Slovenia v Switzerland background

Slovenia and Switzerland meet for the first time in the UEFA European Championship in qualifying Group E, past meetings suggesting the home side are in for a tough time.

Match background
• Slovenia's record in seven matches against Switzerland is W1 D1 L5 (W0 D1 L2 at home, W1 D0 L2 in Switzerland), with those ties including a friendly played in Muscat, Oman, which Switzerland won 2-0. That fixture was the nations' first encounter.

• The sides last met in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. In their opening qualifying fixture, Granit Xhaka (20) and captain Gökhan Inler (51) scored as Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland beat Slaviša Stojanovič's Slovenia 2-0 in Ljubljana on 7 September 2012. Xhaka (74) struck again as the Swiss prevailed 1-0 when the sides' group stage campaign ended in Berne; had they won, Slovenia – by then coached by Srečko Katanec – would have earned a play-off place.

• Their first competitive encounters were in 2002 World Cup qualifying. They drew 2-2 in Bezigrad on 11 October 2000, Katanec's Slovenia striking back through Ermin Šiljak (44) and Milenko Ačimovič after Kübilay Türkyilmaz (18 and 66) had twice put Enzo Trossero's Switzerland in front.

• Better was to come in the return fixture, as a first international goal for Sebastjan Cimirotič earned the visitors a 1-0 win in Basel on 6 June 2001. Slovenia went on to finish second in the section, reaching the finals in Korea and Japan after a play-off success against Romania.

• Both teams suffered opening-day Group E losses, Switzerland going down 2-0 at home to England while Slovenia conceded four minutes from time as they lost in Estonia.

• In nine meetings between these nations in UEFA age-group competitions, Slovenia's record is W1 D1 L7.

• The nations' clubs have met in nine UEFA matches, with the Slovenian teams' record W1 D4 L4.