Northern Ireland vs Switzerland (21/03/2025)

WORDS: IAN PARKER

FACT FILE: SWITZERLAND

• At the 2022 World Cup they finished second in Group G before being beaten 6-1 by Portugal in the round of 16. • They made the quarter-finals at Euro 2024 thanks to a fine victory over defending champions Italy in the quarter-finals. • Northern Ireland have not had happy memories of playing Switzerland recently. • Few members of the Green and White Army need reminding of the 2018 World Cup qualifying play-off, ultimately decided by a controversial penalty awarded at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park and scored by Ricardo Rodriguez in the first leg before the return fixture ended goalless in Basel. • The next World Cup qualifying campaign brought the two nations back together in 2021. The first game in Belfast ended 0-0 after Bailey Peacock-Farrell saved Haris Seferovic’s penalty. • Ian Baraclough’s men then headed for Geneva where there was more refereeing controversy. Jamal Lewis was harshly sent off in the first half before goals from Steven Zuber and Christian Fassnacht inflicted a damaging defeat on Northern Ireland. • The two nations met for the first time back in October 1964 after being drawn together in qualifying for the World Cup that England would host two years later. • Northern Ireland won the first meeting at home 1-0 thanks to Johnny Crossan’s penalty. But a George Best goal in Lausanne was not enough to avoid defeat as Northern Ireland went down 2-1 to a Switzerland side who would finish top of the group. • They did not meet again until 1998 when Darren Patterson’s first international goal secured a 1-0 friendly win that made it two wins from two for new Northern Ireland boss Lawrie McMenemy. • Another friendly in 2004 ended 0-0, making it six games unbeaten for Northern Ireland under Lawrie Sanchez. Chris Brunt made his debut in the match.

INTERNATIONAL • Switzerland have qualified for the FIFA World Cup final tournament nine times and reached the quarter-finals on three occasions – 1934,1938 and 1954, the latter of those coming as Switzerland hosted the tournament for the first and only time to date. • In 1954 the hosts were knocked out in a dramatic 7-5 defeat to Austria, still the record for the highest scoring game at a World Cup finals. • After almost three decades without an appearance at a major finals, Switzerland were revitalised in the early 1990s with the arrival of Roy Hodgson as coach. The Englishman took them to the knockout phase of the 1994 World Cup and at one point had them as high as third in the world rankings before leaving for Inter Milan. • At the 2006 World Cup Switzerland did not concede a single goal but were knocked out by Ukraine in a penalty shoot-out in the last 16. • Switzerland co-hosted Euro 2008 with Austria but neither nation advanced out of the group stages, with Switzerland finishing last in a group containing Czech Republic, Turkey and Portugal. Coach Kobi Kuhn was subsequently replaced by former Bayern Munich boss Ottmar Hitzfeld. • In the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League Switzerland finished top of their group to reach the finals but lost to Portugal in the semi-finals before losing the third place play-off to England on penalties. • At Euro 2020 they made it through a group that also included Italy, Wales and Turkey before beating world champions France in a penalty shoot-out to advance in the knock-out stage for the first time since 1938. Their run was ended by Spain on penalties in the quarter-finals.

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NIR V SUI