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Switzerland

Nati — ten-from-ten in qualifying, four straight Round-of-16 exits, and a squad that refuses to go away

Reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 1954 before a 3-1 extra-time loss to Argentina, undone by a second-half red card.

Status

Eliminated

Region

UEFA

World Cup Appearances

Code

The Story

Switzerland arrives at this World Cup the way clockwork is supposed to arrive: quietly, on time, and with a perfect record. Ten qualifying matches, ten wins — the first European team to ever manage that. A squad that on paper reads like a greatest-hits of the last decade of Swiss football: Granit Xhaka still conducting the midfield at 33, Manuel Akanji anchoring the defense, Yann Sommer still at Inter, Breel Embolo still the first striker on the team sheet.

And yet the same sentence keeps getting written about Switzerland: Round of 16, out. Again. They've made the knockout stage at every recent World Cup — 2014, 2018, 2022 — and haven't advanced past it since 1954, when the tournament was structured entirely differently and Switzerland was hosting. Seventy-two years is a long time to be stuck at one door.

Manager Murat Yakin, now in his fifth year in charge, is a very Swiss figure: competent, unflashy, fluent in the idea that you don't need to rebuild what already works. The group Switzerland gets here — whatever the draw eventually sorts out — will likely see them finish second and march into the Round of 16 as underdogs again. The question, as always, is what happens on that one specific knockout day. The Swiss have a lovely track record of proving they belong. The next step has, for seventy-two years, eluded them.

Week 1 Update: A 1-1 draw with Canada in the opener — entirely on-brand. Switzerland did what Switzerland does: looked solid, didn't lose, didn't quite win. One point from a co-host is a fine start. The seventy-two-year question remains unanswered, but it also remains alive.

Matchday 2 Update: Three-nil over Bosnia & Herzegovina — the Nati's best World Cup performance in years and exactly the kind of clinical, Yakin-coached display that makes everyone nod and nobody panic. Xhaka ran the show, the defense didn't concede, and Switzerland are suddenly top of Group B with four points. The Round of 16 awaits, as it always does. The question after it, as always, is what happens next.

Matchday 3 Update: Three-one over Canada — Switzerland win Group B with 7 points, unbeaten, and the seventy-two-year question finally has a new chapter to write. Xhaka ran the show for the third straight match. The Nati are through to the knockouts again, and this time the squad looks like it might actually have the teeth to survive one.

Round of 32 (July 2): Switzerland 2-0 Algeria — and 88 years of waiting is over. Breel Embolo met a left-wing cross and headed it home in the 10th minute, then Dan Ndoye doubled it just after halftime with a composed finish. Algeria couldn't find a way through the most organized defensive structure in this tournament. Switzerland's last World Cup knockout victory came in 1938, in their own country, against occupied Germany — and then nothing. This squad, with Xhaka conducting and Akanji immovable at the back, finally closed that chapter. They face Colombia or Ghana in the Round of 16. The seventy-two-year question has its answer. Now write the next one.

Round of 16 (July 7): Switzerland 0-0 Colombia (AET) — Switzerland win 4-3 on penalties and reach the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1954. One hundred and twenty goalless minutes in Vancouver — Colombia had the better of possession, Switzerland had the shape — then the shootout. Xhaka went first: scored. Akanji fired over. Davinson Sánchez missed for Colombia. Juan Quintero and Juan Campaz and Luis Díaz scored. Cucho Hernández missed. Ruben Vargas stepped up last, buried it, and the Swiss bench emptied. The 72-year quarter-final drought is over. The clockwork team did the one thing its history insisted it couldn't. Argentina await in the last eight. The Swiss still do not seem afraid of the math.

Quarter-Final (July 11): Switzerland 1-3 Argentina (AET) — the clockwork team pushed the world champions to the edge before the wheels came off. Dan Ndoye's 67th-minute equalizer had Switzerland level and dreaming, but a red card left them a man down, and Julián Álvarez's 112th-minute strike finally broke the deepest Swiss run in seventy-two years. Xhaka, immense to the last, walked off to an ovation he has earned across a decade of carrying this team. First quarterfinal since 1954, and they gave the champions a genuine fright. The Nati go home taller than they arrived.

3 Players to Know

Granit Xhaka

The 33-year-old captain, record-appearance-holder for the national team, and the heartbeat of this entire operation. After a career at Arsenal that was often defined by red cards and occasionally by genius, he reinvented himself at Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso — winning the 2024 Bundesliga title — and is now at Sunderland in the Premier League. For Switzerland, he's simply the conductor: over 130 caps, a passing range that defines how this team plays, and an on-pitch authority the Nati cannot replicate.

Manuel Akanji

The Inter Milan center-back (on loan from Manchester City), the calmest defender at this tournament not named Van Dijk, and a genuine world-class player by any measure. Born in Switzerland to a Nigerian father and Swiss mother, fluent in four languages, famously unflappable — at Pep's City he was the guy who'd walk the ball out of the back line and into midfield like he was crossing the street. His partnership with Fabian Schär is the reason Switzerland conceded the fewest goals in their qualifying group.

Breel Embolo

The 28-year-old Monaco forward, born in Cameroon, came to Basel as a kid with his family, became a Swiss youth international and has been the team's first-choice striker for most of the last decade. He scored against Cameroon (against his country of birth) at the 2022 World Cup — and then refused to celebrate, a gesture that said more about modern football identity than most FIFA commercials have managed. With Shaqiri retired from international duty since 2024, Embolo carries more of the attacking load than ever.

The Food

Signature Dish

Fondue is the Americanized answer, and it's not wrong — a communal pot of melted Gruyère and Vacherin spiked with white wine and a little kirsch, cubes of crusty bread speared on long forks, rules enforced (lose your bread in the pot, you buy the next round). But the Swiss will tell you raclette is the real winter move: a half-wheel of cow's-milk cheese warmed under a grill, the molten top layer scraped directly onto boiled potatoes, cornichons, and pickled onions. And rösti — a single large potato pancake crisped in butter — is the breakfast-or-anytime Swiss grandmothers will fight over. Wash any of it down with a fendant from the Valais, if you can find one.

Where to Eat in DFW

Simply Fondue on Lower Greenville in Dallas (2108 Greenville Ave) is the only restaurant in the region that takes fondue seriously as a four-course meal — cheese, salad, meat-and-seafood, chocolate. Dinner only: Mon–Thu and Sun 5–10pm, Fri–Sat 5–11pm. The traditional Gruyère-Emmenthaler blend is the Swiss pick. The Fort Worth location is temporarily closed while transitioning to a new space. Swiss-specific restaurants in DFW essentially don't exist; this is the closest thing, and it's genuinely good. For raclette, you'll have to make it at home — Central Market carries the half-wheels.

The Music

A soundtrack for the matches, the pregame, and the afterparty.

Fan Culture

Swiss support at a World Cup is the opposite of carnival. Cowbells — actual, heavy, clanging Alpine cowbells — are the signature noise, and they will be audible in the stadium long before you see the red-and-white flags. Supporters travel in modest numbers and behave themselves; the stereotype is true. "Hopp Schwyz!" is the universal chant, shouted in Swiss German and understood by everyone. The Swiss celebrate goals the way they celebrate most things: briefly, warmly, then back to watching the match with the quiet focus of people who have trains to catch. If you sit near them you will probably end up in a polite conversation about which canton they're from and whether the fondue they had last night was up to standard.

Fun Fact

Switzerland just became the first team ever to finish a European World Cup qualifying campaign with a perfect ten wins from ten matches. They have also now reached the Round of 16 at each of the last four World Cups without ever advancing further. No team in the tournament is better at reaching the knockout round and worse at doing anything once they get there.