The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Switzerland have appeared in the finals of the World Cup on ten occasions, the first being at the second finals in 1934 where they finished in seventh position.
They have made their tenth appearance at the finals in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.[1][2]
FIFA World Cup record
The best achievements of Switzerland were reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup on three occasions: 1934, 1938 and 1954.
The group stage used in the first World Cup was discarded in favour of a straight knockout tournament.
Switzerland hosted the tournament in 1954 and reached the quarter-final for a third time, where the team was beaten 7–5 by neighbouring Austria.
- Switzerland finished ahead of Italy by winning a play-off
| Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GAv |
Pts |
 West Germany |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4.00 | 5 |
 Chile |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1.67 | 4 |
 Italy |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1.50 | 3 |
 Switzerland |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0.25 | 0 |
Note: Switzerland's fourth goal is also credited to Georges Bregy.
The Swiss line-up against China, just before World Cup 2006
The World Cup 2006 in Germany was the first World Cup for Switzerland since their participation at the World Cup 1994. After finishing second behind France in qualifying group 4, they defeated Turkey in the play-off round 2–0 and 4–2 to qualify for the main tournament.
In the group stage, they played again against France. The game played in Stuttgart ended in a goalless draw. After defeating Togo 2–0 in Dortmund and South Korea also 2–0 in Hannover, they finished first in group G and qualified for the knockout stage. In the second round of the tournament, they faced Ukraine in Cologne. The game had to be decided in a penalty shootout since no goal was scored after 120 minutes. Ukraine won the shootout 3–0. Switzerland was the only team in tournament not to have conceded a goal during regulation time in their matches. Switzerland's top scorer at the tournament was Alexander Frei with two goals. When Switzerland lost 3–0 on penalties, that was the first time in history that a team lost on penalties without scoring a single goal in the penalties.
All times local (CEST/UTC+2)
Switzerland were the only team to beat eventual world champion Spain, by a 0–1 victory in the group stage. In spite of this, they did not survive the first round.
2014 FIFA World Cup
At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Switzerland will play in Group E along with Ecuador, France, and Honduras.
| Legend |
| Group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16 |
All times local: five matches are in Brasília official time (UTC−3), while Honduras v Switzerland, played in Manaus, is in the Amazon time zone (UTC−4).
Summary table
Switzerland's record at FIFA World Cups:[9]
| Year |
Round |
Position |
GP |
W |
D* |
L |
GS |
GA |
 1930 | Did Not Enter |
.svg.png) 1934 | Quarter-finals | 7/16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
 1938 | Quarter-finals | 7/15 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
 1950 | Round 1 | 6/13 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 1954 | Quarter-finals | 8/16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 11 |
 1958 | Did Not Qualify |
| 1962 | Round 1 | 16/16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
 1966 | Round 1 | 16/16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
 1970 | Did Not Qualify |
| 1974 |
 1978 |
 1982 |
| 1986 |
| 1990 |
 1994 | Round of 16 | 16/24 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| 1998 | Did Not Qualify |
  2002 |
| 2006 | Round of 16 | 10/32 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
 2010 | Round 1 | 19/32 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2014 | Round of 16 | 11/32 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 |
 2018 | To be Determined |
 2022 |
| Total | 10/20 | 21st | 33 | 11 | 6 | 16 | 45 | 59 |
- *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
By match
| World Cup |
Round |
Opponent |
Score |
Result |
Venue |
Switzerland scorers |
| 1934 | Round of 16 |  Netherlands | 3–2 | W | Milan | Kielholz (2), Abegglen |
| Quarter-finals |  Czechoslovakia | 2–3 | L | Turin | Kielholz, Jäggi |
| 1938 | Round of 16 | .svg.png) Germany | 1–1 (aet) | D | Paris | Abegglen |
| Germany (R) | 4–2 | W | Paris | Walaschek, Bickel, Abegglen (2) |
| Quarter-finals |  Hungary | 0–2 | L | Lille | & —
|
| 1950 | Group stage |  Yugoslavia | 0–3 | L | Belo Horizonte | & —
|
| Brazil | 2–2 | D | São Paulo | Fatton (2) |
| Mexico | 2–1 | W | Porto Alegre | Bader, Antenen |
| 1954 | Group stage | Italy | 2–1 | W | Lausanne | Ballaman, Hügi |
| England | 0–2 | L | Bern | & —
|
| Italy (PO) | 4–1 | W | Basel | Hügi, Ballaman, Fatton |
| Quarter-final |  Austria | 5–7 | L | Lausanne | Ballaman (2), Hügi (3) |
| 1962 | Group stage | Chile | 1–3 | L | Santiago | Wüthrich |
| West Germany | 1–2 | L | Santiago | Schneiter |
| Italy | 0–3 | L | Santiago | & —
|
| 1966 | Group stage | West Germany | 0–5 | L | Sheffield | & —
|
.svg.png) Spain | 1–2 | L | Sheffield | Quentin |
| Argentina | 0–2 | L | Sheffield | & —
|
| 1994 | Group stage | United States | 1–1 | D | Pontiac | Bregy |
 Romania | 4–1 | W | Pontiac | Sutter, Chapuisat, Knup (2) |
 Colombia | 0–2 | L | Palo Alto | & —
|
| Round of 16 | Spain | 0–3 | L | Washington | & —
|
| 2006 | Group stage | France | 0–0 | D | Stuttgart | & —
|
 Togo | 2–0 | W | Dortmund | Frei, Barnetta |
| South Korea | 2–0 | W | Hanover | Senderos, Frei |
| Round of 16 |  Ukraine | 0–0 (aet) | D | Cologne | & —
|
| 2010 | Group stage | Spain | 1–0 | W | Durban | Fernandes |
| Chile | 0–1 | L | Port Elizabeth | & —
|
 Honduras | 0–0 | D | Bloemfontein | & —
|
| 2014 | Group stage |  Ecuador | 2–1 | W | Brasília | Mehmedi, Seferović |
| France | 2–5 | L | Salvador | Džemaili, Xhaka |
| Honduras | 3–0 | W | Manaus | Shaqiri (3) |
| Round of 16 | Argentina | 0–1 (aet) | L | São Paulo | & —
|
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Top goalscorers
Correct as of 26 June 2014 after Honduras v. Switzerland.
Squads
| Switzerland squads at FIFA World Cup finals |
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References
External links
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1 Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). 2 Have been member of multiple confederations. 3 Team and national federation no longer exist. |
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Argentina
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