Swiss national football team / world championships

Switzerland
Suisse ( French )
Svizzera ( Italian )

World Cup record goalscorer:	Josef Hügi (6)
World Cup record players:	Valon Behrami and Stephan Lichtsteiner (10 each)
Rank :	18th
Organizer:	1954
Balance sheet
37 World Cup games 12 wins 8 draws 17 losses 50:64 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Switzerland 3-2 Netherlands Milan ( ITA ); May 27, 1934
Biggest World Cup victories Switzerland 4: 1 Italy Basel ( CHE ); June 23, 1954 Switzerland 4: 1 Romania Detroit ( USA ); June 22, 1994
Biggest World Cup defeat Switzerland 0: 5 BR Germany Sheffield ( ENG ); July 12, 1966
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	11 ( first : 1934 )
Best results	Quarterfinals (1934, 1938, 1954)
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 3, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Swiss national soccer team at soccer world championships . In 2018, Switzerland took part in a World Cup for the 11th time. In the all-time ranking, Switzerland ranks 18th.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	Quarter finals	Czechoslovakia	7th	Heinrich Muller	Out against the later vice world champion.
1938	France	Quarter finals	Hungary	7th	Karl Rappan	Failed again because of the later vice world champion.
1950	Brazil	Preliminary round	Yugoslavia , Brazil , Mexico	6th	Franco Andreoli
1954	Switzerland	Quarter finals	Austria	8th.	Karl Rappan	Heat battle of Lausanne
1958	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification of Scotland failed.
1962	Chile	Preliminary round	Germany , Italy , Chile	16.	Karl Rappan
1966	England	Preliminary round	Germany , Spain , Argentina	16.	Alfredo Foni
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Romania failed.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of Italy failed.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification of Sweden failed.
1982	Spain	not qualified				In qualifying at Hungary and England failed.
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark and the Soviet Union failed.
1990	Italy	not qualified				Failed in the qualification because of the Belgian and Czechoslovaks who were equal in points and goals .
1994	United States	Round of 16	Spain	15th	Roy Hodgson
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Norway and Hungary failed, which failed in the playoffs.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification of Russia and Slovenia failed.
2006	Germany	Round of 16	Ukraine	10.	Jakob Kuhn	0-3 defeat on penalties
2010	South Africa	Preliminary round	Spain , Chile , Honduras	19th	Ottmar Hitzfeld	The only team that could win against the eventual world champion.
2014	Brazil	Round of 16	Argentina	11.	Ottmar Hitzfeld	Defeat in extra time.
2018	Russia	Round of 16	Sweden	14th	Vladimir Petkovic	In the qualification , Switzerland finished second in a group with Portugal , Hungary , the Faroe Islands , Latvia and Andorra and prevailed against Northern Ireland in the play-offs of the group runners-up .

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Participation waiver: 1 × (5%; 1930)
• Unqualified: 9 × (45%; 1958, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998 and 2002)
• Athletic qualification: 9 × (43% or 47% of the attempts)
• Participated without qualification (through automatic qualification as host or because the opponent waived): 2 × (10%; 1950 and 1954)
  • Preliminary round: 4 × (19%; 1950, 1962, 1966 and 2010)
  • Round of 16: 4 × (19%; 1994, 2006, 2014 and 2018)
  • Quarter-finals: 3 × (14%; 1934, 1938 and 1954)

Most frequent last opponent: Argentina (2 ×)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

Switzerland did not take part in the first World Cup.

1934 in Italy

Scene from the first World Cup game against the Dutch

While no qualifying games were necessary for 1930 and FIFA was happy that 13 participants were found, four years later all participating teams had to qualify because more teams from Europe alone had registered than there were starting places. Switzerland had to compete against the two World Cup participants from 1930 Romania and Yugoslavia , each team having a home and an away game and the two best teams being allowed to drive to the World Cup. In their first World Cup qualifier on September 24, 1933, the Swiss achieved a 2-2 win against Yugoslavia after a 2-2 deficit in Belgrade . Alessandro Frigerio scored the first World Cup qualifying goal for Switzerland. The home game against Romania also ended 2-2. However, since the Romanians had used a player who was not eligible to play, the result was subsequently scored at the Green Table with 2-0 goals and 2-0 points for the Confederates. This made the Swiss group winners ahead of Romania, which won against Yugoslavia. Both drove it to the World Cup.

In Italy, the Swiss met the Netherlands in their first World Cup game and won 3-2. Leopold Kielholz scored the first World Cup goal for Switzerland with a 1-0 win and also the 2-1 in the meantime. They then met Czechoslovakia in the quarter-finals . Kielholz scored the 1-0 again, but this time the Czechoslovaks were 3-2 ahead. They then also reached the final, in which they were defeated by host Italy and became vice world champions.

1938 in France

For the first World Cup in neighboring France , Switzerland had to qualify against Portugal . Both agreed on a game on a neutral pitch, which Switzerland won 2-1 in Milan .

In France, the Swiss met Germany , which after the annexation of Austria started with a team in which five Viennese players played and which did not harmonize. The German team took a 1-0 lead after 29 minutes, but Switzerland equalized in the 43rd minute. It stayed that way until the 120th minute of the game, although the Swiss played in the majority for the last 24 minutes after Johann Pesser was sent off for a revenge foul. Since there was still no penalty shoot-out , a replay took place five days later. Although the Swiss fell 2-0 down after 22 minutes, they scored the next goal before the break. In the second half they were able to turn the game around and win 4-2. Three days later they met the Hungarians in the quarter-finals , who had had a week off after an easy win against the Dutch East Indies . This game was then lost with 0: 2, which meant that Switzerland was eliminated for the second time against the eventual runner-up world champions.

1950 in Brazil

Switzerland also applied for the first World Cup after the Second World War in 1946. As the small size of the country and the small-capacity stadiums aroused skepticism among most FIFA members, a compromise was negotiated. Brazil received the World Cup for 1949, Switzerland was to host an interim World Cup in 1951 and then return to the four-year cycle with the host country Sweden. Due to organizational problems, the World Cup was postponed from 1949 to 1950 and the interim World Cup in 1951 was canceled, instead Switzerland was to host the 1954 World Cup. So Switzerland had to qualify for the 1950 World Cup, but since Belgium , against which the Swiss were not supposed to play, Switzerland qualified for the World Cup without a qualifier.

In order to refinance the costs for the new stadium construction in Brazil, which at that time was only possible with entrance fees, a group stage was first carried out like in 1930. There were also groups of two, three and four, as some teams had canceled. Switzerland was “drawn” into a group of four. In this she met Yugoslavia , hosts Brazil and Mexico . In the first game against Yugoslavia, the Swiss held the 0-0 for an hour, but then had to accept three goals. They then fought a respectable 2-2 against the hosts and a 2-1 win against Mexico. This put Switzerland in third place and eliminated.

1954 in Switzerland

The Swiss then did not have to qualify for the home World Cup. In contrast to the following World Championships, two teams were seeded per group that did not have to play against each other, but only against the two unset teams, which in turn did not have to play against each other. The Swiss group was drawn as the seeded team England and the neighboring Italy as well as the unseeded team Belgium, against which the likewise unseeded Swiss did not have to play. In the first game against former world champions Italy, the Swiss surprisingly won 2-1. Against England they lost 2-0. Since the Italians had won against Belgium, the Swiss and Italians were tied and because neither the goals scored by the Italians nor the direct comparison won by the Swiss counted, there was a playoff for second place. The Swiss won 4: 1 and were thus qualified for the quarter-finals. In this they met their neighbor Austria . The game that went down in history as the heat battle of Lausanne (it took place at 40 ° in the shade) was lost 5-7. The Swiss were leading 3-0 after 19 minutes, but then had to accept five goals before they scored the 4-5 goal. The other goals then fell alternately. It is still the World Cup game with the most goals. Some players, like the Austrian goalie Kurt Schmied and the Swiss Roger Bocquet , did not survive the game unscathed. Schmied suffered a sunstroke in the first half and was directed by his team's masseur standing behind the goal, and Bocquet collapsed in the closing stages due to a brain tumor. The exhausted Austrian team then went down 6-1 in the semifinals against eventual world champions Germany and Switzerland said goodbye to the World Cup for eight years.

1958 in Sweden

Since the 1954 World Cup was held in Switzerland, the World Cup went to Sweden four years later. In qualifying , Switzerland met Spain and Scotland . The Swiss were only able to win a point in their first game in Spain with a 2-2 draw, but then lost all games and were only bottom of the group. Since Spain and Scotland won their home games against each other, this draw was ultimately responsible for the unsuccessful qualification of the Spaniards.

1962 in Chile

To qualify for the third World Cup in South America , Switzerland was drawn into a group with vice world champions Sweden and Belgium . Sweden and Switzerland won both games against Belgium and the home games against each other, so that both had 6-2 points in the end. Since the better goal difference of the Swedes was not taken into account, there was a playoff in West Berlin , which Switzerland won 2-1.

In Chile, Switzerland met hosts Chile in the first group game and took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. Shortly before the break, however, the equalizer had to be accepted and in the second half the Chileans scored two more goals. The second group game was then lost against ex-world champions Germany with 1: 2 and the last group game against the other ex-world champions Italy was lost with 0: 3. Switzerland was the only team to be eliminated without a point win.

1966 in England

Four years later the qualification succeeded again . This time the Dutch , Northern Irish and Albanians were the group opponents. The Swiss won their home games as well as in Albania, only lost in Northern Ireland and then benefited from the only point win by the Albanians, who scored 1-1 against Northern Ireland in their home country Tirana .

In England they met Germany in the first group game and lost 5-0. In the second game against Spain the Swiss were able to take a 1-0 lead and save them in the half-time break, but in the second half the Spaniards were able to turn the game around and win 2-1. The last game against Argentina was also lost (0: 2). With this, Switzerland was eliminated again without winning points and said goodbye to the World Cup for 28 years. German football fans particularly remembered the Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst , who led the final with the Wembley goal .

1970 in Mexico

Switzerland was unable to qualify for the first World Cup in Central America . Switzerland started with a win against Greece , but then lost to Romania . This was followed by a victory at third place in the World Cup, Portugal, but the following home games and the game in Greece were not won: 0: 1 against Romania, 1: 4 in Greece and 1: 1 in Portugal. This meant that only third place was occupied and Romania was able to qualify for the finals for the first time since the Second World War .

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

The first World Cup in the neighboring country also took place without Switzerland. In qualifying , they only finished third , tied with Turkey, behind Italy, ahead of Luxembourg . The only victories were against the Luxembourgers, the other two home games ended goalless and in Italy and Turkey the last two games were lost 2-0.

1978 in Argentina

For the fourth World Cup in South America , Switzerland had in a group with Norway and Sweden deal. After losing the first three games, qualification was no longer possible before the final game against Norway. But since they managed to win against Norway, Switzerland was responsible for ensuring that Sweden was allowed to go to the World Cup instead of Norway.

1982 in Spain

Switzerland was again unable to qualify for the World Cup on the Iberian Peninsula , although the number of starting places was increased. In a balanced group with Hungary , England , Romania and Norway, Switzerland only reached 4th place. The qualification was lost in the last two games by a 0: 3 in Hungary and a 0: 0 against Romania. Hungary and England qualified for the World Cup finals.

1986 in Mexico

The qualification for the second World Cup in Mexico was then also unsuccessful. In the group , the opponents were Denmark , the USSR , Ireland and again Norway. With two wins, four draws and two defeats, Switzerland only finished third behind the Danes, who qualified for the first time, and the USSR, which also made it to the World Cup.

1990 in Italy

The Swiss couldn't qualify for the second World Cup in neighboring Italy . Behind the Belgians and Czechoslovaks who went to the World Cup with equal points and goal differences , as well as the Portuguese , only fourth place was occupied, ahead of the Luxembourgers , against whom the only victories come.

1994 in the United States

Silverdome in Pontiac , location of the first World Cup match in a hall

Four years later, under the English coach Roy Hodgson , the qualification finally succeeded again. The qualification for the World Cup in the United States had the Switzerland against Italy , Portugal, Scotland , Malta and Estonia deny. Switzerland scored the most goals, but it wasn't until the last day of the match that qualifying was made perfect with a 4-0 win against Estonia, as the penultimate game in Portugal was the only game that was lost. Portugal lost the last game in Italy 0-1, so the Swiss had one point more than Portugal, who missed participation in third.

In the USA, the Swiss faced hosts USA in their first World Cup game in 28 years and scored 1-1. It was the first game of a world championship in a hall, the Silverdome in Pontiac . In the second game against Romania they won 4-1, the first time since 1954 a World Cup game. In the last game against Colombia they lost 2-0, but they still qualified for the knockout round as second in the group. In the round of 16 they then met Spain and lost 3-0, which meant they said goodbye to the World Cup for 12 years.

1998 in France

Switzerland was then unable to qualify for the second World Cup in neighboring France . Norway, first in the group, ended up being eight points ahead of Hungary . Finland followed , then the Swiss national football team and then Azerbaijan , against whom Switzerland surprisingly lost in their first game. The leap into the playoffs of the group runners-up was gambled away by a 1: 2 in the home game against Finland in the third from last game and a 0: 5 in the penultimate game in Norway. Even the 5-0 revenge against Azerbaijan couldn't do anything. In the end, two points were missing, so Hungary reached the playoffs, but lost there twice against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia .

2002 in Japan and South Korea

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia , the Swiss had to play against Russia , Slovenia , the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Faroe Islands and once again Luxembourg. Switzerland started the qualification under the Argentine Enzo Trossero , but who resigned after the seventh game, a 0-1 home defeat against Slovenia. Previously, only two games against the Faroe Islands and one against Luxembourg could be won. His successor was Jakob Kuhn , who until then had coached the U-21s , whom he had previously led to the U-21 European Championship for the first time. But even under him, only one game could be won against Luxembourg. Against the other opponents, the two coaches only managed two draws, four games were lost. This meant that only fourth place was taken. Russia qualified directly, the Slovenes managed to prevail against Romania in the playoff games of the group runners-up and qualify for the finals for the first time.

2006 in Germany

Swiss football fans celebrate the victory against Togo in Lausanne

The qualification for the second World Cup in Germany was successful again. First in the group behind ex-world champion France was tied with Israel , but with the better goal difference, the second place. Ireland followed one point behind, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands only served as point suppliers. The Swiss didn't lose a game, but could only win four. The points were divided six times. France was directly qualified as group winners, Switzerland for the relegation games of the group runners-up. In these, Turkey was the opponent. The first leg in Bern was won 2-0. In Istanbul , Switzerland lost 2: 4, but due to the away goals rule , Switzerland qualified for the World Cup. After the game there were physical attacks by Turkish players and security forces on members of the Swiss team. Three players from the Turkish team and the Swiss Benjamin Huggel were suspended for several games. In addition, Turkey had to play three qualifying games for the following European Championship 500 km outside Turkey and without spectators, as well as pay a fine of 200,000 Swiss francs (plus procedural costs over 100,000 €).

In Germany, Switzerland and France were drawn into one group, as well as Togo and South Korea. In the first game, the Swiss and French parted goalless. Against World Cup newcomers Togo and South Korea , the Swiss then won 2-0 each. They were group winners for the first time in their World Cup history and reached the round of 16. Here they met World Cup newcomer Ukraine . After 120 goalless minutes, the penalty shoot-out had to decide who was allowed to move into the quarter-finals. While holding Pascal Zuberbühler the first penalty from Andriy Shevchenko , but the Ukrainian goalkeeper Oleksandr Schowkowskyj could immediately the penalty from Marco Streller parry. After the next three Ukrainians were successful, while Tranquillo Barnetta hit the crossbar and Ricardo Cabanas' penalty was again saved by Schowkowskyj, the last three shooters did not have to start. This makes Switzerland the first team to be eliminated from a World Cup without conceding a goal, but also the first team to not convert a penalty in a World Cup penalty shootout. The Ukrainians then met eventual world champions Italy in the quarter-finals and lost 3-0.

2010 in South Africa

Swiss and Spaniards before the first group game

Scene from the game against Spain

Jakob Kuhn's term of office ended after the European Championship in 2008 , when Switzerland was eliminated as a co-host in the preliminary round . His successor was the German Ottmar Hitzfeld , who had played in Switzerland for years and therefore knew Swiss football well. The qualification for the first World Cup in Africa was successful under him. In a group with Greece , Latvia , Israel , Luxembourg and Moldova , the first place was taken by one point and thus the direct qualification was achieved. In the playoffs of the group runners-up, Greece also qualified against Ukraine after a goalless draw at home with a 1-0 win in Kiev .

In South Africa, Switzerland faced European champions Spain in a group of three Spanish-speaking teams in their first game . With an extremely defensive style of play, they did not allow the Spaniards to score, but used a counterattack to win 1-0. In the second game against Chile, however, they lost 0-1, with the red card for Valon Behrami playing outnumbered for almost an hour. With a win against Honduras , which had no chance to qualify after two games, they could have reached the round of 16. But since both teams failed to score and Spain won against Chile, both were eliminated. After all, Switzerland was the only team that could win against the Spaniards, who then became world champions for the first time and as the only team to date with four 1-0 wins in the knockout round.

2014 in Brazil

Scene from the game against Ecuador

The qualification for the second World Cup in Brazil was also successful. Before Iceland , Slovenia , Norway , Albania and Cyprus came first place. Switzerland won seven games and reached three draws, but did not lose any game. The group runner-up Iceland then failed in the playoffs to Croatia .

The achievements in the World Cup qualification also meant that Switzerland climbed to 7th place in the FIFA world rankings in October 2013, which meant that Switzerland was placed in Pot 1 for the World Cup group draw for the first time and therefore not in any group with hosts Brazil , Defending champions Spain or Germany could be drawn. The “lot” for Switzerland as opponents was France as in 2006, Honduras as in 2010 and, for the first time, Ecuador.

In the first group game against Ecuador they fell 0-1 after 22 minutes. Although the equalizer succeeded in the 48th minute, everything looked like a point-sharing until stoppage time. In the third minute of stoppage time, the 75th minute substitute Haris Seferović scored the winning goal for the Swiss. They fell 5-0 against France within 73 minutes, but were then able to score two more goals when the French lost their concentration. The referee did not recognize a goal in the final seconds by Karim Benzema to make it 2: 6, as he had blown the whistle 2 seconds earlier. Like four years before, they met Honduras in the last group game, but this time they managed to score three goals - all from Xherdan Shaqiri , who became the 50th player in World Cup history to score three goals in one game. Since Honduras did not succeed in 2010, the Swiss moved into second place in the group of 16. Here they met Argentina . For 118 minutes they both failed to score and it looked as if the penalty shoot-out would have to decide, then Ángel Di María scored the winning goal for the Argentines, who then advanced to the final and lost to Germany in extra time. Ottmar Hitzfeld's term of office as national coach ended with the round of 16, but he had already announced that he would quit after the World Cup.

2018 in Russia

In the qualification , which began in September 2016, the Swiss faced European champions Portugal , Hungary , the Faroe Islands , Latvia and Andorra . The Swiss, who have been coached by Vladimir Petković since Ottmar Hitzfeld's resignation , started with a 2-0 home win over the newly crowned European champions and also won the following eight games. However, they could only win three times more with one goal, e.g. B. in Andorra against the 203rd in the FIFA world rankings 2-1. This put them in first place before the last game, ahead of Portugal, which had won all eight games after their opening defeat, but scored more goals. In the last game they met again in Portugal and Switzerland needed one point to win the group, Portugal one victory. With 2-0 the Portuguese were then able to reverse the result of the first leg and become group winners. Switzerland moved into the play-off round, tied as the best runners-up in the group, where they met the Northern Irish, who had reached a play-off round for the first time. With a 1-0 win in Northern Ireland and a goalless draw at home, the Swiss qualified for the finals.

In Russia, the Swiss started with a 1: 1 against record world champions Brazil, then won after 0: 1 deficit with a goal in the last minute with 2: 1 against Serbia and then reached the round of 16 despite the 2: 2 draw against Costa Rica . In this they lost 1-0 to Sweden.

player

Ranking of the Swiss World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Valon Behrami and Stephan Lichtsteiner - 10 in 4 and 3 tournaments respectively

03. Xherdan Shaqiri - 9 out of 3 tournaments

04. Charles Antenen †, Johan Djourou , Blerim Džemaili , Ricardo Rodríguez and Granit Xhaka - 8 in 3 tournaments

09. Tranquillo Barnetta , Diego Benaglio , Roger Bocquet †, Josip Drmić , Jacques Fatton †, Gökhan Inler , André Neury † and Haris Seferović , - 7 in 3 (Barnetta and Benaglio) and 2 tournaments respectively

17. Olivier Eggimann †, Alexander Frei and Roger Vonlanthen - 6 in 2 tournaments

20. André Abegglen †, Steve von Bergen , Alfred Bickel †, Karl Elsener †, Fabian Schär , Philippe Senderos and Hakan Yakin - 5 in 2 or 3 (Senderos) tournaments

Ranking of the Swiss World Cup players with the most goals

01. Josef Hügi † - 6 goals

02. André Abegglen †, Robert Ballaman † and Xherdan Shaqiri - 4 goals each

05. Leopold Kielholz † and Jacques Fatton † - 3 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1934: Severino Minelli
• 1938: Severino Minelli (round of 16), André Abegglen (quarter-finals)
• 1950: Alfred Bickel , Hans-Peter Friedländer (3rd game)
• 1954: Roger Bocquet
• 1962: Charles Antenen
• 1966: Heinz Schneiter (1st game), Karl Elsener (2nd game), René Brodmann (3rd game)
• 1994: Ciriaco Sforza
• 2006: Johann Vogel
• 2010: Alexander Frei
• 2014: Gökhan Inler
• 2018: Stephan Lichtsteiner , Valon Behrami (round of 16, as Lichtsteiner was suspended)

Players banned from World Championships

• 1994: Nestor Subiat received the second yellow card in the round of 16 . Since Switzerland was eliminated, this had no effect.
• 2010: Valon Behrami received the red card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game.
• 2018: Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabian Schär received the second yellow card in the third group game and were suspended for the round of 16. Michael Lang received the red card in the round of 16 and is suspended for the first game of the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League . The second yellow card for Valon Behrami in the round of 16 had no effect as the team were eliminated.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

No or very few legionaries were appointed in the first seven participations . In the last four participations, however, players predominantly playing in Germany made up the main contingent.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1934 (2)	0
1938 (3)	3 (2 in France, 1 in Czechoslovakia)	André Abegglen (3), Alessandro Frigerio (0); Renato Bizzozzero (0)
1950 (3)	0
1954 (4)	0
1962 (3)	3 (2 in France, 1 in Italy)	Norbert Eschmann (2), Philippe Pottier (1); Anton Allemann (3)
1966 (3)	0
1994 (4)	4 (in Germany)	Stéphane Chapuisat (4), Adrian Knup (3), Ciriaco Sforza (4), Alain Sutter (3)
2006 (4)	17 (7 in Germany, 2 in England, 4 in France, 2 in Italy, 1 in Portugal, 1 in the Czech Republic)	Tranquillo Barnetta (4), Ricardo Cabanas (4), Philipp Degen (4), Ludovic Magnin (3), Christoph Spycher (1), Marco Streller (3), Raphael Wicky (4); Johan Djourou (3), Philippe Senderos (3); Alexander Frei (4), Stéphane Grichting (1), Daniel Gygax (2), Patrick Müller (4); Valon Behrami (1), Johann Vogel (4); Diego Benaglio (0); Mauro Lustrinelli (2)
2010 (3)	16 (7 in Germany, 2 in England, 2 in France, 4 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands)	Tranquillo Barnetta (3), Diego Benaglio (3), Steve von Bergen (3), Albert Bunjaku (1), Eren Derdiyok (3), Mario Eggimann (1), Pirmin Schwegler (0); Valon Behrami (1), Philippe Senderos (1); Gelson Fernandes (3), Stéphane Grichting (3); Gökhan Inler (3), Stephan Lichtsteiner (3), Marco Padalino (0), Reto Ziegler (3); Blaise Nkufo (3)
2014 (4)	16 (9 in Germany, 5 in Italy, 2 in Spain)	Tranquillo Barnetta (0), Diego Benaglio (4), Johan Djourou (4), Josip Drmić (4), Gelson Fernandes (1), Admir Mehmedi (4), Ricardo Rodríguez (4), Xherdan Shaqiri (4), Granit Xhaka (4); Valon Behrami (4), Blerim Džemaili (4), Gökhan Inler (4), Stephan Lichtsteiner (4), Reto Ziegler (0); Haris Seferović (4); Philippe Senderos (1)
2018 (4)	22 (10 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in France, 5 in Italy, 1 in Croatia, 1 in Portugal, 1 in Spain, 1 in Turkey)	Manuel Akanji (4), Roman Bürki , Josip Drmić (3), Breel Embolo (4), Gelson Fernandes, Yvon Mvogo, Yann Sommer (4), Denis Zakaria (2), Steven Zuber (3); Xherdan Shaqiri (4), granite Xhaka (4); François Moubandje ; Valon Behrami (4), Blerim Džemaili (4), Remo Freuler , Stephan Lichtsteiner (3), Ricardo Rodríguez (4); Mario Gavranović (2); Haris Seferović (3); Fabian Schär (2); Johan Djourou (1)

Games

The Swiss have played 37 World Cup games so far. Of these, 12 won, 17 lost and eight ended in a draw. Three games had to be extended because a winner had to be determined. One of them was lost in extra time to a goal and one to a penalty shoot-out. One was repeated and then won.

The Swiss played their first game in 1938 and 1962, played three times against the hosts and had four home games.

The Swiss won once (2010) against the eventual world champion and played six times against the eventual runner-up, but never against the defending champion.

The Swiss met newcomers to the World Cup four times: in 1934, when they were newcomers themselves, against Sweden and Czechoslovakia, and in 2006 against Togo and Ukraine. The most frequent opponents are Germany or the German Reich (4 times), Italy and Spain (3 times each).

All World Cup games
No.	date	opponent	Result	occasion	venue	Remarks
1.	May 27, 1934	Netherlands	3: 2	Round of 16	Milan ( ITA )	125th game of the Swiss
2.	05/31/1934	Czechoslovakia	2: 3	Quarter finals	Turin ( ITA )
3.	06/04/1938	German Empire	1: 1 a.d.	Round of 16	Paris ( FRA )
4th	06/09/1938	German Empire	4: 2	Round of 16 replay	Paris ( FRA )
5.	06/12/1938	Hungary	0: 2	Quarter finals	Lille ( FRA )
6th	06/25/1950	Yugoslavia	0: 3	Preliminary round	Belo Horizonte ( BRA )	1st international match outside Europe
7th	06/28/1950	Brazil	2: 2	Preliminary round	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	1st international match against Brazil
8th.	07/02/1950	Mexico	2: 1	Preliminary round	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	1st international match against Mexico
9.	06/17/1954	Italy	2: 1	Preliminary round	Pontaise, Lausanne
10.	06/20/1954	England	0: 2	Preliminary round	Wankdorf, Bern
11.	06/23/1954	Italy	4: 1	Preliminary round, play-off for second place	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel
12.	06/26/1954	Austria	5: 7	Quarter finals	Lausanne	Heat battle of Lausanne
13.	05/30/1962	Chile	1: 3	Preliminary round	Santiago de Chile ( CHL )
14th	06/03/1962	BR Germany	1: 2	Preliminary round	Santiago de Chile ( CHL )
15th	06/07/1962	Italy	0: 3	Preliminary round	Santiago de Chile ( CHL )
16.	07/12/1966	BR Germany	0: 5	Preliminary round	Sheffield ( ENG )
17th	07/15/1966	Spain	1: 2	Preliminary round	Sheffield ( ENG )
18th	07/19/1966	Argentina	0: 2	Preliminary round	Sheffield ( ENG )	1st international match against Argentina
19th	06/18/1994	United States	1: 1	Preliminary round	Detroit ( USA )
20th	06/22/1994	Romania	4: 1	Preliminary round	Detroit ( USA )
21st	06/26/1994	Colombia	0: 2	Preliminary round	San Francisco ( USA )
22nd	07/02/1994	Spain	0: 3	Round of 16	Washington ( USA )
23.	06/13/2006	France	0-0	Preliminary round	Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart ( DEU )
24.	06/19/2006	Togo	2-0	Preliminary round	Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund ( DEU )	1st international match against Togo
25th	06/23/2006	South Korea	2-0	Preliminary round	AWD-Arena, Hanover ( DEU )	1st international match against South Korea
26th	06/26/2006	Ukraine	0: 0 a.d.	Round of 16	Rheinenergiestadion, Cologne ( DEU )	First international match against Ukraine, 0-3 on penalties
27.	06/16/2010	Spain	1-0	Preliminary round	Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban ( ZAF )	1st win against Spain
28.	06/21/2010	Chile	0: 1	Preliminary round	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth ( ZAF )
29	06/25/2010	Honduras	0-0	Preliminary round	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein ( ZAF )	1st international against Honduras
30th	06/15/2014	Ecuador	2: 1	Preliminary round	Estádio Nacional de Brasília, Brasília ( BRA )	1st international match against Ecuador
31.	06/20/2014	France	2: 5	Preliminary round	Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador ( BRA )
32.	06/25/2014	Honduras	3-0	Preliminary round	Arena da Amazônia, Manaus ( BRA )
33.	07/01/2014	Argentina	0: 1 a.d.	Round of 16	Arena Corinthians, São Paulo ( BRA )	Last international game under coach Ottmar Hitzfeld
34.	06/17/2018	Brazil	1: 1	Preliminary round	Rostov-Arena , Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )
35.	06/22/2018	Serbia	2: 1	Preliminary round	Kaliningrad Stadium , Kaliningrad ( RUS )	First game against Serbia
36.	06/27/2018	Costa Rica	2: 2	Preliminary round	Nizhny Novgorod Stadium , Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )
37.	07/03/2018	Sweden	0: 1	Round of 16	Saint Petersburg Stadium , St. Petersburg ( RUS )

Switzerland achieved its highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Ecuador - preliminary round 2014 2-1 (only game against Ecuador)
•  Honduras - preliminary round 2010 3-0 (only win against Honduras)
•  Spain - preliminary round 2010 1-0 (only win against Spain)
•  South Korea - preliminary round 2006 2-0 (only win against South Korea)
•  Serbia - Preliminary round 2018 2-1 (only game against Serbia)
•  Togo - preliminary round 2006 2-0 (only game against Togo)

Switzerland suffered its biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Chile - preliminary round 1962 1: 3
•  Colombia - preliminary round 1994 0: 2 (also a 1: 3 in a friendly game)

Records

• The longest series of matches without a goal: Italy with 5 games in 1990 and Switzerland with 4 games at the 2006 World Cup and one game at the 2010 World Cup
• Most consecutive World Cup game minutes without conceding a goal: Switzerland with 559 minutes (July 2, 1994 - June 21, 2010)
• The Swiss Alfred Bickel and the Swede Erik Nilsson are the only players who played World Cup games before (1938) and after (1950) World War II.
• The highest-scoring game: 12 goals in the game Switzerland - Austria - 5-7 at the 1954 World Cup in the quarter-finals (see heat battle of Lausanne )

Negative records

• Most tournament goals conceded: 1966: Switzerland - 9 in 3 games and North Korea - 9 in 4 games
• Biggest defeat in a tournament: 1966 in England - Switzerland - Germany 0: 5 in the preliminary round
• The fewest penalties (3 of 7) were converted in the penalty shoot-out in the round of 16 Switzerland - Ukraine (0: 3) at the 2006 World Cup. This makes Switzerland the first team not to score a single goal in a penalty shoot-out during a World Cup (and the Ukraine to be the first team to not score a goal in a penalty shoot-out).
• Switzerland conceded the most goals conceded per game in 1954: 11 in 4 games = 2.75 per game.
• First host to concede seven goals in one game: Switzerland - Austria - 5-7 at the 1954 World Cup in the quarter-finals
• Worst team in the tournament: 1962 and 1966 (both ranked 16th by FIFA)

See also

• Swiss national football team / European championships
• Swiss national football team for women / world championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Switzerland on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Lost one game on penalties
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2014 (PDF file; 195 kB)
3. ↑ eu-football.info: Yugoslavia - Switzerland 2: 2
4. ↑ bbc.co: "Trossero quits as Swiss boss"
5. ↑ At the home World Cup in 1954, Switzerland was not seeded and had to play against the seeded teams England and Italy.
6. ↑ fifa.com: "A lot of movement in the top 10"
7. ↑ fifa.com "Group E: European favorites"
8. ↑ fifa.com: Italy against Sweden, Switzerland against Northern Ireland
9. ↑ fifa.com: The last European World Cup aspirants in numbers , October 17, 2017
10. ↑ fifa.com: Ukraine and Switzerland write World Cup history