Switzerland
Appearances at World Cups
Switzerland has been participating in world cup qualification stages since the first competition. But despite this, there is a period of almost 30 years in their history when the squad couldn't qualify for the final stage at the world cup. Switzerland has been a permanent WC participant since 2006 and is going to Russia as a kind of dark horse that's able to prepare certain surprises.
The Swiss players went through the qualification on the road to the World Cup, but even a victory over Portugal and 27 points didn't allow Vladimir Petković's players first in the group. The Portuguese players were higher in the standings thanks to the return victory and goal difference, thus pushing Switzerland to play-offs.
year | G | w | D | L | М | total |
1934 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5-5 | 1/4 |
1938 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5-5 | 1/4 |
1950 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4-6 | 3 rd in group |
1954 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11-11 | 1/4 |
1962 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3-5 | 4 th in group |
1966 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1-9 | 4 th in group |
1994 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5-7 | 1/8 |
2006 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4-0 | 1/8 |
2010 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1-1 | 3rd in group |
2014 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7-7 | 1/8 |
Total | 31 | 10 | 4 | 17 | 46-56 | - |
Head coach and best player
Vladimir Petković who has triple citizenship chairs the Swiss team. Before working with the national team of Switzerland, the specialist had worked at Italian Lazio where he managed to become the owner of the country's cup. Under him, the Swiss players already reached the final of a big tournament. At 2016 Euro, Petković's players advanced from the group but stumbled over Poland. Now almost the same team is going to the World Cup. This means we should expect at least a repetition and even a better result as a maximum.
There are big questions about the main star. Switzerland couldn't boast about its places in leading European competitions not a long time ago. But now almost each of them represents a foreign team. However, at the same time, they remain middling football players by European standards, it's quite complicated to stress somebody from this squad. Though each of the lines has its own boss. For instance, it's Juventus defender Lichtsteiner in the defence and Shaqiri in the midfield.
- Preliminary squad: Sommer – Lichtsteiner, Akanji, Schär, Rodríguez – Xhaka, Zakaria– Shaqiri, Džemaili, Mehmedi – Seferović.
Base camp and cities
The national team of Switzerland almost shocked the public with its choice of the base camp. When in Russia, the team will be based in Tolyatti where the conditions not only aren't luxurious but also even the location and climatic norms are obviously worse than, for instance, in same Rostov-on-Don. What's more, the Swiss players will open the WC in Rostov with a match against Brazil. Then there will be remote Kaliningrad (match against Serbia) and Nizhny Novgorod (match against Costa Rica).