Switzerland History

Switzerland comes of age

As well as being home to both FIFA and UEFA, Switzerland has one of the longest footballing histories in Europe, with the Swiss Football Association being among the first to be founded outside the British Isles in 1895.

Early games
Back in the 1850s, records suggest that Swiss and English students were competing in football matches, and the Swiss national team played its first game on 12 February 1905, losing a friendly game against France by an encouraging 1-0 margin.

Fine heritage
Indeed, the early history of Swiss football augured well - Switzerland were footballing silver medallists at the 1924 Olympics, and reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup at their first two attempts - 1934 and 1938 - and were quarter-finalists again whenn they hosted the tournament in 1954.

Wily coach
The latter two tournaments saw Switzerland led by wily Austrian coach Karl Rappan who - reasoning that the Swiss did not have the quality of players to dazzle their opponents - developed a defensive formation called the 'verrou' - meaning bolt - which was an early predecessor of the Italian 'catenaccio'.

Disappointing precedent
However, Swiss success was not to be sustained in subsequent years. They reached the finals of the 1962 and 1966 World Cups to little effect and set a precedent for disappointing displays in UEFA European Championships when they were knocked out in the first round of the tournament at the first attempt in 1964.

Swiss revival
It took more than two decades for Switzerland to regain their footing in international football, and much credit can be given to two foreign coaches - German Uli Stielike and his successor, Englishman Roy Hodgson - for developing the side that would qualify for the finals of the 1994 World Cup.

New stars
The likes of Alain Sutter, Ciriaco Sforza and Stéphane Chapuisat were major stars at the finals as Switzerland swept into the second round, but Spain were to prove too big an obstacle in their path, and the momentum soon passed, as Switzerland stumbled in the finals of EURO '96™.

Quiet period
The subsequent years were to be quiet, until buoyed by the generation of talented players that had helped Switzerland win the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and propelled FC Basel 1893 to achieve minor miracles in the UEFA Champions League, Switzerland forced themselves back on to the world footballing agenda. They were also helped by a strong display as hosts of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, where they reached the semi-finals.

Seasoned professionals
With the likes of Stéphane Henchoz and brothers Murat and Hakan Yakin now regarded as major performers in Europe, Swiss coach Jakob Kuhn finally has a side strong enough to take on the burden of Switzerland's long footballing history.

Country Info

At the heart of Europe

AREA: 41,290 sq km
POPULATION: 7,318,638
NEIGHBOURS: Austria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany
LANGUAGES: French, German and Italian
CAPITAL CITY: Bern

At the heart of Europe, Switzerland, a nation of three languages, is now as central to the footballing map of Europe as it is to the world banking industry.

Mountainous region
The mountainous region of central Europe covered by modern-day Switzerland has historically never welcomed invading forces. The Celtic Helvetians who occupied the regions were never convincingly suppressed by the Romans, and the region was a patchwork of small, autonomous cantons for much of the Middle Ages.

Germanic dominance
The Germanic Holy Roman Empire took much of Switzerland under its aegis in 1032 but it was only the Habsburg dynasty that could really claim to hold genuine sway in Switzerland - and even that declined upon the death of Rudolph 1 in 1291, when the Swiss nobility banded together to resist German control.

Neutral state
The Swiss confederation finally seized independence in 1499, but after struggling to compete on the battlefield with more powerful neighbours, the state declared its neutrality in all European affairs shortly afterwards - a situation which has remained more or less unchanged since.

Swiss position
Although Napoleon briefly conquered Switzerland in 1798, foreign powers have generally respected the Swiss position, and the 19th and 20th centuries saw Switzerland remain aloof from the squabbling that surrounded it, building up a stable economy with a genuine commitment to social welfare.

Footballing pioneers
Football was to play its part in Swiss history too. The Swiss Football Association was formed in 1895 and was one of the seven founder members of FIFA - which, like UEFA, now calls Switzerlaand home. Silver medallists at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Switzerland also hosted the 1954 FIFA World Cup.

Renewed vigour
However, it was not until they qualified for the 1994 World Cup and EURO 96™ that Swiss football returned to European prominence. However with investment in youth football seeing Switzerland surprisingly win the 2002 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, greater achievements may yet be to come.

Today year 2004 Switzerland team

Player name list

Berner Bruno Defender Cabanas Ricardo Midfield Celestini Fabio Midfield Chapuisat Stéphane Forward Frei Alexander Forward Haas Bernt Defender Yakin Hakan Forward Henchoz Stéphane Defender Meyer Remo Defender Müller Patrick Defender Yakin Murat Defender Spycher Christoph Midfield Stiel Jörg Goalkeeper Streller Marco Forward Vogel Johann Midfield Wicky Raphael Midfield Zuberbühler Pascal Goalkeeper

Group B
	PLD	W	D	L	GS	GA	PTS
France	3	2	1	0	7	4	7
England	3	2	0	1	8	4	6
Croatia	3	0	2	1	4	6	2
Switzerland	3	0	1	2	1	6	1

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