Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the most popular sport in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The

Swiss Football Association The Swiss Football Association (, , , ) is the governing body of football in Switzerland. It organizes the football league, the Swiss Football League and the Switzerland national football team. It is based in Bern. It was formed in 1895, was a ...

was formed in 1895 and was a founder member of the sport's international governing body

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 1904. The Swiss cities of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

are home to FIFA and the European governing body

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

respectively. The country played host to the 1954 World Cup and 2008 European Championship. Switzerland has an extensive

league system A league system is a hierarchy of sports league, leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in ma ...

, with the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

as the country's premier men's competition. There are also several cup competitions, most notably the national

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

. The Swiss national team participated in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and were narrowly beaten by

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

on penalties in the round of 16. Switzerland co-hosted the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

tournament together with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. They were eliminated in the group stage, although they did record a win against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The best international result was in 1954 when Switzerland, as the host, reached the quarter-finals of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. They also reached the World Cup quarter-finals in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

as well as

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

History

The first football club in Switzerland was the

Lausanne Football and Cricket Club The Lausanne Football and Cricket Club was a Swiss association football and cricket club. The club was founded in 1860 by English students, who had studied at private schools in the area of Lausanne. During the year of the foundation this club ...

, founded in 1860 by English students. It was also the first football club created outside of England. The Swiss Football Association (ASF-SFV) is the highest body of professional football in Switzerland and was founded in 1895, although it joined the FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954. The ASF-SFV organizes the Swiss Super League-the first and maximum league competition in the country- and the Swiss Cup, and manages the national men's and women's national team. Switzerland hosted the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

and, together with Austria, the

Swiss football competitions

Men's football

The Swiss football pyramid is divided into nine levels. The top two levels are operated by the Swiss Football League. Between the sixth and ninth levels, the leagues are operated by regional football associations. All other levels are operated by the

. *

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

: is the first division of Swiss football. It was founded in 1897, the team consists to 12 teams since 2023–24 and is the longest continuously running top-flight national league. The five teams with the most titles are

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional sports club, multisports club based in Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hopper ...

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on ...

from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

and

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

from Bern. * Challenge League: is the second division in the Swiss league system. It consists of 10 clubs, of which the champion is promoted directly to the Super League. As of 2019, the second plays the promotion playoffs with ninth place in the Super League. *

Promotion League The Promotion League, named the Hoval Promotion League for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Swiss football league system. Eighteen clubs compete in the league, playing each other twice over course of the season. The champions are prom ...

: is the third division in the Swiss league system. There are 18 teams. The champion is promoted directly to Challenge League. The two last teams are relegated. It is the highest division where reserve/U21 teams are eligible to play. * 1st League Classic: is the fourth division in the Swiss league system. 48 clubs are divided into three groups. * 2nd League Interregional: is the fifth division in the league system of Switzerland. 64 clubs are placed into four cross-regional groups. * 2. Liga: is the sixth division in the Swiss league system, where 17 groups contain 215 clubs. * 3. Liga * 4. Liga * 5. Liga

Non-league competitions

: is the national cup of Swiss football, organized by the Swiss Football Association and whose champion qualifies for the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

. *

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a association football, club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel/Bienne, Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local watchmaking industry on the ...

Coppa delle Alpi ''Coppa delle Alpi'' (translated as Cup of the Alps) was an official football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

Women's football

The Swiss women's football championship is divided into 6 levels. *

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

, the top level women's league: Founded in 1970, it was originally known as Nationalliga A, until 2020. Since its renaming, the format was also adapted to include a regular season and a play-off stage. * Nationalliga B * First League, divided into three groups * Second League, six interregional groups of 10-12 teams * Third and Fourth Leagues are divided by regions *

Swiss Women's Cup The Swiss Women's Cup (; ; ; ) is a women's football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1975 by the Swiss Football Association (SFV-ASF). Finals All final matches are: Titles by club References External linksfootball.c ...

, first carried out in 1975

Swiss Clubs in European Competitions

Clubs of the Swiss Super League may qualify for UEFA competitions. Switzerland is currently ranked 14th in the

UEFA ranking In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), ...

. As such, five teams are eligible to compete in European competitions, two each in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifier and the

qualifier, and the winner of the

enters qualification for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. No Swiss team has ever won any major European trophy.

is the only Swiss team to have won the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

, doing so twice in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, while

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

were a runner-up in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, before the competition was discontinued in 2009. Prior to

's involvement in the Intertoto Cup in 1995, multiple Swiss teams had emerged victorious.

Best Placement by Tournament

Historical UEFA Coefficient and Ranking

National team

The Swiss national team, in its various categories, is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss team played their first official match on 12 February 1905 in Paris against France, with the French winning 1-0. Switzerland has managed to qualify for 11 FIFA World Cups and five European Championships, including Euro 2008, where they were co-hosts together with Austria.

Women's national football team

The women's team debuted on 4 May 1972 against France in a match that ended 2-2 in Basel, and has qualified for the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

and UEFA Women's Euro 2017.

Bibliography

*Jérôme Berthoud, Grégory Quin et Philippe Vonnard, Le football suisse : Des pionniers aux professionnels, Lausanne, Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, coll. « Le savoir suisse », 201
Wayback Machine

Swiss football stadiums

Stadiums with a capacity of 20,000 or higher are included.

References

{{Portal bar, Association football, Switzerland