EURO 2008 - Switzerland

Football is not really a Swiss national sport

Football is certainly not Swiss national sport; this confederation cannot boast great successes, and EURO 2008 is only their second big competition they organized, after the World Cup 1954. The last time they were hosts, saw them reach the quarterfinals and it seems that they have similar ambitions now. Although they don't have a great tradition, Swiss have had their debut on the international scene in 1905. They took part in two World Cups before the war and reached quarterfinals which is not quite an impressive result considering the number of participants. Until 1996 Switzerland failed to quality for the final tournament, though they did get to the final tournament in England where they were eliminated in the first round. Eight years later they again qualified for the championship and again ended it in group stage.

Good work with youngster recently

Good work over the last few years as well as the fact that some younger squads have marked excellent results in their rank increased the interest in football and brought about the best result in recent history. Actually, the Swiss have qualified for the World Cup round of 16 in Germany. Interesting fact is that they are the first team eliminated from further competition without conceding a goal. After excellent play in the group, a win over Toga and South Korea as well as a draw with the French, saw Swiss side advance to the knock-out stage where they got eliminated by Ukrainians through penalties after a scoreless draw. Football public in the country is more than satisfied and therefore their appetites in EURO have grown.

Hermann, Turkylmaz, Sforza, Chapuisat

Heinz Hermann holds most caps for national team. This not so famous player has spent his whole football career in Swiss clubs, won a lot of domestic title as well as individual honours. He has appeared in 117 games in 13 years he played for national A squad. The best scorer title is shared by Kubilay Turkylmaz and max Abbegglen with 34 goals scored. Abbegglen is a legend; he played for Switzerland before the war and won the silver medal on Olympics in 1924. The Turk from Switzerland is remembered as one of the best players in the national squad that earned the qualification for the firs EURO in 1996. Switzerland have definitely had better players; let us only mention big stars like Sforza and Chapuisat who wore the jerseys of the best European clubs, or excellent keeper Alain Geiger, captain of the excellent generation and the participant in World Cup 1994 and EURO 1996. He has marked over 100 caps for national A squad.

Youth team won Euro 2002

Of course, Switzerland don't have prestigious trophies but few years ago, actually in 2002. the youth national squad have won the European Championship. The senior team is now based on the nucleus of that squad.