At the European level, the Swiss team ends its year on a European podium. But it’s probably not necessarily the one… she was aiming for! Installed on the third step, the national team is “rewarded” for having one of the highest averages in terms of player age. On average, Murat Yakin’s internationals who have played on the pitch in 2024 are 28.79 years old according to the scale established by the CIES Football Observatory in Neuchâtel.
A weighted figure, established on all matches played in 2024, therefore high but which should tend to naturally decrease following the international retirements after the German Euro of Yann Sommer (35 years old), Xherdan Shakiri (32 years old) and Fabian Schär (32 years old). The role of “veteran” now falls to Granit Xhaka and Ricardo Rodriguez.
In this particular UEFA ranking, Montenegro (28.94 years) wins by a few “days” ahead of Slovakia (28.92 years). Conversely, the lowest values were recorded by players from the Principality of San Marino (24.31 years), ahead of those from Northern Ireland (24.39) and Estonia (25 .82 years old).
On a global level, the record for the oldest selection goes to Peru, which, with internationals having an average age of 30.38, is also the only one of the 144 countries examined to exceed thirty. The Lima selection is followed by Iran (29.75) and Chile (29.53). With its average age of 28.79 per selected player, Switzerland is in 13th place, just behind the Argentinian world champions (28.89 years).
The honorary title of youngest team in the world of football goes to the Cayman Islands, whose selection does not exceed the average age of 23.05.
The CIES analysis also details the percentage of minutes by age group. It turns out that the Swiss coach only offered players aged 21 or under… 0.6% of playing time during matches. As an indication, this proportion rises to 14.5% for Spain, a percentage also reached by Germany, which, like La Roja, is also seeing the arrival of a new generation.
In Switzerland, the process started is proving to be significantly slower. So Murat Yakin, when will we see a real hair-raising facelift?
