Switzerland vs Turkey: UEFA EURO 2020 match background, facts and stats

Memories of a remarkable group stage encounter will be stirred as Switzerland take on Turkey in the final round of Group A games at UEFA EURO 2020.

• Neither side has won a game in the tournament so far, Switzerland drawing 1-1 with Wales in Baku before a 3-0 loss to Italy in Rome to sit third in the section, while fourth-placed Turkey were also beaten 3-0 by Italy in Rome before going down 2-0 against Wales in Baku.

• Switzerland can finish in the top two if they win and Wales lose to Italy in Group A's other Matchday 3 game – the teams will then be separated on goal difference – but will be eliminated if they lose. Turkey cannot finish in the top two and must beat Switzerland to come third in the group.

Previous meetings

• This is the teams' first fixture since Turkey produced a comeback victory against the co-hosts on Matchday 2 of UEFA EURO 2008. Switzerland led at half-time in a rain-soaked Basel thanks to Hakan Yakin's strike, but second-half goals from Semih Şentürk and, two minutes into added time, Arda Turan earned Turkey only their second EURO finals win, the first having also been against a host nation, Belgium, in 2000.

• Those three points proved significant as Fatih Terim's team went on to progress from the group, eventually reaching the semi-finals; Köbi Kuhn's Switzerland finished bottom of the section on three points.

• The Swiss had triumphed in an eventful 2006 FIFA World Cup play-off against Turkey, going through on away goals after a 2-0 home win was followed by a 4-2 away defeat, Marco Streller's goal six minutes from time in Istanbul proving decisive.

• Turkey have won eight of the 15 matches between the two sides, with Switzerland coming out on top four times. Both sides recorded a 2-1 away win in qualifying for EURO '96, Switzerland finishing top of Group 3 with Turkey runners-up – both teams therefore qualified for the final tournament for the first time.

• The teams' other EURO fixtures came in qualifying for the 1976 event, Turkey winning 2-1 at home before a 1-1 away draw.

• Turkey also recorded an away draw (0-0) and a home win (2-0) against Switzerland in their only other competitive matches, in the 1974 FIFA World Cup preliminaries, but both sides finished behind Italy in their section and missed out on the finals.

EURO facts: Switzerland

• This is Switzerland's fifth EURO, all in the last seven editions of the competition. Eliminated in the group stage in 1996, 2004 and as co-hosts in 2008, they finished second in their section at UEFA EURO 2016 behind hosts France but bowed out in the last 16, losing 5-4 on penalties to Poland after a 1-1 draw.

• Switzerland's record in 15 EURO finals games is now W2 D6 L7.

• This is Switzerland's fourth successive appearance in a major tournament having also qualified for the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, reaching the last 16 at both.

• The Swiss booked their place at UEFA EURO 2020 by finishing first in Group D, taking 17 points from their eight qualifiers. They won four of their last five matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding only two in that five-game sequence with three clean sheets.

• The defeat by Italy last time out was only Switzerland's second defeat in their last 16 EURO fixtures, qualifying and final tournament combined (W8 D6), the other a 1-0 loss away to Denmark in October 2019. They were unbeaten at UEFA EURO 2016 (W1 D3), with their shoot-out elimination to Poland classed as a draw.

• Switzerland finished fourth in the inaugural UEFA Nations League in 2019, losing 3-1 to hosts and eventual champions Portugal in the semi-finals and 6-5 on penalties to England in the third-place play-off after a goalless 120 minutes.

• This is Switzerland's third game in Baku, where they drew with Wales on Matchday 1; they lost 1-0 to Azerbaijan on 31 August 1996 in their opening 1998 World Cup qualifier.

EURO facts: Turkey

• This is Turkey's fifth appearance at a UEFA European Championship, having made their finals debut in 1996. They reached the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2000 and the last four of UEFA EURO 2008 but failed to qualify for the 2004 and 2012 tournaments.

• Turkey's record in 17 EURO finals games is now W4 D2 L11.

• Four years ago, Terim's team finished third in their section behind Croatia and Spain, missing out on a place in the round of 16 despite concluding their group campaign with a 2-0 defeat of the Czech Republic. That proved insufficient for a place in the knockout stages after defeats by both Croatia (0-1) and Spain (0-3) – the latter equalling Turkey's biggest defeat in a EURO finals, which was matched on Matchday 1 against Italy.

• Reaching that 2008 semi-final against Germany in Basel, Switzerland – which Turkey lost 3-2 – matched their greatest international achievement. A side coached, as now, by Şenol Güneş received bronze medals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup after defeating co-hosts South Korea in the third-place play-off.

• Turkey qualified for UEFA EURO 2020 by finishing second in Group H behind world champions France, picking up 23 points from their ten matches. Four of those points came against Les Bleus (2-0 h, 1-1 a), with France's goal in the latter encounter the only one Turkey conceded in their last six qualifiers.

• Şenol Güneş's side conceded only three goals in qualifying, the joint best defensive record alongside Belgium. They kept eight clean sheets – more than any other team.

• This is Turkey's sixth match in Baku, where they lost to Wales on Matchday 2. That was their first game there since a 1-0 loss to Azerbaijan in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying in October 2010. That was their first defeat in the city, having previously won two and drawn one; the match with Wales, which made it successive defeats in Baku, was their first game at the Olympic Stadium.

Links and trivia

• Turkey coach Şenol Güneş was born on 1 June 1952, the day of the first game between Turkey and Switzerland – a 5-1 friendly win for the Swiss in an Ankara friendly.

• Switzerland coach Vladimir Petković was in charge of Turkish side Samsunspor between 2011 and 2012.

• Have played together:
Ricardo Rodríguez & Hakan Çalhanoğlu (AC Milan 2017–20)
Admir Mehmedi & Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Bayer Leverkusen 2015–17)
Steven Zuber & Ozan Kabak (Stuttgart 2019)

• Haris Seferović scored Benfica's winner in a 2-1 victory at Galatasaray in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg.

• Switzerland defender Eray Cömert is of Turkish descent.

Latest news

Switzerland

• The opening draw against Wales ended Switzerland's five-match winning run, which had been extended by victories in UEFA EURO 2020 warm-up games in St Gallen against the United States (2-1) and Liechtenstein (7-0). The defeat by Italy was the first for Vladimir Petković's side in eight matches.

• Mario Gavranović scored three of Switzerland's goals against Liechtenstein – the only UEFA EURO 2020 participant to register a hat-trick in any of the pre-tournament friendlies. It was his first international treble.

• Two Switzerland squad members were domestic champions in 2020/21 – Gavranović with Dinamo Zagreb and Christian Fassnacht with Young Boys – while Manuel Akanji was the only domestic cup winner, helping Borussia Dortmund claim the DFB-Pokal.

• Breel Embolo's goal against Wales was his first in a final tournament at the ninth attempt and just his sixth in 45 international appearances.

• Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka has not missed an international for over three years, since a friendly against Spain on 3 June 2018. In that time he has run up 35 successive appearances, the first 30 all in the starting XI. The last competitive international he failed to start was a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Hungary on 7 October 2016, for which he was suspended; he has been selected for all 37 since.

• Xhaka is set to appear in his 27th EURO encounter – finals and qualifying combined – which is two shy of Stéphane Chapuisat's Switzerland record.

• Xhaka is one of ten members of the Switzerland squad who were also involved at UEFA EURO 2016, along with Nico Elvedi, Embolo, Admir Mehmedi, Ricardo Rodríguez, Fabian Schär, Haris Seferović, Xherdan Shaqiri, Yann Sommer and Denis Zakaria, although Elvedi and Zakaria did not actually play in France.

Turkey

• The defeats by Italy and Wales mean that Turkey have lost five of their last six matches at the EURO finals, failing to score in all of the last four defeats. They also lost their first two fixtures at the 1996 and 2016 tournaments, exiting at the end of the group stage in both. At EURO '96 they were eliminated with three defeats and no goals scored.

• This is the first time Turkey have suffered back-to-back defeats since losing successive UEFA Nations League games against Russia (0-2 a) and Sweden (0-1 h) in the autumn of 2018. They have not lost three matches in a row since November 2010.

• Turkey played three warm-up games prior to UEFA EURO 2020, beating Azerbaijan 2-1 in Alanya, drawing 0-0 with Guinea in Antalya and prevailing 2-0 against Moldova in the German town of Paderborn. The defeat by Italy ended a six-match unbeaten run.

• There were international debuts in those friendlies for three squad members – Altay Bayındar, Ridvan Yılmaz and Halil Dervişoğlu, who marked his with a goal 34 minutes into the game against Azerbaijan.

• There are just three survivors in the Turkey squad from UEFA EURO 2016 – Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Ozan Tufan and Burak Yılmaz. Ozan and Burak were the team's only scorers in France, with one goal apiece. All three players started the opening two UEFA EURO 2020 games against Italy and Wales.

• Burak scored 16 goals to help LOSC Lille become champions of France in 2020/21, his fellow Turkey squad members Yusuf Yazıcı and Zeki Çelik also contributing to the club's Ligue 1 title triumph. Çağlar Söyüncü and Cengiz Ünder were FA Cup winners in England with Leicester City, while Merih Demiral lifted the Coppa Italia with Juventus.

• There are only two members of Beşiktaş's 2020/21 Turkish league and cup double-winning side in the UEFA EURO 2020 squad – midfielder Dorukhan Toköz and Ridvan Yılmaz. Neither has made an appearance in the tournament so far.

• Turkey's defeat by Italy prolonged their record of losing every opening game at a EURO final tournament. Demiral's own goal was the first Turkey had ever conceded at the finals.