Aviva Stadium hosts the Republic of Ireland and Switzerland this Tuesday in an international friendly. Switzerland will be looking to take a winning record into the European Championship whereas Ireland look to pick up a win before sitting on the sidelines this summer.
Date: 26/03/2024
Kick off time: 19:45
Location: Aviva Stadium
Switzerland found themselves as underdogs in the 2021 European Championships and are looking to build momentum before they aim to get even further this summer. Ireland, however, look to get a win before they have to watch the tournament from home.
Ireland drew a tough Qualifiers group, having to compete against the likes of France, the Netherlands, Greece and Gibraltar. In eight games, Ireland have two wins and six losses which left them on six points, seven points from the Play-offs and 12 points from out-right qualification.
In fact Ireland have only competed in the European Championships three times, in 1988, 2012 and 2016, the furthest they’ve ever gotten being the Round of 16, losing 2 - 1 to France.
Switzerland, on the other hand, have secured qualification for the Euros this summer. Group I saw Switzerland take on Romania, Israel, Belarus, Kosovo and Andorra. In ten games, Switzerland picked up four wins, five draws and one loss, leaving them on 17 points, two points within qualification and five points from top of the group Romania.
At the last European Championships, Switzerland finished third in their group of Italy, Wales and Turkey but ranked high enough among the other third place finishers to progress to the knock-out round. Switzerland beat France on penalties in the Round of 16, but lost on penalties to Spain in the Quarter-finals.
Ireland and Switzerland have met 18 times in their histories, with the first meeting being an international friendly back in 1935. Ireland have the slightly better record in the fixture with eight wins in comparison to Switzerland’s six wins, the other four games ending in a draw.
This fixture has always been a relatively low-scoring one, with only one game with over two goals in seven games, that being the 2 - 1 win for Switzerland in 2002.