A young side drawn mainly from immigrant backgrounds, Switzerland’s World Cup team is about as far removed from the stereotyped image of the Alpine nation as it is possible to get.
While the Swiss are often regarded as reserved, diplomatic and predictable, their national side is a feisty outfit with a surprising amount of flair.
Stephan Lichtsteiner and hard-tackling captain Gokhan Inler never shy away from a battle while the impish skills of Xherdan Shaqiri could make him one of the finals’ most exciting players.
The make-up of the team has changed beyond recognition over the past few years as the national federation, which runs one of Europe’s most impressive youth development programmes, has tapped into the potential offered by Switzerland’s immigrant communities.
More than half the squad hail from immigrant backgrounds. Many are from families who fled to Switzerland from Kosovo during the 1990s while midfielder Gelson Fernandes was born in the Cape Verde Islands and Johan Djourou in Ivory Coast.
Although they missed out on Euro 2012, when the team was in a transitional period, Switzerland will be going to their third successive World Cup, an excellent record for a small country, especially considering that football is less popular than ice hockey and alpine skiing.
Under former Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, their prospects are better than at the previous two tournaments and they should be a far more entertaining proposition than their dour, defence-oriented predecessors.
They open their campaign against Ecuador in Brasilia on June 15, then meet France in Salvador on June 20 and Honduras in Manaus on June 25.
As nearly all of their players are based in top European leagues those matches will not unduly faze them.
Full-back Lichtsteiner is at Juventus, Napoli boast the midfield trio of Inler, Blerim Dzemaili and Valon Behrami and the Bundesliga contingent includes Djourou, Shaqiri, goalkeeper Diego Benaglio and midfielder Granit Xhaka.
Switzerland may have problems at the back where Philippe Senderos and Djourou have struggled for form at their clubs.
They are prone to lapses, such as squandering a three-goal lead in a 4-4 draw at home to Iceland, but young forwards such as Josip Drmic and Admir Mehmedi offer energy up front.
Hitzfeld’s team went through an admittedly easy qualifying group unbeaten and, with England, are one of only two teams to have beaten Brazil since Luiz Felipe Scolari took over as coach in November 2012.
Even if they go out in the first round, Switzerland should certainly provide more entertainment than in 2006, when they became the only team in World Cup history to be eliminated without conceding a goal, or 2010 when their three matches produced just two goals, one for and one against.
Going further back, Switzerland acquitted themselves well enough when they took part in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.
Although they lost 3-0 to Yugoslavia in their first match they held Brazil to a 2-2 draw in their second game at Sao Paulo, a result that prompted some fans to attack the Brazilian coach Costa after the match, incensed that Brazil had allowed the Swiss a late goal to deprive them of victory.
The Swiss then beat Mexico 2-1 in their final game and were officially placed sixth at the end of the tournament, missing out on the final pool, which ended with Uruguay beating Brazil 2-1 in the decider.
Five to watch:
Stephan Lichtsteiner, right-back (Juventus); age 30; 61 caps. Nicknamed "Forrest Gump" thanks to his storming runs down the right flank, the feisty right-back completed an apprenticeship in banking when he was a young player at Grasshoppers Zurich. Has won successive Serie A titles with Juventus since his move to Turin in 2011. Plays on the flank of a five-man midfield for his club and at right back of a four-man defence for his country.
Tranquillo Barnetta, midfielder (Eintracht Frankfurt); age 29; caps: 73. An attacking midfielder who has scored 10 times for Switzerland, he is set for his third World Cup having recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for six months in the 2011/12 season. He missed during the penalty shoot-out defeat to Ukraine in the second round of the 2006 World Cup, spoiling an otherwise excellent tournament. Raised at St Gallen, he has been in the Bundesliga since 2004 playing for Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke, Hannover and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Valon Behrami, midfielder (Napoli); age 29; 46 caps. Kosovo-born player who moved to Switzerland at the age of four, Behrami has raised a few eyebrows among the reserved Swiss squad with his tattoos and ever-changing haircuts. Happy at right back or in midfield, Behrami, who suffered a nasty knee injury during a three-season spell at West Ham United, has revived his career since joining Napoli in 2012. Harshly sent off against Chile at the 2010 World Cup.
Gokhan Inler, midfielder (Napoli); age 29; 71 caps. A fiercely-competitive, hard-tackling midfielder, Inler summed up his philosophy by turning up at his official Napoli presentation wearing a lion mask. The captain, an excellent long-range shooter, also played at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He has been in Serie A since 2007, spending four seasons with Udinese before moving to Napoli in 2011. He played for Turkey's under-21 team before choosing to represent Switzerland, where he was born.
Xherdan Shaqiri, midfielder (Bayern Munich); age 22; 31 caps. One of the most exciting players ever to have come out of Switzerland, Kosovo-born Shaqiri can play on either flank and is always a threat with his powerful shooting and good crosses. He moved to Switzerland as a child because of the war in his homeland and joined FC Basel's youth academy at 10. Joined Bayern in 2012 and was part of their treble-winning team last season.
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Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The years Ramadan fell in May
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Results
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,000m; Winner: Dhafra, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Al Ajayib, Antonio Fresu, Eric Lemartinel
4pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Ashtr, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Falcon Claws, Szczepan Mazur, Doug Watson
5pm: Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Cup – Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Al Mufham SB, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Badar Al Hajri
5.30pm: Sharjah Marathon – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 2,700m; Winner: Asraa Min Al Talqa, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
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