Women’s Euro 2025 Team Previews | Switzerland
The Swiss are competing in their fourth ever European Championships and this time they are the hosting nation. What can we expect from Pia Sundhage’s team?
The hosts head into the tournament with an experienced manager, a few well-known players and a couple of up-and-coming talents at their disposal as well as they aim to create a generational impact of their own with a good showing at their home tournament.
The Swiss have never made it past the group stages and have only ever participated at two European Championships, which have both been back-to-back in 2017 and 2022. On both occasions they finished third in their respective groups.
In a way, they have been given a great opportunity to do well in this tournament when you see the teams they have in their group alongside them this year. Also, they have shown they can be a problem to some of Europe’s top teams, plus that home advantage is something that can always give a host nation that extra step.
Group A opponents and fixtures:
Norway | 2nd July - 8PM BST
Iceland | 6th July - 8PM BST
Finland | 10th July - 8PM BST
Obviously it’s not a simple task to reach the knockout stages, but they will have been happy to have avoided some of the more higher-ranked teams. They played Norway and Iceland not too long ago as both were in their Women’s Nations League group, and in all four games against the two sides, they drew on both occasions with Iceland this year and then lost twice to Norway. Hopefully for them, they will have taken lessons from those games and be able to get something to progress through.
Squad:
Goalkeepers | Elvira Herzog (RB Leipzig), Livia Peng (Chelsea), Nadine Böhi (St. Gallen)
Defenders | Eseosa Aigbogun (AS Roma), Laia Ballesté (RCD Espanyol), Luana Bühler (Tottenham Hotspur), Viola Calligaris (Juventus), Noelle Maritz (Aston Villa), Nadine Riesen (Eintracht Frankfurt), Julia Steirl (SC Freiburg)
Midfielders | Lia Wälti (Arsenal), Sandrine Mauron (Servette), Seraina Piubel (West Ham United), Géraldine Reuteler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sydney Schertenleib (FC Barcelona), Rioja Xhemali (PSV Eindhoven), Coumba Sow (FC Basel), Naina Inauen (Lyn Fotbal), Noemi Ivelj (Grasshoppers), Anita Arfaoui (Werder Bremen), Alena Bienz (FC Köln), Lia Kamber (FC Basel), Smilla Vallotto (Hammarby IF)
Forwards | Iman Beney (Young Boys), Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (Seattle Reign), Alisha Lehmann (Juventus), Naomi Luyet (Young Boys), Meriame Terchoun (Dijon FCO), Alayah Pilgrim (AS Roma), Svenja Fölmli (SC Freiburg), Lydia Andrade (RB Leipzig), Aurélie Csillag (FC Basel), Leela Egli (SC Freiburg), Leila Wandeler (OL Lyonnes)
*Switzerland announced a pre-cap roster. The final 23-player will be updated accordingly once it has been confirmed*
Switzerland have been known to produce some good players and are likely to have many of them with them again for what might be most-capped squad overall if we take into account how many times some have played for their country.
Lia Wälti, Noelle Maritz and Ana-Maria Crnogorčević all have played over 100 games for Switzerland, so this will feel like a major moment for them as you’d expect them to feature a lot for the side at a home tournament. The loss they have in the squad though is Ramona Bachmann who suffered an injury in the run-up to the start of the tournament, so it’s a shame for her to miss out.
There’s also a couple of other names to keep an eye on to including Gèraldine Reuteler of Eintracht Frankfurt, Seraina Piubel who has just played her debut season with West Ham and done well. Also, PSV’s Riola Xhemali has proven to be a good player as well at times as has Alisha Lehmann when she gets the chance to feature for her country.
Player to Watch - Sydney Schertenleib
If there’s one player to identify as one to watch, Sydney Schertenleib has to be one of those and it’s at these European Championships where the 18-year-old could truly breakout following appearances at Barcelona this season where she impressed despite minimal game time, plus when she made her international debut back in February last year.
She is also a very versatile player who can play in either midfield or attacking positions out wide or centrally. She is good with the ball at her feet while also still a player who is developing her game at a very quick pace.
She is the kind of player that you can see being the face of this Switzerland national side for a long time to come, and if there was a time for her to shine and show how good a talent we know she is, the European Championships is a great stage to do so.
Manager - Pia Sundhage
The Swedish coach has quite the CV of club and international teams to her name which she is managed and she has the success to go with it. Two-time Olympic gold medal winning coach with the USA, a Copa América Femenina winner with Brazil and has been a FIFA World Women’s Coach of the year in 2012, plus a finalist in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
In terms of her history at the European Championships, all of that was a player where she was really prolific and a key part of Sweden’s 1984 winning team, ending as Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot winner. She is also Sweden’s all-time leading scorer.
She joined Switzerland as their manager last year and has gone on record to describe the great opportunity that she has in leading Switzerland into a home tournament. It will probably be a big challenge for Sundhage to lead this squad to heights it hasn’t reached before. Having once coached the likes of Marta and Alex Morgan at other major tournaments previously, she knows that being with Switzerland is a different kind of test in her coaching career. But it is one that allows her and her squad to dream about what is possible. If it all clicks how they would like that it is.
How will they do?
The big hope for Switzerland will be to reach the knockout stages. That has to be the main goal for them at these Women’s Euros and they should be banking on the home advantage to go in their favour as it has done for the two previous hosts Netherlands and England.
Now granted it would be an almighty shock if Switzerland went and won the whole thing like the two previous hosts have done. It would be a big shock if they went further than the quarter-finals considering how the tournament could unfold in certain scenarios.
The opportunity to finally get past the group stage is certainly a possibility but as we’ve said they are going to have to use all of the strengths and advantages that they can get if they really do want to have a good run and turn this into a memorable tournament for themselves that ultimately could inspire the next generation of Swiss women’s footballers.