Stars
The star player in the team is goal scorer Alexander Frei from Stade Rennais. But the striker had to have surgery on his groin and is fearing for his World Cup participation. Captain Johann Vogel has been playing for AC Milan this season and has attracted interest from Manchester United. There are several well-known players in the Swiss World Cup team from the German Bundesliga: Raphael Wicky (Hamburger SV), Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund) and VfB Stuttgart defense Ludovic Magnin.

Coach
Jakob "Köbi" Kuhn coaches the Swiss team. The former midfielder and six-time champion with FC Zürich has trained the team since 2001. He previously coached the Swiss under-21 team.
Kuhn has proven with the senior team that he has the right touch for mixing old hands with young, less experienced players. Under his aegis, Switzerland qualified itself for the World Cup for the first time in 12 years.

World Cup History
Switzerland is participating in the World Cup for the eighth time.
1934: Quarter-finals
1938: Quarter-finals
1950: Preliminary round
1954: Quarter-finals
1962: Preliminary round
1966: Preliminary round
1994: Round of 16

Match Schedule: Preliminary Round
June 13, 2006: France -- Switzerland in Stuttgart
June 19, 2006: Togo -- Switzerland in Dortmund
June 23, 2006: Switzerland -- South Korea in Hanover

World Cup Base
The Swiss are training in western Germany. The international team is putting up at the Kurhotel Fürstenhof in Bad Bertrich, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Outlook
There is no doubt the potential that the Swiss could belong to one of the surprises of the tournament. In its last World Cup participation in 1994 in the United States, the Swiss made it into the round of 16. But this was then the end of the line for Sforza, Chapuisat & Co. The team lost 0:3 against Spain. In the World Cup in Germany, the accomplishment from 1994 should be repeated at least.

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (Stade Rennes), John Alvbage
(Viborg), Rami Shaaban (Fredrikstad)
Defenders: Erik Edman (Stade Rennes), Petter Hansson (Heerenveen), Teddy Lucic (BK Hacken), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), Karl Svensson (IFK Gothenburg), Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos), Fredrik Stenman (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Daniel Andersson (Malmo), Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Gothenburg), Kim Kallstrom (Stade Rennes), Tobias Linderoth (FC Copenhagen), Christian Wilhelmsson (Anderlecht), Anders Svensson (Elfsborg), Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal)
Forwards: Marcus Allback (FC Copenhagen), Johan Elmander (Brondby), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus), Mattias Jonson (Djurgarden), Henrik Larsson (Barcelona), Markus Rosenberg