Switzerland vs. Germany preview: Team news and predicted lineups | OneFootball

Germany will start their preparation for the 2026 World Cup with a friendly game against Switzerland on Friday night. Julian Nagelsmann's side secured four fixtures before the biggest showdown as they close this international break with a game in Stuttgart versus Ghana. 

This will be the first international friendly in nearly two years for Germany. They last contested a warmup game for the home European championship when Pascal Groß scored late to beat Greece in Mönchengladbach.

Germany lost a World Cup qualifier game away from home for the first time with a shocking 2-0 defeat in Slovakia since then, but Nagelsmann's troops finished the rest of the campaign with a perfect record. Including half a dozen goals in the return fixture against Slovakia, they have scored 13 while only conceding once in their last four games.

Meanwhile, Switzerland finished their qualifying group unbeaten despite failing to beat Slovenia and Kosovo in their last two games away from home. The former Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern defender Murat Yakin will lead Switzerland for the third time in a major tournament after quarter-final exits in the 2022 World Cup and Euros.

Head-to-head record

Eren Derdiyok scored a hat-trick inside the first 50 minutes when the sides last met at the St. Jakob-Park in a friendly game back in 2012. Switzerland won that memorable fixture 5-3 with fellow ex-Leverkusen player Tranquillo Barnetta providing all the assists for Derdiyok's solitary international treble. Mats Hummels and Marco Reus scored their first Germany goals back then against Ottmar Hitzfeld's side.

Including a 1-1 draw in the group stage of Euro 2024, the last three meetings all ended in draws since then. Switzerland are undefeated since ex-Bayern Munich winger Bryan Zaragoza's injury-time penalty-kick for Spain ended their miserable Nations League campaign in the last game of 2024.

Team news

Stuttgart's in-form winger Jamie Leweling joined Bayern Munich’s Aleksandar Pavlović and Borussia Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha to withdraw from the squad due to an injury after getting the call from Nagelsmann. 

Angelo Stiller and Chris Führich came on in the places of the first two as they set to play at their club's ground on Monday, but the 38-year-old decided against calling a replacement for Leweling. Niko Kovac was already puzzled by the omission of Max Beier, and the Borussia Dortmund attacker couldn't get the call after the latest injury in Germany's camp.

Bayern Munich duo Jonas Urbig and Lennart Karl are the only new faces in the squad, while Jamal Musiala had to miss out as a precaution. Meanwhile, Kai Havertz returns to the side for the first time since the end of 2024.

Switzerland had to make a late change to their squad themselves as Noah Okafor replaced the injured Filip Ugrinić. As usual, their squad is dominated by past and present Bundesliga players. Yakin's side will face Norway in Oslo to conclude the first international break of 2026.

Predicted Lineups

Switzerland: Kobel; Rodriguez, Elvedi, Akanji, Widmer; Xhaka ©, Sow, Aebischer; Vargas, Embolo, Manzambi

Germany: Baumann; Raum, Schlotterbeck, Rüdiger, Kimmich ©; Goretzka, Stiller; Wirtz, Gnabry, Sané; Woltemade