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Swiss football fans have never had it so good. Switzerland reached the FIFA World Cup six times between 1934 and 1966, but it is really in the modern era that the national team has come into its own. uefa.com looks back at the memorable moments, matches and men that have shaped Switzerland’s footballing history.

Swiss legends

Roy Hodgson will always have a place in the heart of Swiss fans after guiding Switzerland to the World Cup finals for the first time in 28 years in 1994. Striker Stéphane Chapuisat is remembered just as fondly, helping his side reach the last 16 in the United States, before going on to win the UEFA Champions League with BV Borussia Dortmund in 1997. Chapuisat retired from international football having scored 21 goals in 103 appearances, 14 behind Switzerland’s new all-time leading scorer Alexander Frei. He broke Kubilay Türkyilmaz’s record on 30 May and is fast eclipsing even Chapuisat’s popularity.

Sea of red

The Swiss have a strong affinity with the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund. It is where Chapuisat made his name and where Frei now plays. It also became a small corner of Switzerland for one glorious afternoon during the 2006 World Cup. On 19 June, Swiss supporters counted for over 40,000 of the 65,000 in attendance for their Group G game against Togo, turning the stands into a sea of red. To make their day Switzerland won 2-0 – the nation’s first World Cup win in 12 years.

Romania defeated

Switzerland have only appeared in two previous UEFA European Championships, in 1996 and 2004, so it is no surprise that perhaps their greatest game came at a World Cup. Memories of Switzerland’s 4-1 win against Romania at the Silverdome in Detroit still send shivers down the spines of Swiss fans. This was the Romania of Hagi, Petrescu, Popescu and Belodedici but Hodgson’s side were far from overawed, goals from Alain Sutter, Chapuisat and two from Adrian Knup recording a memorable victory. The result, though, should not have come as a surprise. Switzerland had qualified for the 1994 World Cup from a group that included Italy, Portugal and Scotland and by August 1993 had climbed as high as third in the FIFA World rankings.

Hosts

UEFA EURO 2008™ is not the first time Switzerland have hosted a major tournament, though they will look back on the 1954 World Cup with mixed emotions. They competed at the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, and were also a force in the 1950s under Austrian coach Karl Rappan whose zonal defensive system, the ‘Swiss Lock’, would prove to be a forerunner to the Catenaccio system later adopted in Italy. After a respectable appearance at the 1950 World Cup optimism was high ahead of the 1954 event on home soil and Switzerland duly reached the quarter-finals. There, though, the wheels fell off. In soaring heat in Lausanne, Rappan’s lock was well and truly picked as the Swiss threw away a 3-0 goal lead before crashing 7-5.

Turning point

Swiss fans were given a glimpse of the future in 2002 when Switzerland won the UEFA European Under-17 Championship and reached the semi-finals of U21 Championship. Tranquillo Barnetta and Philippe Senderos led the way for the U17s and now form the bedrock of the national side, as do Frei and Ludovic Magnin who soon graduated from that U21 side. The seeds of today’s success had been sewn. Switzerland are competing in their third consecutive major tournament for the first time.

Austria’s footballing heyday came in the 1930s when Hugo Meisl’s Wunderteam swept all before them. They thumped Germany 6-0 in Berlin, Switzerland 8-1 and Hungary 8-2 during a run of just two defeats in 28 matches leading up to the 1934 FIFA World Cup. Austria, who reached the semi-finals that year, have participated in seven World Cups but before co-hosting UEFA EURO 2008™ had never reached a UEFA European Championship. The star of Austria’s Wunderteam was striker Matthias Sindelar, nicknamed ‘Der Papierene’ – The Man of Paper – because he was so thin. Sindelar scored 27 times in 43 games for Austria between 1926 and 1937 before famously refusing to play for Germany at the 1938 World Cup following the Anschluss.

Miracle of Córdoba

“Tor, Tor, Tor, Tor, Tor, Tor, I wer’ narrisch” – “Goal, goal, goal, goal, goal, goal, I’m going crazy,” screamed Austrian commentator Edi Finger Sr after Hans Krankl’s 88th-minute strike knocked rivals West Germany out of the 1978 World Cup. At the final whistle Finger sent goose bumps down the spines of his compatriots when he screamed: “Now it’s over! The end! Finished! After 47 years, Austria have finally beaten Germany again.” When West Germany and Austria met again in 1982 the contrast could not have been greater. A 1-0 West German victory would take both sides into the second round and after Horst Hrubesch scored on ten minutes the contest was over. The two teams passed the ball around at a snail’s pace thereafter, earning the match the moniker ‘Der Nichtangriffspakt von Gijon’ – “The non-aggression pact of Gijon”.

Polster magic

“For me there is only either or – either all the way or completely.” This quote from Toni Polster sums up Austria’s record scorer who between 1982 and 2000 scored 44 goals in 95 games. Polster was as popular off the pitch as on it, most famously as lead singer of the band Die Fabulösen Thekenschlampen (The Fabulous Barsluts). Singing obviously comes naturally to retired Austrian footballers: Hans Krankl reached No2 in the Austrian charts with Lonely Boy in 1985.

Wembley Toni

Few moments truly touch a country’s sporting consciousness. For Austrians, skier Franz Klammer winning Olympic gold in 1976, Niki Lauda surviving his crash at the Nürburgring, Krankl’s winner against West Germany and Toni Fritsch’s two goals at Wembley in 1965. England would win the World Cup nine months later, but that October night it was Austria that played like champions. Fritsch scored twice in a 3-2 triumph and the legend of Wembley Toni was born. One of those goals, a long-range screamer, set Fritsch up for future success in another sport. When the Dallas Cowboys toured Europe looking for a place-kicker in 1971, former Austria coach Leopold Stastny put Fritsch’s name forward. Fritsch’s Wembley goal had put him on the path to Super Bowl glory.

History makers

Austria’s 7-5 defeat of Switzerland in the quarter-finals of the 1954 World Cup is still the highest-scoring game in that tournament’s history. In 35C heat in Lausanne, Switzerland raced into a 3-0 lead within 20 minutes. With no substitutes allowed, Austria goalkeeper Kurt Schmied played on despite suffering sunstroke, however, Austria battled back, scoring five times in the next 15 minutes to run away with the game. After losing to eventual champions West Germany in the semi-finals, Austria would beat Uruguay in the third-place play-off, their best ever finish.

Heroes

Andreas Herzog, known affectionately as ‘Herzilein’ (Sweetheart), is Austria’s most capped player with 103 appearances. The country’s most famous footballing figure, though, is the late, great Ernst Happel. Happel was capped 51 times and was the star of the team that finished third at the 1954 World Cup. He is best remembered, though, for his success as a coach, lifting the European Champion Clubs’ Cup with Feyenoord in 1970 and Hamburger SV in 1983 and taking the Netherlands to the 1978 World Cup final.

Each UEFA European Championship has had its tactical benchmarks - and UEFA EURO 2008™ will doubtless give us fresh and fascinating insights into the way the modern game is played.

Defensive focus

For the first EUROs in the 1960s, the old 2-3-5 formation - featuring two full-backs, two wing-halves, a centre-half, two wingers, two inside-forwards and a centre-forward - was making way for increasingly sophisticated tactics, which sometimes reflected a new defensive-minded philosophy. Rather than focus on scoring goals, there came a new emphasis on not conceding. New systems such as the 4-3-3 (often not featuring a winger), the 4-4-2 or the 4-2-4 came into fashion as the game evolved.

Evolving positions

Individual positions also evolved. Italy’s 1968 champions featured not only the customary solid defence and stealthy attackers, but also a full-back of considerable attacking potential in Giacinto Facchetti who helped redefine his position. Playmakers came into fashion like the brilliant Günter Netzer, a member of West Germany’s splendid 1972 champions. If the playmaker was able to score goals on a regular basis, either from open play or through deft free-kicks, you were really in business – in 1984, France’s Michel Platini finished as leading scorer in the tournament with nine goals in five matches on home soil.

Sweeper system

In the 1970s, the ‘libero’ or ’sweeper’ was born. This fluid position could feature a purely defensive ‘libero’ stationed behind his defence to sweep up opposing breakthroughs – and was given a new slant by the elegant German Franz Beckenbauer, captain of West Germany’s 1972 team, who used his skill and vision to move forward out of defence and kick-start his team’s attacks.

Study group

The game has become increasingly sophisticated in tactical terms over the years, with defences proving even harderto break down, and these developments have been monitored at recent EUROs by UEFA’s technical study group, comprising experienced coaches and technical experts, who identify the prevailing tactical trends every four years. ‘Vacuum cleaner’ At EURO ‘96™ in England, the trend was towards strong, almost impregnable defensive blocks, the “flooding” of midfield by teams perhaps playing a 3-5-2 system, and a dearth of wingers which was compensated for by hard-working wide players or overlapping full-backs. Counterattacking, often by strikers with pace, and individual brilliance was needed to destabilise tough defensive blocks. A defensive midfielder also helped contain counterattacks. Goalkeepers needed to become footballers after changes to the backpass rule.

Diamond formation

In the Netherlands and Belgium in 2000, the tactical talk was of the diamond-shaped midfield – a defensive midfielder, two ‘normal’ midfielders and a central player supporting the strikers. Lone strikers made their mark. A two-man screen of defensive midfielders helped bolster other rearguards against danger and footballers increasingly needed to be complete players – tactically mature, versatile, adaptable, flexible and quick-thinking – as well as phenomenally fit.

Greek success

By the 2004 finals, the marriage of skill and speed was essential as the game became even faster. The collective, massed defensive block held sway, which required opponents to break out and counterattack at speed to outwit their opponents. Slow build-up, combination play and ball circulation proved somewhat ineffective against such systems, but there was a welcome resurgence in wing play as teams tried to get around the massed rearguards. Set-plays also provided the key for many of the goals in Portugal. Exceptional tactical discipline, organisation and team spirit gave Greece the chance to become unexpected champions. The game never stops evolving – what can we expect in Austria and Switzerland? UEFA EURO 2008™ will certainly provide a wealth of fascinating tactical talking-points for experts and fans alike.

Few men have left such a distinct mark, by the sheer force of their personality, on such a universal activity as football, as Henri Delaunay – UEFA’s first General Secretary and the pioneer behind the UEFA European Championship.

Prodigious rise

Born in Paris on 19 November 1883, Delaunay was chosen in 1906 – at the age of 23 – as general secretary of the newly-founded French Interfederal Committee, which became the French Football Federation in 1919. Delaunay was an undisputed football expert. He was a referee, and began his international career in 1920 when FIFA asked him to sit on its new consultative committee for the Laws of the Game.

Global impact

In 1924, when FIFA took its place on the International Board – the guardian of the Laws of the Game – Delaunay was without interruption one of the two delegates, and it was he who, from 1930, compiled the first series of decisions regarding the interpretation of the laws. The crucial role played by Henri Delaunay in the creation of the World Cup is not widely known.

Open entry

At the 1928 FIFA Congress in Amsterdam, chaired by Jules Rimet, Delaunay staunchly defended and pushed through a decisive resolution to organise a competition which would be open to the teams of all affiliated national associations. In 1927, he submitted a proposal to world football’s governing body, in conjunction with the great Austrian official Hugo Meisl, for the creation of a European Nations’ Cup, to run concurrently with the World Cup, which would involve “a qualifying competition every two years”.

European role

For Delaunay, who had played an influential role in the founding of the European Football Union, the Nations’ Cup (UEFA European Championship) was no doubt as crucial to UEFA as the World Cup was to FIFA. The idea, he wrote after the UEFA Basel assembly in 1954, was for a competition open to all of the European associations. A three-member committee was entrusted with examining this difficult problem making sure the competition would not lead to an infinite number of matches or be harmful to the World Cup, and lastly, that participants should not always be forced to meet the same opponents in the same group.

Lasting association

Unfortunately, due to illness, Delaunay was unable to present these arguments. He passed away during the night of 9-10 November 1955, and would not see the birth of his competition three years later. It is quite right and fitting that the tournament – which has grown into such a success story – should carry the name of its eternal defender as a subtitle.