The draw for the World Cup qualification presents a difficult task for national coach Murat Yakin’s team. Yakin has until September to move his team forward after the weak autumn.
The Swiss national coach Murat Yakin said with his well-known calmness that he wanted to “do justice to the role of favorites” with his team.
Ennio Leanza / Keystone
When the fourth qualifying opponent for the Swiss footballers was drawn, captain Granit Xhaka’s pulse in particular must have soared: Kosovo – again. “We have never been able to win against Kosovo,” said Xhaka. Kosovo is “a strong team and of course always a special and beautiful game for me and my family.”
The selection from the country of origin of Xhaka’s parents was already the opponent of the Swiss in the most recent qualification for the European Championships in Germany. There was a draw each in Pristina and Basel, and in the 2022 test match they drew 1-1. The emotional circumstances were always complicated for Xhaka (and Xherdan Shaqiri, who has since resigned).
“That’s long over,” said Pierluigi Tami after the draw at the Home of Fifa on the Zürichberg. “We know the team from Kosovo well,” said the national team director, “now we have the opportunity to win for the first time.” Many players in the Kosovo national team play in Switzerland or have taken their first steps in the Super League.
“The strongest opponent from every pot,” says Murat Yakin
Lugano’s goalie Amir Saipi recently decided to play for Kosovo, and Bledian Krasniqi from FCZ also wants to play for Kosovo after his career with the Swiss youth team. Fidan Aliti, Donat Rrudhani, Florian Hadergjonaj and others are players in former FCZ coach Franco Foda’s team who are well-known in Switzerland.
The fact that with Kosovo from the draw pot with the weakest possible opponents the Swiss were given probably the most unpleasant opponent is fitting for a difficult draw. “We got the strongest opponent from every pot,” said Murat Yakin. But the Swiss national coach also said with his well-known calmness that he wanted to “live up to the role of favorite” with his team.
Whether Switzerland actually starts as favorites, as in previous qualifying campaigns, is of course a matter of opinion. Tami assessed the starting position differently: “There is no favorite in this group,” he said. Tami responded to the suggestion that Yakin saw things differently with a smile. “We will only see on the pitch which team has the best cards.”
Sweden with a strengthened offensive
It is clear that Sweden will be a big challenge. Coach Jon Dahl Tomasson’s team missed the European Championships in Germany and the World Cup in Qatar. But in the Nations League the Swedes recently made it to Group B.
With 26-year-old Viktor Gyökeres from Sporting Lisbon and 25-year-old Alexander Isak from Newcastle United, they have in their ranks what the Swiss are missing: two top strikers. Gyökeres and Isak have a total market value of 145 million francs according to the Transfermarkt platform. The entire Swiss squad comes to 172 million. And the memory of the 0-1 defeat in the 2018 World Cup round of 16 should be vivid in Xhaka or Manuel Akanji’s memory.
Slovenia as the third opponent is a team that recently had a respectable performance at the European Championships. The Slovenians were only eliminated from the tournament in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 against Portugal. With Captain Jan Oblak from Atlético Madrid, a world-class goalie organizes the team, which is particularly strong defensively, and with 21-year-old Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig, long-time coach Matjaz Kek’s team has a highly gifted striker in its ranks.
Until qualification begins in September, Yakin has time to advance his team with two test matches in March and June. What that means remains to be seen. Relegation in the Nations League with four defeats and two meager draws did not indicate any development. “We’ve tried a lot,” reassured Tami, now it’s about drawing “the right conclusions” and “getting back into the flow of the European Championships”.
Play-offs offer a back door to World Cup qualification
In the last twenty years, the Swiss have only missed one final tournament out of ten possible finals, the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. This is a proud achievement for a small country like Switzerland. “The World Cup qualification must therefore be our goal,” said Tami.
If the Swiss miss out on winning the group, the play-offs will only offer a back door. The twelve group winners qualify directly for the World Cup. The remaining four of the 16 European starting places will be determined by the twelve group runners-up and the four best-placed group winners from the Nations League who are not already qualified.
The next World Cup begins on June 11, 2026. The field of participants will then be increased from 32 national teams to 48, and the preliminary round will be held in groups of four as before. Two venues are in Canada, three in Mexico and eleven in the USA. The opening game will take place at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City, the final at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey near New York.
Draw for the European qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup.
Group B: SWITZERLAND, Sweden, Slovenia, Kosovo.
Group A: Winners Germany/Italy, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg.
Group C: Losers Portugal/Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Belarus.
Group D: Winners France/Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Azerbaijan.
Group E: Winners Spain/Netherlands, Türkiye, Georgia, Bulgaria.
Group F: Winners Portugal/Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Armenia.
Group G: Losers Spain/Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Malta.
Group H: Austria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, San Marino.
Group I: Losers Germany/Italy, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova.
Group J: Belgium, Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.
Group K: England, Serbia, Albania, Latvia, Andorra.
Group L: Losers France/Croatia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar.
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