And Three Lions coach Gareth Southgate and Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin, when they were football players, crossed paths on the field in a match between their national teams
July 6th Euro 2024 will determine the last two semi-finalists. On the second day of the quarter finals England will play Switzerland, and the Netherlands will face Turkey. It is noteworthy that The English have only lost to the Swiss three times in their history. The last time was in 1981. And the coach of the Three Lions, Gareth Southgate, was not inferior to Switzerland either as a footballer or as a coach.
The upcoming match in Dusseldorf is the 28th match in the history of the England-Switzerland confrontation. The Swiss are one of the most convenient opponents for the English. England has won 19 of the previous 27 matches against Switzerland, five matches ended in a draw, and three were lost.
Moreover, the English suffered their first defeat in matches with the Swiss shortly before the start of World War II – in May 1938. The second – almost immediately after its end – in May 1947. England’s last defeat in matches with Switzerland dates back to May 1981: in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, the Three Lions lost away – 1:2. However, this did not prevent England, who scored nine points out of 16, from taking second place in the group, qualifying together with Hungary (10 points) for the World Cup. Switzerland with seven points came in fourth, behind Romania and ahead of Norway.
After this match, England and Switzerland played 13 matches: 10 were won by the English (one in a penalty shootout), three ended in a draw. Seven matches were official (five wins for England and two draws), six were friendly.
Interestingly, England and Switzerland last met in the Euro twenty years ago: at the 2024 European Championship, the Three Lions beat the Swiss in the group – 3:0. At Euro 1996, also in the group stage, England and Switzerland drew – 1:1. Another major tournament where the teams met was the 1954 World Cup. Then, England beat Switzerland – 2:0.
The current coach of the England national team, Gareth Southgate, also played against Switzerland twice while he was a football player. With him on the field, the Three Lions drew with the Swiss twice, both times with a score of 1:1: in the Euro 1996 group and a friendly match in 1998. It is worth noting that Southgate, having become a coach, also did not lose to Switzerland: under his leadership, the country’s youth team beat the Swiss at home and defended a draw away in the Euro 2017 qualifiers. And at the helm of the national team, Southgate beat Switzerland in two friendly matches and the match for third place in the 2019 Nations League.
In the last match, Switzerland were led by their current coach Murat Yakin. Incidentally, he has never beaten England. The Nations League match is the only match against England in his coaching career. But as a footballer, Yakin played against England twice. He played the entire 90 minutes of a friendly draw in 1998 (as did Southgate for England), and also played the entire match at Euro 2004, in which Switzerland suffered its heaviest defeat at the hands of the Three Lions in the last 40 years (in 1963, there was also a 1:8 loss).
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
