EM 2024: The road to the European Championship for the Swiss national team

Since last year's World Cup was held in winter instead of summer, the European national teams had less time to prepare for the next big task. Just 3 months after the final match of the 2022 World Cup in December, the qualifying round for the 2024 European Championship, which will take place in Germany, started.

In Germany, a total of 24 teams, which will be divided into 6 groups of 4 teams each, will fight for the coveted trophy. As hosts, the DFB team is naturally seeded and has a year full of friendly matches ahead of it. As usual, the 23 other participants must first qualify. In addition to soccer heavyweights Spain, England and runner-up France, the Swiss national team also has hopes of participating.

The initial situation

A look at Switzerland's qualifying opponents almost makes this hope a certainty. The opponents in the Swiss group are Israel, Romania, Kosovo, Belarus and Andorra. It is not only in the international and Swiss media that the group is considered to be the weakest in terms of quality, but also a look at the FIFA World Ranking reveals why Switzerland is considered the favorite.

The Nati, currently ranked 12th, is the only team in the top 50 in the official ranking. The first runner-up in this category is Romania in 52nd place, followed by Israel (76th), Belarus (97th) and the relatively young national team from Kosovo (107th). The team from Andorra, which has a population of 80,000, only makes it to 153rd place and is actually considered an amateur team.

The only contenders for the top spot in the group are Israel and Romania, neither of which has really been convincing in recent years. After the glorious 1990s with players like Hagi and Popescu, Romania was unable to build on its success and only qualified for the finals in 2008. Israel qualified for the World Cup in Mexico in 1970 for the first and only time for a major international tournament and this season is their best chance in a long time.

The direction is set

Of the total of 10 qualifying matches, the first two have already been played in March. The Swiss team showed fighting commitment and tactical discipline. With a strong 5:0 against Belarus, the Swiss rehabilitated themselves from the painful 1:6 defeat against Portugal in the World Cup round of 16. Renato Steffen was particularly convincing with the fastest hat trick in the history of the Nati.

In the second match, co-favorite Israel, which fielded a number of internationally renowned players, was beaten 3-0, paving the way for group victory. Nati coach Murat Yakin also gave young, up-and-coming talents some minutes of action in the course of the game, of which at least Mohamed Amdouni thanked him with a goal.

The overall performance in the first two qualifying matches is convincing and not only gives hope of qualifying for the final round, but also whets the appetite for more. So far, the Nati has been able to live up to its role as favorites and adequately replace any player absences. Thus, the team forms a stable basis for success.

Other prospects

In June, the games against "soccer dwarf" Andorra and the top match against Romania are on the agenda. The latter were not entirely convincing in their first two games against Andorra (2:0) and Belarus (2:1) and are still looking for form. However, caution is advised against Kosovo in September. The young Balkan team is considered to be particularly strong and aggressive in duels.

However, only the least doubt a qualification of the Nati for the European Championship 2024 in Germany. In addition to national and international experts, most fans also see Switzerland as practically qualified. In addition, another group of experts sees Switzerland as having a clear advantage: Betting providers authorized in Switzerland offer odds of 1.30 for Switzerland to win the group, which is significantly less than for Romania (4.33) or Israel (17.00). This can be seen as another clear indication of the clarity with which Switzerland can look forward to the opening match in Munich on June 14, 2024.

Consequently, a lot would have to go wrong for the team to miss the final round. However, there are no signs of that and it seems unrealistic so far. On the contrary, if everything continues to go as well as it has so far, the Swiss national team can also make a note of July 14, 2024. That's when the final of the 2024 European Championship will be played in Berlin!