Switzerland — 2026 World Cup Squad

The Swiss never arrive as anyone's favourites, and that suits them. What they bring to Group B is a kind of quiet certainty: a defence that knows exactly what it is. Manuel Akanji has spent the season reading games before they happen at Inter Milan, and behind him Gregor Kobel is the safety net Dortmund would not function without. Few teams can point to a goalkeeper and a centre-back of that calibre and call it the floor rather than the ceiling.

The midfield is where the personality lives. Granit Xhaka, rebuilt and relished at Sunderland, still sets the pulse of everything Switzerland do, slowing the game when it suits and quickening it when it doesn't. Denis Zakaria covers the ground beside him with the legs Monaco rely on weekly, and Ardon Jashari, now at AC Milan, supplies the youthful urgency that keeps the trio from going stale. It is a balanced engine, if not always a thrilling one.

The honest worry is up front. Breel Embolo runs himself ragged at Rennes but goals have never come in floods for this side. Switzerland will frustrate, defend deep, and trust Xhaka to find the one moment that decides a tight game.