Switzerland World Cup 2018 profile: Ones to watch, best bets and more

By Sporting Life

15:55 · THU July 21, 2022

Find out all you need to know, and more, about Switzerland's squad for the World Cup in Russia.

Switzerland Factfile

FIFA World Ranking: 6
Sky Bet outright winner odds: 100/1
Best Bet: Ricardo Rodriguez Top Switzerland Goalscorer - 20/1
World Cup appearances: 10
Best World Cup finish: Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954)
Nickname: La Nati, Rossocrociati (The Red Crusaders)

Coach – Vladimir Petkovic: Formerly the manager of Lazio, Petkovic took charge of Switzerland in 2014 and led them to the last 16 at Euro 2016. The former midfielder spent most of his playing career in Switzerland, most notably with FC Sion, who he later managed.

Legend – Alexander Frei: Switzerland’s all-time leading scorer with 42 goals in 84 games, Frei is also their sixth-most capped player. He has represented his country at two World Cups and two European Championships.

When Frei played for Borussia Dortmund he would drive back to his hometown of Basel on a monthly basis for a haircut.

Star Man – Xherdan Shaqiri: Shaqiri or “The Powercube” as he is affectionately known in Germany, assisted five goals and scored one in qualifying. Suffering relegation with Stoke this season is perhaps not where the Alpine Messi saw himself when he signed a four-year contract with Bayern Munich in 2012 but the World Cup may be the welcome break he needs to reignite his career.

In the 2014 World Cup, Shaqiri hit the tournament finals' 50th hat-trick against Honduras, which included one of the goals of the tournament. Petkovic will be hoping he can recreate some of that form in Russia.

Did you know? Switzerland became the first team to exit the World Cup without conceding a goal in 2006 - the 3-0 loss on penalties to Ukraine also saw them become the first side not to score in a shootout.

Fun Fact: When Switzerland met Albania in the 2016 European Championships, six of their players were of Albanian heritage, and six of Albania’s team were born in Switzerland. Brothers Granit and Taulant Xhaka played on opposing teams for the first time in European Championship history.

Qualifying: The Swiss won nine of their ten qualifying games but still needed a play-off victory against Northern Ireland to book their World Cup place. A 1-0 aggregate win was enough to see them through a tense affair.

Group E Fixtures: Brazil (7pm, June 17, Rostov-On-Don), Serbia (7pm, June 22, Kaliningrad), Costa Rica (7pm, June 27, Nizhny Novgorod)

Switzerland squad

Goalkeepers: Roman Buerki (Borussia Dortmund), Yvon Mvogo (Leipzig), Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach).

Defenders: Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou (Antalyaspor), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach), Michael Lang (Basel), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Jacques-Francois Moubandje (Toulouse), Ricardo Rodriguez (Milan), Fabian Schaer (Deportivo La Coruna).

Midfielders: Valon Behrami (Udinese), Blerim Dzemaili (Bologna), Gelson Fernandes (Eintracht Frankfurt), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Steven Zuber (1899 Hoffenheim), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach).

Forwards: Josip Drmic (Borussia Monchengladbach), Breel Embolo (Schalke), Mario Gavranovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Haris Seferovic (Benfica).

Switzerland Profile

Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates pulling Stoke level

Xherdan Shaqiri is the leading light for Switzerland at the World Cup

La Nati’s best ever finishes at past World Cups have been the quarter-finals, but all three occasions were before the tournament format was expanded to 24 teams and beyond. Since then they have not got beyond the second round.

More successful in recent years have been Switzerland’s youth teams with the Under-17s winning the European Championship in 2002 and the Under-19s winning the 2009 World Cup.

The first team are undoubtedly on the up, rising up the world rankings to start this tournament from sixth in the world.

Who to watch out for

With eight goals in ten games throughout the qualifying campaign, striker Haris Seferovic could be a Golden Boot dark horse. The Benfica striker was booed by his own fans during the play-off match against Northern Ireland so will have a point to prove in Russia.

Interestingly, behind Seferovic Switzerland’s two top scorers are left-back Ricardo Rodriguez and right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner who both have six goals. Rodriguez could be on penalty duty for the Swiss which makes him good value at 9/1 to be the country’s top scorer at the tournament. Defensive full-backs are a thing of the past.

How did they qualify?

Despite winning nine out of their ten games in qualifying, Switzerland still had to make it through a nervy play-off match against Northern Ireland to book their place at the World Cup. After defeating European champions Portugal 2-0 in their first game, Switzerland proceeded to win every game thereafter up until their final group match. That match was against Portugal, who needed to win to progress. A first-half own goal from Johan Djourou and a second-half strike from Andre Silva sent the Portuguese through and the Swiss into the play-offs.

A hugely controversial penalty in the first leg was enough to see Switzerland through against a resilient Northern Ireland team.

What will I hear when they play?

If you want to join in the singing then your best bet might be “Steht Auf Wenn Ihr Schweizer Seid”. Roughly translated to “Stand up if you’re Swiss”, this catchy number is set to the tune of the Pet Shop Boys’ Go West.

Apart from what you might hear, what you might see is always fun with Switzerland fans who often attend football matches donning cheese hats to celebrate their rich dairy heritage.

Any interesting facts about Switzerland?

Switzerland is the birthplace of tennis great and the world’s suavest guy, Roger Federer. The organisers of the Swiss Open have twice gifted Federer a cow for taking part in the tournament.

It seems the Swiss government are a glass half empty kind of people. Not only are all Swiss citizens required by law to own a bomb shelter, every main entrance to Switzerland is wired to explode in the event of an invasion.

Switzerland is one of only two countries to have a square flag – the other being the Vatican.

Any famous football moments?

Memorable moments have been few and far between for Switzerland. Arguably their best moment would be their 1-0 victory over Spain in their opening game of the 2010 World Cup.

Gelson Fernandes bundled home a 52nd-minute goal to which Spain could not find a reply. It briefly threw into doubt Spain’s credentials as World Cup favourites, briefly being the operative word as the Spanish went on to lift the trophy.