No goals, defeats, relegation: What the Swiss women's team is holding on to ahead of the European Football Championship

It's good to know for Swiss women's football that coach Pia Sundhage is no stranger to the power of a home tournament. The Swede led the Swedish women's national team to the European Championship on home soil in 2013, reaching the semifinals, and is still full of praise for the atmosphere on the streets outside the stadiums. At the end of 2024, she spoke to the NZZ newspaper about the tipping point —that is, what can put a team on the wave that releases its inhibitions and makes the tournament a success.

Breaking down because of excessive expectations? No. The home crowd and packed stadiums can be the extra boost that releases energy. Nothing could be simpler. Just ask Pia Sundhage.

When the Swiss women lost 1-0 to Norway last week, were relegated from Group A of the Nations League and suffered their eighth winless match in a row (goal difference 4:19), Sundhage remained calm – on the sidelines and afterwards in the match analysis, in which she tried again to explain why, just a few weeks before the European Championship at home, there is still no improvement in sight.

It's easy to imagine that the Swede won't be in danger of experiencing emotional turmoil even if the European Championship opener against Norway on July 2nd at a sold-out St. Jakob-Park doesn't go according to the Swiss script. Sundhage, the level-headed, calm, and almost chilled one, conveys the feeling in every situation that football is secondary and that life will take its course no matter what. No matter the win, no matter the loss, no matter the relegation, no matter the uneasy feelings caused by a lack of results.

Swiss women's soccer players say they have rarely been coached by a more composed person than Pia Sundhage. The 65-year-old previously wore the Swedish national team jersey 165 times and coached the women of the USA, Sweden, and Brazil from 2008 onwards. She has participated in multiple finals, won two Olympic gold medals and reached the 2011 World Cup final with the USA, and reached the 2013 European Championship semifinal with Sweden. Sundhage has seen a lot and won't be overly nervous when nearly 40,000 fans in Basel eagerly await the Switzerland-Norway match.

What's astonishing, given the negative results, is the obvious fact that the players remain in good spirits. They vow to improve after every defeat. And when that doesn't happen, they simply keep on vow-ing. They'd rather lose in the Nations League against the physically superior Norwegians than at the start of the European Championship. They'd rather be relegated from the Nations League as bottom of the table and then set off a European Championship fireworks display in July.

Of course, this attitude is linked to a sense of purposeful optimism. One can't really talk oneself down, especially since the PR offensive is just getting started. The major bank is expanding its involvement with the Swiss Football Association (SFV) in children's and school football "with a specific focus on promoting girls." A European Championship book is coming onto the market, along with European Championship magazines and a European Championship song .

In an advertising supplement from another association sponsor, female footballers are featured on the cover and presented in the best possible light. Results are secondary. SRF reporter Mona Vetsch and her camera crew are at the Stade de Tourbillon during the match against Norway. Almost 7,000 people are in attendance, including many children and girls. However, they don't see any Swiss goals.

It seems as if the relatively large Swiss European Championship delegation is unfazed by this, as if they have internalized Sundhage's motto: no panic, no nervousness, maintain self-belief. They thrive on ensuring that European Championship expectations aren't catapulted into spheres where they can no longer be controlled. The higher the flight, the greater the fall. The lower the flight, the less likely the disappointment.

When Sundhage began working in Switzerland in early 2024, she told the NZZ newspaper: "Not trying something is the biggest mistake you can make." You have to do crazy things to get the players going. Long before the Euros, the Swede named Elvira Herzog her number one goalkeeper, but suddenly gave Livia Peng two appearances in the third and second-to-last matches before the tournament.

The coach relies on a five-man defense (5:3:2 system), which she converts into a three-man defense (3:5:2). She deploys the lightning-fast YB striker Iman Beney to the right side of defense and demands maximum flexibility from the 18-year-old, who has only played ten international matches.

Sundhage moderates the edge walk, does not let her hope be taken away, cannot let it be taken away under any (PR) circumstances before the Swiss tournament, looks for the mix between the over 30-year-old, ailing-looking Lia Wälti, Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic and Ramona Bachmann and 18-year-old talents such as Iman Beney, Sydney Schertenleib and Noemi Ivelj.

The officials at the SFV are also trying to keep a low profile. But they're still working on their inner turmoil. The 4-0 defeat in France, which was still a relatively mild one, was too savage. At least it wasn't a 6-0 or a 7-0. The 1-0 setback against their opening opponents in the European Championship, Norway, combined with their relegation to the B-tier of the Nations League, is too bitter.

26-year-old Géraldine Reuteler is participating in her fourth tournament. She says the results in previous preparations weren't good either. Before the 2023 World Cup: 5 draws, 1 loss. Switzerland reached the round of 16 against Spain in New Zealand (1:5). Before the 2022 European Championship: 1 draw, 4 losses, 1:16 goals. Switzerland failed to advance to the group stage.

The Swiss men entered their 2008 home tournament in less than optimal shape. After defeats to England and Germany, they built up their preparations for the European Championship with wins against Slovakia and Liechtenstein. But then it all became too much. Before the opening match against the Czech Republic (0-1 loss), national coach Köbi Kuhn feared for the life of his wife Alice, and captain Alex Frei was forced out of the match in front of a sold-out St. Jakob-Park with a serious knee injury, amidst a sea of ​​tears.

After two matches against the Czech Republic and Turkey (1:2), Switzerland was eliminated. Not everything can be controlled when the European Championship wave is building up in your own country.

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »