Switzerland keen to stand up to neighbours France

Switzerland will hope for a marked improvement on their only previous final tournament meetings with France as the neighbours reconvene for their last UEFA EURO 2016 Group A match.

Previous meetings
• Switzerland's record in 37 games against France is W12 D9 L16, but they have yet to win a competitive encounter with Les Bleus (W0 D3 L2).

• After 32 friendly fixtures between 1905 and 2003, their first competitive meeting was in their final group match at UEFA EURO 2004, when Jacques Santini's France defeated Jakob Kuhn's Switzerland 3-1. Zinédine Zidane and Thierry Henry (two) scored the France goals, while Switzerland's consolation came from Johan Vonlanthen, who became the EURO finals' youngest ever marksman at 18 years 141 days.

• The teams for that game in Coimbra on 18 June 2004 were:
Switzerland: Stiel, Henchoz (Magnin 85), M Yakin, Vogel, Cabanas, Wicky, H Yakin (Huggel 60), Gygax (Rama 85), Spycher, Müller, Vonlanthen.
France: Barthez, Lizarazu, Vieira, Makelele, Pirès, Zidane, Henry, Silvestre, Thuram, Sagnol (Gallas 46, Boumsong 90+2), Trezeguet (Saha 75).

• The countries shared two draws en route to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where they were paired again and played out another stalemate in their opening group encounter in Stuttgart.

• It was a different story when they faced off in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Didier Deschamps' France running out 5-2 victors against Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland with five different goalscorers.

• The teams for that game in Salvador on 20 June 2014 were:
Switzerland: Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Rodriguez, Inler, Djourou, Von Bergen (Senderos 9), Shaqiri, Behrami (Džemaili 46), Seferovic (Drmic 69), Xhaka, Mehmedi.
France: Lloris, Debuchy, Evra, Cabaye, Varane, Sakho (Koscielny 66), Sissoko, Matuidi, Giroud (Pogba 63), Valbuena (Griezmann 82), Benzema.

EURO facts – Switzerland
• Two Swiss clubs have played UEFA competition games in Lille – Basel lost 2-0 to Lille in the UEFA Cup round of 32 in February 2005, while Grasshoppers held LOSC 1-1 in UEFA Champions League qualifying in August 2014. Swiss international Michael Lang played for the visitors in the latter game.

• Switzerland's record in qualifying was W7 D0 L3, with two of those defeats coming against Group E winners England.

• This is Switzerland's first continental final tournament since they co-hosted UEFA EURO 2008 with Austria. They lost their opening two games and bowed out at the group stage despite a 2-0 triumph over Portugal in their final match.

• That success against Portugal was Switzerland's first win in nine EURO finals fixtures (W1 D2 L6). They have yet to make it through the group stage in three attempts.

EURO facts – France
• France have won all four of their games in and around Lille and have not conceded in the city for over 100 years: 4-3 v Belgium 1914, 2-0 v Tunisia 1978, 2-0 v Armenia 1996, 8-0 v Jamaica 2014.

• France are one of only three nations to have won a EURO as final tournament hosts, along with Spain (1964) and Italy (1968).

Coach and player links
• Play together:
Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland) & Benoît Costil (France) – Rennes
Stephan Lichtsteiner (Switzerland) & Patrice Evra and Paul Pogba (France) – Juventus

• Have played together:
Stephan Lichtsteiner (Switzerland) and Kingsley Coman (France) – Juventus, 2014–15

• Switzerland's François Moubandje – who turns 26 on 21 June – plays in France for Toulouse.

• Lichtsteiner knows Lille well, having represented LOSC from 2005–08.

• Switzerland's Rodriguez was in the Wolfsburg side that denied a Manchester United team featuring France's Morgan Schneiderlin and Anthony Martial a place in this season's UEFA Champions League round of 16.

• On 4 August 2015, Martial scored in Monaco's 4-0 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round win against a Young Boys side containing Switzerland's Steve von Bergen.

• Switzerland's Admir Mehmedi scored in both of Leverkusen's 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group games against a Roma team including France's Lucas Digne – the matches ended in a 4-4 draw and a 3-2 win for Leverkusen.

• Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer (Borussia Mönchengladbach) came up against France's Pogba, Evra (Juventus), Bacary Sagna (Manchester City) and Adil Rami (Sevilla) in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Granit Xhaka also played in those games against Sevilla for Mönchengladbach.