Switzerland v Poland background

Switzerland and Poland have both qualified for the knockout phase of a UEFA European Championship for the first time, but Adam Nawałka's side may have reason to be more optimistic as they meet in Saint-Etienne.

Previous meetings
• Poland have had the better of the teams' ten encounters to date with the record W4 D5 L1. Switzerland's lone victory came in a 1976 friendly in Basel (2-1).

• The sides' most recent tussle was a 2-2 friendly draw in Wroclaw in November 2014, Fabian Frei scoring a late equaliser for Switzerland in a 2-2 draw after his team-mate Josip Drmic had put the visitors into an early lead. Artur Jędrzejczyk and Arkadiusz Milik scored in between for Poland.

• Their only competitive meetings were in qualifying for the 1980 UEFA European Championship, Poland winning 2-0 home and away.

EURO facts: Switzerland
• Switzerland have progressed from the group stage of a EURO for the first time in four attempts; their record in 12 finals games now reads W2 D4 L6.

• Switzerland have not made it through a knockout match at a major tournament in four attempts since overcoming Germany in a replay of a first-round game at the 1938 FIFA World Cup – which, like UEFA EURO 2016, was staged in France.

• Switzerland are undefeated at these finals (W1 D2) and are on a four-match unbeaten streak in all games (W2 D2). Their record in qualifying was W7 D0 L3, with two of those reversals coming against section winners England.

• This is Switzerland's first outing in Saint-Etienne. Two Swiss clubs have played UEFA fixtures at the stadium: FC La Chaux-de-Fonds drew 2-2 at AS Saint-Étienne in a 1964/65 European Champion Clubs' Cup preliminary round tie, while FC Basel 1893 – featuring EURO squad members Michael Lang and Breel Embolo – crashed 3-2 to Les Verts in this season's UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• This is Switzerland's first continental final tournament since co-hosting UEFA EURO 2008 with Austria.

©AFP/Getty Images

EURO facts: Poland
• Poland are appearing at their third straight EURO final tournament; prior to UEFA EURO 2016 they had never won a finals game (D3 L3), but here they have advanced through the group stage for the first time with a record of W2 D1.

• This is Poland's first match in Saint-Etienne. Three Polish clubs played UEFA away fixtures against St-Étienne: Legia Warszawa were 1-0 victors in a 1969 European Cup tie but both subsequent visitors – Ruch Chorzów in 1975 and Widzew Łódź in 1979 – lost without scoring.

• Poland have not conceded a goal in their last four games, their three clean sheets in France following a 0-0 friendly draw with Lithuania.

• Poland's greatest success on the international stage was winning bronze medals at the 1974 and 1982 World Cups.

• Robert Lewandowski was the top Polish scorer in qualifying with 13 goals, matching the competition record set by Northern Ireland's David Healy in UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying.

• Poland netted 33 goals during qualification – two more than the next most prolific country, England.

Coach and player links
• Current team-mates
Roman Bürki and Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund 2015–)
Gelson Fernandes and Kamil Grosicki (Stade Rennais FC 2014–)