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Switzerland will hit for Euro Cup

Switzerland is going to play Euro Cup 2012, making their fourth appearance in the competition. As with the three previous appearances, they did not clear the group stages. Football is one of the most popular sports in Switzerland. The Swiss Football Association was formed in 1895 and was a founder member of the sport's international governing body FIFA in 1904. The Swiss cities of Zurich and Nyon are home to FIFA and the European governing body UEFA respectively. The country played host to the 1954 World Cup and 2008 European Championship.

Switzerland has an extensive league system, with the Swiss Super League as the country's premier mens competition. There are also several cup competitions, most notably the national Swiss Cup. With a very young squad, the Swiss national team participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and were narrowly beaten by Ukraine in penalties. Switzerland co-hosted the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament together with Austria. 

They did not make further than the preliminary stage, although they did record one win against Portugal, a game in which Portugal played their B squad as they already secured the division. The best international result was probably in 1954 when Switzerland as the host reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. They also reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 1934 as well as 1938.

In Euro Cup 2004: Qualification: Switzerland qualified for the Euro 2004 in Portugal by finishing first in group 10 of the qualifying, ahead of Russia and Ireland. Group stage: After a 0–0 draw against Croatia, they lost 0–3 against England and 1–3 against France, and thus ended on the last place in group B of the main tournament. Trivia: Johann Vonlanthen became the youngest scorer ever in the Euro championships when he equalised against France, beating the record (set only four days earlier by Wayne Rooney) by three months. In Euro Cup 2008: Qualification: Switzerland co-hosted the Euro 2008 together with Austria and was therefore automatically qualified.

Group stage: Switzerland played all matches of group A in Basel. After losing the opening game 0–1 to the Czech Republic and the second game 1–2 against Turkey, they were already eliminated from their home tournament after only two games. Consolation came from the 2–0 victory over Portugal in the final group stage game.

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