Switzerland compete in Group Two of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Record:
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Best European Championship finish: Quarter-finals in 2021 and 2024
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Best World Cup finish: Quarter-finals in 1934, 1938, and 1954
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FIFA ranking: 19
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Last World Cup appearance: 2022
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Nickname: Nati (The National Team)
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Top clubs: FC Zürich, FC Basel, BSC Young Boys
Qualification: Switzerland had to wait until their final qualifying match — a 1–1 draw with Kosovo on 18 November — to confirm top spot in their group, edging out their opponents in that very game.
Coach: Swiss-Turkish Murat Yakin (51) has been in charge since August 2021. The former Swiss international defender, who earned 49 caps and wore the armband three times, began his coaching career in the Swiss league in 2006 with the exception of the 2014–15 season spent as assistant at Spartak Moscow.
Star player: Granit Xhaka. The former Arsenal captain and Nati record holder with 144 international appearances (16 goals) remains a cornerstone of the national team, even if slightly less prominent than at his peak with the Gunners. He won the German league title with Bayer Leverkusen in 2024, and the 33-year-old midfielder spent this season at newly promoted Sunderland in the English top flight, where he was immediately installed as captain — a testament to his enduring leadership. This summer, the Basel native will compete in his fourth World Cup.
Ambitions: Having been eliminated on penalties in the quarter-finals of the last two European Championships, Switzerland are expected to advance from the group stage, but their real ambition is to go further — past the Round of 16, the stage where they have been eliminated at the last three World Cups. In 2022, they suffered a heavy 1–6 defeat to Portugal at that stage.