HISTORY FEATURE
Roy Hodgson has enjoyed a long and nomadic coaching career that began with Swedish outfit Halmstead back in 1976, and has seen the former Crystal Palace youth team player and current manager work extensively across Europe and beyond at both club and international level.
Although he would later manage the national teams of the United Arab Emirates and England, it was during his time as Switzerland manager between 1992 and 1995 when he came to international attention, taking the team to their highest-ever place in the world rankings and making a big impression at the 1994 World Cup.
An impressive qualifying campaign saw Switzerland reach 3rd place in the world rankings in August 1993. Despite being placed in a tough group alongside Italy and Portugal, Switzerland took four points off Arrigo Sacchi's talented Italian side and suffered just one defeat in the whole campaign as Portugal claimed a 1-0 win in October 1993 after the two teams had previously played out a 1-1 draw. Six victories and three draws were enough for Switzerland to claim the runners-up place and qualify for the finals that would take place in the USA at the expense of Portugal.
Stéphane Chapuisat was the key player for Switzerland during that era of success, and he was on target as Hodgson's side defeated the talented Romanian team 4-1 in their second group game of the tournament. The first match had seen them hold the hosts to a 1-1 draw after Georges Bregy had handed them the lead, but Alain Sutter and a brace from Adrian Knup ensured that Switzerland would produce one of the results and the performances of the finals against a Romanian side inspired by the great Gheorghe Hagi.
Despite a 2-0 defeat to Columbia in the final group game, Switzerland qualified for the knock-out stages as runners-up behind Romania, but their tournament would come to an end in Washington as Spain claimed a convincing 3-0 win over Hodgson's surprise package. “The '94 World Cup was a great experience,” Hodgson reflected in 2014. “I think it was very new to us at the time, because Switzerland hadn't qualified for a tournament for 30 years and they hadn't expected to either.
“In that respect, we went into the tournament with people delighted and not expecting too much from us, so when we didn’t do that badly, we achieved hero status. But I remember the tournament very well, it was very well organised and it was very hot. Our first two games were played in Detroit at the Silverdome, which was actually indoors. It was about 95 degrees Fahrenheit and 90 per cent humidity playing in there, not to mention the smell of the popcorn, hamburgers and hot dogs!”
Switzerland have never matched their 3rd place ranking that was achieved under Hodgson, although the side have qualified for the last four World Cup finals in succession, and progressed through the group stages at EURO 2016. A strong start to their qualifying campaign for the next World Cup means that they head into this summer in good form, with Hodgson setting a standard that his successors have had to emulate in order to be considered a success.
