This will be the second meeting between Scotland and Switzerland at a major tournament – Scotland won 1-0 in the group stages at UEFA EURO 1996, thanks to a goal from Ally McCoist. In fact, that is Scotland’s only win in their last five matches against Switzerland in all competitions (D2 L2).
Scotland and Switzerland last met in March 2006 – the Swiss won 3-1 in a friendly at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.
Scotland’s 5-1 defeat to Germany on MD1 was their second-heaviest ever at a major tournament, after their 7-0 loss to Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup. The Tartan Army could lose both of their opening two matches of a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs) for the fourth time, after the 1954 World Cup, 1986 World Cup, and 1992 EUROs.
Switzerland have only lost two of their last 14 group games at major tournaments (World Cup/EUROs), winning seven and drawing five. The Swiss are looking to win both of their opening two matches of an edition at a major tournament for the first time ever, in their 18th participation at the World Cup (12) and EUROs (6).
Scotland have won just six of their 33 matches at major tournaments (World Cup/EUROs), a win rate of 18%. Among European nations with 25+ matches played at such tournaments, only Bulgaria (13% – 4/32) have a poorer win ratio.
Switzerland have scored 3+ goals in three of their last four matches at the EUROs finals, scoring 10 goals in this period, which is more than they netted in their first 15 European Championship games beforehand (9 goals).
Scotland recorded just one shot in their opening game of this year’s EUROs against Germany, a 5-1 defeat in which their goal was an own goal from Antonio Rüdiger. It was their fewest number of shots in any international since a friendly against Italy in May 2016 (also 1 shot).
Against Hungary on MD1, Granit Xhaka created more chances than any other player in the match (4), with all of these coming from open play. He was only the second Switzerland player to create 4+ chances from open play in a single match at the European Championships, after Steven Zuber against Türkiye in 2021 (5).
John McGinn has appeared in each of Scotland’s last 31 games in all competitions. It’s the longest run of consecutive Scotland internationals featured in since Tom Boyd played 38 in a row from August 1995 to June 1999. Indeed, under Steve Clarke, no player has made more appearances (53), scored more goals (18), or provided more assists (9) for Scotland than McGinn.
Breel Embolo has scored in each of the last three major international tournaments (World Cup/EUROs), becoming only the second player to score in three separate such tournaments for Switzerland, along with teammate Xherdan Shaqiri (5). Indeed, Embolo’s four goals at the World Cup/EUROs are behind only Shaqiri (9) and Josef Hügi (6) for Switzerland.