Swiss call up Londoner Sutter for Euro qualifiers

Young Boys defender Scott Sutter, a dual British-Swiss national, on Friday received his first call up for Switzerland’s squad to face Australia and England next month.

Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfeld included the 24-year-old in his squad of 21 for the friendly and then the opening Euro 2012 qualifier on the strength of his showing for the Bernese side against Tottenham, the team he supported as a boy, in their Champions League qualifiers.

Sutter, who grew up in London, said he was overjoyed.

“I have been in Switzerland for eight and half years, this country has become my home,” he said.

“This selection is all the more special because we will be playing against the country where I spent the first years of my life.”

Switzerland face Australia in a friendly in St. Gallen next Friday before the sterner test of England in Basel on September 7, the opening Group G fixture in their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

Sutter also owed his selection to the absence of Stuttgart’s Philipp Degen, who is ill with an infection.

Switzerland’s top goalscorer, Alexander Frei, returns to the squad after injury, along with fellow Basel player Marco Streller.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg/GER), Germano Vailati (St. Gallen), Marco Wolfli (Young Boys)

Defenders: Francois Affolter (Young Boys), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre/FRA), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio/ITA), Scott Sutter (Young Boys), Steve Von Bergen (Cesena/ITA), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria/ITA)

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Moreno Costanzo (Young Boys), Gelson Fernandes (Saint Etienne/FRA), Gokhan Inler (Udinese/ITA), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Xherdan Shaqiri (Basel), David Degen (Young Boys), Hakan Yakin (Lucerne)

Attackers: Marco Streller (Basel), Alexander Frei (Basel), Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Albert Bunjaku (Nuremberg/GER)