Women's Euro 2025 team guides: Switzerland

The Guardian

24-06-2025

This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2025 Experts' Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July.
The shock is still palpable. During the first week of Euros preparations in Magglingen, Ramona Bachmann tore a cruciate ligament in her left knee. The 34-year-old has been capped 153 times and scored 60 goals for the national team. Simply put, she is a pioneer of women's football in Switzerland and a great role model for many of the young players.
There had been question marks over her fitness as she had played little for Houston Dash or the national team this season but it is still a huge setback for the hosts. The midfielder Lara Marti will miss the tournament after also suffering an ACL injury.
Things have not been going well for the Nati recently. Going into the pre-Euros friendly against the Czech Republic on 26 June they were winless in eight games and had been relegated from the top division in the Nations League. It feels as if the age mix isn't quite right. The senior players, such as the captain, Lia Wälti, and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic, are in the autumn of their careers and have struggled to stay injury-free.
The next generation has potential, no doubt about it, but they are still young and have little international experience. The depth of the squad is actually better than ever but key players such as Wälti and Géraldine Reuteler really have to be fit for the hosts to have a successful tournament.
Defence is another potential problem area. The coach, the Swede Pia Sundhage, is not spoilt for choice in the backline and the players who are available – such as Luana Bühler (Tottenham), Viola Calligaris (Juventus) and Nadine Riesen (Eintracht Frankfurt) – have not featured heavily for their clubs in the second half of the season.
Recently the team has been playing in a 3-5-2 formation, which Sundhage is sticking to stubbornly despite it forcing players such as Iman Beney to play in a different role to the one they are used to at club level.
Even the goalkeeping situation is open. The coaching staff settled on Elvira Herzog as their No 1 in November but both she and Livia Peng, who is joining Chelsea this summer, have made costly mistakes in 2025.
With so many question marks heading into the tournament the team may need the passionate support of the home fans to go deep in the competition.
When it was announced in January 2024 that the association had appointed Pia Sundhage, who led Brazil at the last World Cup, as coach for their home Euros there was a great deal of goodwill towards the Swede. 'A world-class coach for little Switzerland' was the overriding feeling in the media. A year and a half later and the initial euphoria has given way to disillusionment. The results are mixed at best. Seven wins in 18 games, with only the 2-1 victory in October against a France side weakened by injuries standing out.
In addition to the lack of results, Sundhage's system is another reason for the criticism. She decided early on to stick with a 3-5-2 formation, regardless of the opposition. As she announced the squad she was also questioned if she had pushed some players – especially those who were not fully fit – too hard in the buildup, but the Swede was unrepentant. Sundhage has never made a secret of the fact that there is only one date that matters to her: 2 July, when Switzerland face Norway in their opening game. By then she must have changed the narrative around the team. It is one of the biggest challenges of her 30-year coaching career.
Lia Wälti lost her starting place at Arsenal during the second half of the season but she is still the most important player for the national team. Her calmness on the ball and her experience are huge factors for the team to function at its best. Off the pitch she is the squad's integration figurehead, making sure that the younger players feel welcome. She is the public face of the Nati and, since 2019, its captain. She won the Champions League with Arsenal in May but has had problems getting back to her best after surgery to remove an abscess at the end of last year. Wälti's fitness is one of the big questions going into the Euros – for Switzerland she is simply irreplaceable.
No matter who you talk to when it comes to women's football in Switzerland everyone raves about Sydney Schertenleib. The 18-year-old striker, who also has American citizenship, has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past year. After transferring from Grasshopper Club to Barcelona's youth team 12 months ago she is now a permanent member of the first-team squad, playing regularly. This season she won the double with Barça and helped them reach the Champions League final, even though she did not play in the defeat against Arsenal. Her technique and dribbling are a feast for the eye and she is the diamond of the many talented players coming through in Switzerland at the moment.
The Women's Super League in Switzerland is not yet fully professional. Young talents such as Naomi Luyet and Iman Beney from the champions, Young Boys, or Noemi Ivelj from Grasshopper tend to move abroad sooner rather than later. Only the best clubs pay their top players a decent salary. Estimates suggest that only around two dozen players can make a living only from football, even though Basel and Grasshopper in particular have started to invest more in their women's sides in recent years. However, many clubs are happy if they can pay the minimum of 500 Swiss francs (£450) a month.
Attendances are on the up, though, partly because of the Euros being staged in Switzerland. Young Boys set a record in March when 10,647 fans were at the Wankdorf Stadium to watch them play Grasshopper. Most matches, however, are played at smaller grounds and not always the best pitches. Media attention has risen, partly because the title is now decided in a playoff. And after the dominance of FC Zürich and Servette the league has become more balanced and is now closely fought.
The home side have been very fortunate to have been drawn in what appears on paper to be the weakest group of the four. Despite their relegation from the Nations League top division, qualifying for the quarter-finals is a realistic prospect. Reaching the last four would be a huge surprise.
The Switzerland team guide was written by Christian Finkbeiner for Blick.