 World Cup in the group stage. The balance could not be improved in the last group game, which ended goalless. Against Romania, the record at the European Championship could not have been equalized: In 12 games there were previously four wins, three draws and five defeats, but now there was only one further draw.

With the opening win against Albania and the two subsequent draws, the Swiss runners-up and thus survived the group stage of a European Championship finals for the first time. In the last sixteen they met Poland, the runner-up in Group C. So far, in ten games between the two of them, there has only been one Swiss win in May 1976, five games ended in a draw and four were lost. The last encounter between the two in November 2014 ended 2-2 and although a friendly game with six yellow cards and one yellow-red card . The Swiss fell behind in the 39th minute due to Jakub Błaszczykowski's second goal . In the second half they largely dominated the game and had several chances to score. But it was only in the 82nd minute that Xherdan Shaqiri was able to equalize with a mixture of lateral and overhead kicks. After that, the game shares were a bit more distributed again, but neither team managed to score a goal in the rest of the regular time or in extra time. In the subsequent penalty shootout, only Granit Xhaka missed , who shot far past the goal. All other Swiss and Poles turned safely and left the two goalkeepers no chance. After the 2006 World Cup, the Swiss were eliminated for the second time in the round of 16 through a penalty shoot-out and, as they were then, unbeaten.

Switzerland was able to gain points in the FIFA world rankings thanks to the European Championship games , but lost three places as other teams gained more points. Shaqiri's goal against Poland was then voted Goal of the Month in Germany for June and received more than 50% of the vote.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	France	3	2	1	0	004: 100	+3	07th
2.	Switzerland	3	1	2	0	002: 100	+1	05
3.	Albania	3	1	0	2	001: 300	−2	03
4th	Romania	3	0	1	2	002: 400	−2	01

Sat., June 11, 2016 at 3 p.m. in Lens
Albania	-	Switzerland	0: 1 (0: 1)
Wed., June 15, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Paris
Romania	-	Switzerland	1: 1 (1: 0)
19 June 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Villeneuve-d'Ascq (Lille)
Switzerland	-	France	0-0

Round of 16

Saturday 25 June 2016 at 3:00 p.m. in Saint-Étienne
Switzerland	-	Poland	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 1), 4: 5 in E.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ San Marino - Switzerland 0: 4
2. ↑ Switzerland - Lithuania 4: 0
3. ↑ Switzerland - San Marino 7: 0
4. ↑ Questions and answers on Swiss participation in the European Championship
5. ↑ "Petkovic plans EURO without Inler"
6. ↑ "Torn muscle fiber: Renato Steffen is injured"
7. ↑ "Petkovic's 23-player squad is up"
8. ↑ "Granit Xhaka plays against his brother" , fifa.com
9. ^ Balance sheet Switzerland - Poland
10. ↑ Poland - Switzerland 2: 2
11. ↑ sportschau.de: "Shaqiri scores goal of the month June"