National coach Murat Yakin has called up defender Gregory Wüthrich for the first time for the next international matches. Noah Okafor does not make the squad.
At the age of 29, Wüthrich could make his debut for the senior national team in the next few days. The multiple junior international will be available for the Nations League games against Denmark in Copenhagen on Thursday and against Spain in Geneva on Sunday.
The tall central defender earned his call-up with a strong performance for Sturm Graz. Last season, the player from Bern won the double with the team from Graz, thus thwarting Salzburg, who were spoiled for success. This season, he will play in the Champions League for the first time in almost six years. In December 2018, he made a mini appearance for Young Boys against Juventus Turin.
Wüthrich has now joined the ranks of the best Swiss footballers in an extraordinary way: He first moved from YB to Perth Glory in Australia in 2019 before Sturm Graz brought him back to Europe a season later.
Otherwise, the first squad of the new cycle with the 2026 World Cup as the end point only offers one minor surprise. Noah Okafor is not one of the 23 players selected. Yakin explained that he was "not always satisfied" with the AC Milan striker's performances. However, the door is not closed for the future.
In addition to Okafor and the three players who have withdrawn (Xherdan Shaqiri, Yann Sommer and Fabian Schär), other players missing from the European Championship squad include the indispensable Silvan Widmer and Dan Ndoye as well as Ardon Jashari, who has hardly featured at FC Brugge. Meanwhile, six players have returned after a short break from the national team: Becir Omeragic, Filip Ugrinic, Joël Monteiro, Uran Bislimi and Basel full-back Dominik Schmid.
