Switzerland won their first ever World Cup at any level in the Under-17 World Cup recently. They beat the highly rated Nigerians in the finals, to complete an unexpected victory.
Success at all levels
Swiss football has been in the doldrums in recent times until their national team qualified for next year’s World Cup. That victory has seen a massive surge of confidence in the sides sent out to represent the country.
Multinational heroes
Twelve of the Switzerland squad hold dual nationality and could play for other countries at senior level in the future. Their playmaker Nassim Ben Khalifa could represent Tunisia if he wished, as his parents are from the African country. Their top scorer at the tournament Haris Seferovic is also eligible to play for Bosnia.
Other players in the squad from immigrant backgrounds include Pajitim Kasami (Macedonia), Granit Xhaka (Albania), Kofi Nimeley (Ghana), Joel Kiassumbua (Congo) and Maik Nakic (Croatia) to name just a few. Every player in the Switzerland squad was born in Switzerland but all could play for other nations. I read an amazing statistic that 20 per cent of the population in Switzerland are foreign, that’s 7.3million people.
Still not PC
Its an amazing feat that these youngsters have got into their national side, considering the fact that in Switzerland some of the political views are so right-wing. I’ve also read about black people being refused service in restaurant’s and hotels. The Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) also seem like a particularly nasty group of right-wing politicians.
It makes the inclusion of these youngsters from immigrant backgrounds a triumph of good over evil. The likes of these national party’s ruin countries for good decent people. However the Swiss footballing authorities have showed that they will not tolerate prejudice.
The future
The Swiss would do well to keep hold of these youngsters as I was really impressed with the little I saw of them. The Swiss FA and management need to ensure that they get these youngsters to commit to their national side, rather than the other options available to them.
Although they were all born in Switzerland they could still choose the national teams of their parents. It would be a blow to lose such talented players. The players can switch allegiances as long as they haven’t made a senior international appearance for another national side and many players have in the past.
Top youth system
Switzerland has one of the most impressively run youth scheme in Europe. It was started in 1995 by a former coach called Hansruedi Hasler. He encouraged clubs to employ a set number of full-time youth coaches, which at the time they didn’t have. Its obviously worked wonders with this title a real surprise to most observers of the competition.
Experienced
A player who is well aware of the dual nationality issue is Swiss international striker Blaise NKufo. The veteran striker was born in Zaire, which is now Democratic Republic of Congo but grew up in the Swiss city of Lausanne. He choose to represent the country he grew up in rather than the country of his birth.
The 34 year-old has finally established himself at international level after being out of the national side for five years. He has scored some vital goals along the way and I bet even the SVP appreciate his efforts for the cause of the national side.
Swiss fans will be hoping that some of the youngsters born in Switzerland don’t do the same as Nkufo and turn their back on the country of their birth. However I’m sure the circumstances of these youngsters are very different than NKufo’s and with the recent improvement of the full national side, I would imagine a lot of these youngsters will see Switzerland as a good viable option.
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