England vs Switzerland facts

After dramatic but contrasting round of 16 victories, England and Switzerland meet at the Düsseldorf Arena in the third UEFA EURO 2024 quarter-final.

Switzerland were the first side to book their place in the last eight as a goal in each half from Remo Freuler (37) and Ruben Vargas (46) earned a 2-0 defeat of holders Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on 29 June. The following day, England needed a 95th-minute Jude Bellingham equaliser to avoid an exit to Slovakia, Harry Kane's header a minute into extra time eventually earning a 2-1 comeback win at Gelsenkirchen's Arena AufSchalke.

England had qualified as Group C winners, opening with a 1-0 win against Serbia before draws against Denmark (1-1) and Slovenia (0-0). Switzerland, meanwhile, were Group A runners-up, denied first place only by an added-time Germany equaliser on Matchday 3 that snatched a 1-1 draw; they had previously beaten Hungary 3-1 and drawn 1-1 with Scotland.

The winners of this tie will play Netherlands or Türkiye in the semi-final at the BVB Stadion Dortmund on 10 July.

Previous meetings

Matches 27
England wins 18
Switzerland wins 3
Draws 6
England goals 59
Switzerland goals 20

England have dominated matches between the countries, winning 18 of the 27 fixtures including each of the last five – one via a penalty shoot-out – and are unbeaten in 13, since a 2-1 defeat in Basel in the 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifying competition.

The most recent game between the teams was a 2-1 England friendly win at Wembley on 26 March 2022, a 78th-minute Harry Kane penalty giving Gareth Southgate's England the victory. Breel Embolo had put Murat Yakin's Switzerland into a 22nd-minute lead, Luke Shaw equalising for the home side a minute into first-half added time.

Embolo's strike is Switzerland's only goal in their last five matches against England.

The sides' last competitive fixture was a goalless draw in the third-place play-off at the 2019 UEFA Nations League finals in Portugal, England prevailing 6-5 on penalties. Jordan Pickford converted England's fifth penalty; Steven Zuber, Granit Xhaka, Manuel Akanji and Fabian Schär all scored for Switzerland with Josip Drmić the only player from either side to fail from the spot.

The teams have met in two previous UEFA European Championships, most recently at EURO 2004 when England were 3-0 Matchday 2 winners in Coimbra in Portugal thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney (23, 75) and another from Steven Gerrard (82) with Switzerland defender Bernt Haas sent off on the hour for two bookings.

Switzerland's first game in a EURO final tournament pitted them against England in the opening fixture of EURO '96 at Wembley. A Kubilay Türkyilmaz penalty seven minutes from time, awarded after a Stuart Pearce handball, earned Artur Jorge's side a 1-1 draw, Alan Shearer having given Terry Venables' England a 23rd-minute lead.

An England side coach by Roy Hodgson – who had been in charge of Switzerland between 1992 and 1995 – beat the Swiss 2-0 in both Basel and London in EURO 2016 qualifying, Kane opening the scoring at Wembley.

England also took four points off Switzerland in the EURO 2012 qualifying competition, winning 3-1 away before a 2-2 home draw.

It had been a similar story in the teams' first European Championship games, in the 1972 qualifying competition; England won 3-2 in Basel in October 1971 before being held to a 1-1 home draw the following month.

The teams' first competitive fixture came in the 1954 World Cup group stage, England winning 2-0 in Bern.

Each side recorded a 2-1 home win in 1982 World Cup qualifying – Switzerland's success at St. Jakob-Park in Basel on 30 May 1981 their sole victory in their 12 competitive games against England (D4 L7).

Switzerland won two of their first three games against England but have managed one victory in the subsequent 24, losing 17.

EURO facts

England

The Three Lions are making their 11th appearance at the final tournament and a ninth in the last ten editions of the competition, missing out only in 2008.

EURO 2020 proved to be England's most successful EURO campaign as they finished first in Group D ahead of Croatia, Czechia and Scotland before knockout wins against Germany (2-0), Ukraine (4-0) and Denmark (2-1 aet) took them into the final for the first time.

Shaw's second-minute goal gave them the lead against Italy at Wembley, but after the Azzurri levelled Southgate's side ultimately lost 3-2 on penalties.

In charge since 2016, Southgate oversaw an unbeaten qualifying campaign for EURO 2024, his side winning six of their eight games, scoring 22 goals and conceding only four, to finish six points clear at the top of Group C. England reached a fourth successive EURO with two matches to spare thanks to a 3-1 home win against Italy on 17 October.

The extra-time win against Slovakia was England's third in their last nine matches (D4 L2).

England have now qualified from the group stage on their last five European Championship appearances, having failed to progress to the knockout rounds in three of the previous four.

England are unbeaten in their last 11 EURO matches, since a 2-1 loss to Iceland in the 2016 round of 16 (W7 D4).

All four of England's EURO 2024 goals have been scored by Bellingham and Kane – two each.

Kane made his 79th competitive appearance for England in the round of 16 against Slovakia – a new national record. He had been level with Peter Shilton on 78.

England's record in EURO quarter-finals is W3 L3:
1968 3-1 v Spain (agg; 1-0 h, 2-1 a)
1972 1-3 v West Germany (1-3 h, 0-0 a)
1996 0-0 v Spain (aet, 4-2 pens)
2004 2-2 v Portugal (aet, 5-6 pens)
2012 0-0 v Italy (aet, 2-4 pens)
2020 4-0 v Ukraine

This is the first time England have reached successive quarter-finals at EURO final tournaments.

This is England's first game at the Düsseldorf Arena. They have played twice before in the city, at the Rheinstadion, losing 3-1 to West Germany in a September 1987 friendly and by the same scoreline against the Netherlands on Matchday 2 of the 1988 UEFA European Championship, a game in which Marco van Basten famously scored a hat-trick.

Switzerland

The Swiss made their finals debut at EURO '96 and have qualified a further five times since; EURO 2024 is their fifth finals in the last six editions of the tournament.

Switzerland produced their previous best performance at EURO 2020, progressing in third place from Group A having finished level with Wales on four points, five behind Italy. They then stunned world champions France in the round of 16, winning 5-4 on penalties after a 3-3 draw – Haris Seferović and Mario Gavranović scoring in the final nine minutes to force extra time – before bowing out to Spain in the last eight, also on spot kicks, losing 3-1 after a 1-1 draw.

Switzerland had qualified for the EURO knockout stages for the first time in 2016, that tie also decided by a penalty shoot-out – Poland winning 5-4 after a 1-1 draw.

Vladimir Petković oversaw Switzerland's EURO 2020 campaign before making way for Yakin in August 2021.

Yakin's side qualified for EURO 2024 as Group I runners-up behind Romania, picking up 17 points from their ten games (W4 D5 L1) to finish five behind the section winners. Their sole defeat was a 1-0 loss in Bucharest in their final fixture, a result that confirmed them in second place; the Swiss had booked their finals place with a 1-1 home draw against Kosovo in their previous game.

Switzerland won their first three qualifiers but managed only one more victory in their next seven games and none in the last four (D3 L1).

The Swiss have drawn four of their last six games at EURO finals, including two of the last three. They are unbeaten in seven at the tournament (W3 D4), since a 3-0 loss to Italy in Rome on Matchday 2 of EURO 2020 that is their only loss in their last 14 fixtures (W5 D8).

Switzerland are also unbeaten in their eight matches in 2024 (W4 D4), drawing three of their last five matches 1-1. The 1-0 reverse in Romania in their final EURO 2024 qualifier on 21 November 2023 is their only loss since the 6-1 defeat by Portugal in the 2022 World Cup round of 16. Their record since is otherwise W8 D9.

Switzerland failed to progress beyond the group stage in their first three EURO appearances but have now reached the knockout rounds in each of the last three tournaments.

The round of 16 defeat of Italy was Switzerland's first knockout win in 90 minutes at a EURO final tournament. All three of their previous ties had been settled on penalties – against Poland in the 2016 round of 16 and at EURO 2020, against France and Spain.

That defeat by Spain at EURO 2020 is Switzerland's only previous EURO quarter-final. They have taken part in three World Cup quarter-finals, losing to Czechoslovakia in 1934 (2-3), Hungary in 1938 (0-2) and, most recently, Austria in 1954 (5-7).

This is Switzerland's second game at the Düsseldorf Arena; they lost 3-1 to Germany in a friendly on 7 February 2007. They have played one other game in the city, a 5-1 friendly loss against West Germany at the Rheinstadion on 15 November 1972.

Links and trivia

Have played in England:
Manuel Akanji (Manchester City 2022–)
Fabian Schär (Newcastle 2018–)
Zeki Amdouni (Burnley 2023–)
Granit Xhaka (Arsenal 2016–23)
Remo Freuler (Nottingham Forest 2022–23)
Dennis Zakaria (Chelsea 2022/23 loan)
Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke 2015–18, Liverpool 2018–21)

Have played together:
Kyle Walker, John Stones, Phil Foden & Manuel Akanji (Manchester City 2022–)
Anthony Gordon & Fabian Schär (Newcastle 2023–)
Kieran Trippier & Fabian Schär (Newcastle 2022–)
Bukayo Saka & Granit Xhaka (Arsenal 2018–23)
Aaron Ramsdale & Granit Xhaka (Arsenal 2018–23)
Jude Bellingham & Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund 2021–23)
Jude Bellingham & Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund 2020–22)
Trent Alexander-Arnold & Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool 2018–21)

Walker, Stones, Foden and Akanji were all part of the Manchester City side that won the UEFA Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in 2022/23, and also retained the Premier League title in 2023/24.

Penalty shoot-outs

England's record in ten competitive penalty shoot-outs is W3 L7, the EURO 2020 final defeat by Italy making it six losses in the last eight:
3-4 v West Germany, 1990 World Cup semi-final
4-2 v Spain, EURO '96 quarter-final
5-6 v Germany, EURO '96 semi-final
3-4 v Argentina, 1998 World Cup round of 16
5-6 v Portugal, EURO 2004 quarter-final
1-3 v Portugal, 2006 World Cup quarter-final
2-4 v Italy, EURO 2012 quarter-final
4-3 v Colombia, 2018 World Cup round of 16
6-5 v Switzerland, 2019 Nations League third-place play-off
2-3 v Italy, EURO 2020 final

Switzerland have won one of their five competitive penalty shoot-outs:
0-3 v Ukraine, 2006 World Cup round of 16
4-5 v Poland, EURO 2016 round of 16
5-6 v England, 2019 Nations League third-place play-off
5-4 v France, EURO 2020 round of 16
1-3 v Spain, EURO 2020 quarter-final