Why is Switzerland abbreviated as ‘SUI’ on TV?

SWITZERLAND are not new to the World Cup having qualified 12 times for the football tournament.

Did you ever notice how on TV broadcasts, Switzerland is abbreviated to ‘SUI’ and wondered why? Let’s find out.

GettySwitzerland are yet to win a World Cup[/caption]

Why is Switzerland abbreviated as ‘SUI’ on TV?

In Switzerland, French is one of the four official languages – the others are Romanish, German and Italian.

In French, Switzerland is called La Suisse.

That is why FIFA takes the first three letters of its French name and shows it as ‘SUI’.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which you might refer to as FIFA, was founded in Paris, France in 1904.

This made its official language French amongst others which by time became recognised too such as English, German, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian.

FIFA refers to countries in one of the languages it recognises.

Since the main language for both FIFA and Switzerland is French, then La Suisse is the name used in the federation’s documents.

Where are Switzerland in the FIFA world rankings?

Switzerland find themselves in 15th place in the FIFA world rankings below Uruguay.

In recent years, Switzerland have put themselves on the international football map again, having qualified for every World Cup since 2006.

This is thanks to the mix of experienced and young players that have come along throughout the years.

The two main players that contributed immensely to their country’s success are Granit Xhaka – who also plays for Arsenal – and Xherdan Shaqiri.

Another veteran in the squad is goalkeeper Yann Sommer – who currently plays for Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga.

He represented the nation in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups and also made appearances at the 2016 and 2020 EUROs campaigns.

Meanwhile, Switzerland can look ahead to future international campaigns with young and experienced players such as defender Manuel Akanji.

There are also Denis Zakaria and Breel Embolo who scored the winning goal against Cameroon.

Has Switzerland ever won a World Cup?

Switzerland are still waiting on the moment when they get to lift the World Cup trophy.

The further they’ve ever got in a World Cup is the Quarter finals, in 1934, 1938 and when they hosted the tournament in 1954.

However, back then the format was different because only 16 teams qualified for the World Cup so there was no group stage.

The teams went straight into the Round of 16.

In 1936, they made it to the quarterfinals after they beat the Netherlands 3-2, however, Czechoslovakia were too strong to beat.

In fact, they even made it to the final that year but lost to Italy.

In 1938, they lost out to Hungary after they lost 2-0.

In 1954, there was a different format that presented a group stage.

This skipped the Round of 16 and went straight into the quarter finals, with the top two teams from the four groups moving forward.

Switzerland beat Italy, drew against Belgium and lost to England to play another play-off against the Italians.

They won it and had to face a strong Uruguay side which won the quarter final 4-2.