Switzerland National Football Team

Manager / Vladimir Petkovic
Appointed / July 2014
Captain / Granit Xhaka
Top Scorer in Euro 2020 Qualifiers / Cedric Itten, 3.
Top Scorer in Squad (Domestic season 2020-21) / Haris Seferovic, 22 (Benfica, Liga Nos)
Most Carded in qualifying /  4 players on 2 yellows (Akanji, Xhaka, Zakaria, Rodriguez)
Group: A, vs. Wales (12/06/2021), vs. Italy (16/06/2021), vs. Turkey (20/062021)

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

Switzerland Road to Euro 2020

Switzerland topped a softish looking qualification group, pipping Denmark by the narrowest of margins as well as mediocre Ireland and Georgia sides. The fifth member of their group, Gibraltar, were the clear whipping boys and it is a bit of a worry for Vladimir Petkovic that over half (10 of 19) of their goals in qualifying came against the nation ranked 195^th in the world and second worst in Europe. Following their qualification to Euro 2020, Switzerland did go seven without a win, five of which came in a tough Nations League group, though that doesn’t bode well for the knock-out stages of this tournament. Their record across knock-out stages in their history is dire and the Swiss haven’t won in a game past the group stages of a major tournament since the 1938 World Cup.

Switzerland Euro 2020 Squad

Petkovic has opted to leave his top scorer from qualifying at home, with Rangers’ Cedric Itten failure to establish himself at Ibrox costing him a spot at the Euros. Other than that it’s the squad that many expected. There aren’t many natural goal scorers which isn’t helped by Switzerland’s lack of chance creation. That largely falls upon Xherdan Shaqiri with the Liverpool bench player the main creator in a side that is built with functionality at its heart, rather than being focussed on creativity.

Goalkeeper

Switzerland are blessed with a fine crop of keepers and three of the options they’ve left at home are at a similar level to those that they have taken. The Borussia Dortmund trio of Gregor Kobel, Roman Burki and Marvin Hitz are not part of the squad in what is a ridiculous depth of talent between the sticks. Those that have gone, Yann Mvogo, Jonas Omlin and Yann Sommer are all talented but Sommer is the first-choice and rightly so, he’s one of the German Bundesliga’s finest stoppers and will be relied upon to get his country through a tricky group and a first knock-out win in over 80 years.

Defence

The back three will likely be Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez, though Newcastle’s Fabian Schar does have an outside chance of featuring in the opening game against Wales on June 12. The German Bundesliga duo of Elvedi and Akanji have formed an impressive partnership in the backline, with Rodriguez allowed a bit more freedom to join in attacks, though Elvedi could be shifted to the right hand side of the defence should Schar get a start at centre half.

Midfield

Granit Xhaka is the leader and captain of this team and he’ll hope for a deep run in this tournament to get him ever-closer to a century of Swiss caps. He will likely be joined by one of Remo Freuler or Denis Zakaria, two players who have come to this tournament off the back of fine seasons domestically at Atalanta and Gladbach. Zakaria did start every game in qualifying though Freuler has been favoured since and may well get the start against Wales in his country’s opener. Steven Zuber and Kevin Mbabu will be the wide men in Petkovic’s system, with Mbabu in particular a real threat from the right hand side. He is a frequent fouler and he did average 2.36 fouls per 90 minutes in the German Bundesliga last season, that’s the 4^th most fouls of anyone across the division, picking up seven yellow cards.

Attack

After something of a nomadic career, Seferovic looks to have found a home in Portugal with Benfica, scoring 50 league goals in his three seasons in the Premeira Liga and he will be expected to lead the line for his country at Euro 2020. He does have a good scoring rate for his country, though just one of his 23 goals for Switzerland has come at a major tournament so he’ll need to improve on that if his side are to have a successful tournament. Breel Embolo and Xherdan Shaqiri will be the ones tasked with providing the speed and creativity alongside Seferovic in what could be a dangerous front line should Shaqiri not be too rusty after a season of little football at Anfield.

Switzerland predicted line-up vs. Wales: Sommer; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodriguez; Mbabu, Freuler, Xhaka, Zuber; Shaqiri; Embolo, Seferovic (3-5-2).

Switzerland Euro 2020 Betting Tips & Predictions

I do think Switzerland have a good squad and topping their qualifying group is not to be scoffed at, but I must admit I think they could struggle at this tournament. It’s a tight group that could be decided by the finest of margins and I just don’t think they’ll be able get past Turkey (most likely their most pivotal of their three group games) and could face a group stage elimination.

They’re 2.88 to finish 3^rd in the group which looks appealing but I actually fancy them to be one of the unlucky sides to be eliminated despite not finishing bottom. You can get 2.25 (Paddy Power) for them to be eliminated in the group stages though the 2.88 for them to finish third does look a little more appealing and covers them sneaking in as one of the 6 best 3^rd placed sides.

Predicted stage of elimination: Eliminated in the groups

An outside shout I like the look of is Ricardo Rodriguez to finish as Switzerland’s top scorer at Euro 2020 @ 13.0. Despite being a defender and playing in a little more withdrawn role than he has in past tournaments, he will be on penalties which could be great news for this selection. I don’t expect Switzerland to score many goals or play many games at this tournament so Rodriguez’s set-pieces could swing this market in his favour ahead of more erratic abilities of Embolo, Seferovic and Shaqiri.

Predicted stage of elimination: Group Stage

How to watch Italy v Switzerland in Euro 2020

📅   When / Wednesday, 16 June 2021, 20:00 BST
🏟   Where / Stadio Olimpico (Rome)
📺   TV / ITV, STV, ARD
📱   Online streaming / bet365