Switzerland is making history under Pia Sundhage by reaching the European Championship quarter-finals. The Swede persistently defies resistance and headwinds.
11.07.2025, 09:45
11.07.2025, 11:25
SDA
The atmosphere in the Stade de Genève explodes at 22:49 on this Thursday evening. Joker Riola Xhemaili has just struck and saved Switzerland from elimination from the home tournament with her equalizer against Finland. As in the second group game against Iceland, it was a substitute who made the difference. Once again, Pia Sundhage proved to have a golden touch.
After her work is done, the 65-year-old Swede sits in the belly of the Stade de Genève at the press conference. As always, she answers the journalists' questions with great patience and a smile on her lips. With a smile, of course, after such an evening. "It may not have been the best draw of my career, but it was certainly the most exciting," she says.
A world coach who has fun
When someone like Sundhage says that, then something truly special has happened. Because Sundhage has traveled a lot and experienced a lot. As a player, but above all as a coach. From 2008 to 2012, she coached the US team to two Olympic gold medals, after which she spent five years on the sidelines for her home country Sweden. After a two-year break, she joined the Brazilian national team, where she worked until 2023.
In January 2024, Sundhage, the world-class coach, took up her post at the Swiss Football Association. She was enticed by the home European Championship. The SFA hoped the Swede would have a clear plan and attract greater attention, while the 65-year-old hoped to experience the emotions she had already experienced with her home country in 2013. "It's so much more fun to play when you have a lot of noise, a lot of hustle and bustle," says Sundhage.
An interim low after a good start
The beginning of their journey together was marked by a stylish promotion to League A of the Nations League. This was followed by a 1:1 draw against Australia and a 2:1 win over France in October. After the victory over the Grande Nation in Geneva - their first since 2002 - they thought they were on the right track towards the home European Championship. But the high did not last long.
From November to June, Switzerland went winless in eight consecutive matches and were relegated from League A of the Nations League without a trace. The critical voices increased ahead of the home tournament. The experiment with the 2012 world coach was in danger of failing. Sundhage herself said before the European Championship that Switzerland was her biggest challenge. Martina Moser, 129-time international player and expert on SRF, said in the run-up to a Nations League match that changes were needed after the European Championship. Now the wind has changed.
A historic success
Of course, if Xhemaili's ball had flown into the Geneva night sky instead of the goal on Thursday evening, the headlines would have been different. But as it is, the national team has achieved what it failed to do in 2017 under Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and in 2022 under Nils Nielsen: advance to the top eight teams in Europe.
She feels "a bit of relief", says Sundhage. "These moments are very encouraging." All the more so because she stuck to her plan, against all odds. "Stubbornly", as she put it herself before the European Championships. Sundhage did not allow herself to be dissuaded from her firm conviction that she could play football successfully in a 3-5-2 system, nor from allowing the attacking player Iman Beney to run at right-back. "We tried out the system for the first time against Australia in October," said the coach, looking back on the early days at the time of the success. "It was a long journey, not without obstacles."
Sundhage got around these by making adjustments when she felt like it, when her team was not performing as desired. For example, in the second group game against Iceland, when she provided new momentum with personnel changes and - yes - a system change. This was also the case on Thursday in Geneva.
The rejected request
"It's easy to say that you believe in certain things," says Sundhage. Implementing them and sticking to them is the difficult part. "I try to set a good example."
Pride. Sundhage uses this word again and again. She is proud of her team, proud of the path they have taken together, proud of Switzerland. "Together with the people around me, I can be the best, alone I'm useless."
In the moment of success, the successful coach looks back, but not too far ahead. "No," she replies to a journalist's request to look ahead to Friday's quarter-final in Bern and say a few words about possible opponents Spain or Italy. Briefly and firmly, she says simply: "We're not finished yet."
