World Cup squad named: Switzerland backs Gregor Kobel | OneFootball

There’s no way around him. Gregor Kobel (28) is not only Borussia Dortmund’s number one, but also Switzerland’s. National coach Murat Yakin (51) has now named the goalkeeper to his World Cup squad.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar, and co-host Canada are Switzerland’s opponents in the group stage. Reaching the knockout phase is considered almost certain. Especially since Switzerland went unbeaten in World Cup qualifying and only allowed two draws. In six matches, Kobel had to pick the ball out of the net only twice.

Kobel also repeatedly proved his class in the recently concluded Bundesliga season. He kept a clean sheet an impressive 15 times. In doing so, Kobel equaled Roman Weidenfeller’s historic club record, which he had set in the title-winning 2011/12 season. His save percentage of 72.4 percent is the best in the league among all first-choice goalkeepers.

Debut for the national team five years ago

So far, Kobel has made 20 international appearances. He made his debut in September 2021 in a 2-1 win over Greece. However, he had already been included in the national team squad four years earlier. For a long time, he was unable to get past Roman Bürki (35) and especially Yann Sommer (37). After the 2024 European Championship in Germany, he also took over the role of number one in the national team.

Alongside Kobel, there are seven other Bundesliga players in Switzerland’s squad: Johan Manzambi (20 years old/10 caps/SC Freiburg), Fabian Rieder (24/27/FC Augsburg), Aurèle Amenda (22/6/Eintracht Frankfurt), Nico Elvedi (29/65/Borussia Mönchengladbach), Luca Jaquez (22/2/VfB Stuttgart), Miro Muheim (28/8/Hamburger SV), and Silvan Widmer (33/58/Mainz 05).

Photo: Getty Images

Asked about Switzerland’s prospects at the World Cup, Kobel said in March 2026 in an interview with Watson: “It’s difficult to make a prediction before a tournament. But of course, qualifying was fun. Hopefully it continues like that.” One thing is definitely clear, though: “When you enter a tournament, you should aim for the maximum.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.