In skiing, the men's downhill in particular, the two alpine countries are bitter and uncompromising rivals, but on the football pitch emotions usually do not run very high. The Eidgenossen may have had a head start, thanks to wealthy British parents sending their offspring to posh schools around the Lac Léman, and Swiss football enthousiasts later helped set up such famous clubs as Barcelona and Internazionale, as well as spreading the (association) football gospel in the southeast of France (Cette, Marseille, Nîmes), but once the Viennese introduced a professional league in the mid-twenties and enchanted Europe with their Wunderteam soon after, meetings between the neighbours held little suspense: between 1926 and 1937, Austria won 11 (in words: eleven) successive matches against die Nati, never scoring fewer than two goals and twice seven or more. Against no other country Austria enjoyed such continued success: Belgium (called the Austrian Netherlands until Napoleon started changing the map of Europe) follow with consecutive losses in the first nine meetings with Austria, and Liechtenstein lost all eight matches played to date against their eastern neighbours. However, Wilhelm Tell's heirs did restore some pride in the 21st century, winning 5 of the 7 encounters played so far.
One meeting between the two stands out: the quarterfinal in Lausanne at the 1954 World Cup hosted by the Swiss, played in great heat, which saw the hosts take a 3-0 lead after 23 minutes only to be down 3-5 just over 10 minutes later. Half-time came with the visitors leading 5-4, in spite of missing a penalty three minutes before the break, and they eventually emerged 7-5 winners in what is still the most prolific match ever played at a World Cup tournament. Remarkably, only one goal was scored in the last half hour, Probst making sure of the win in the 77th minute; the first eleven goals had all come in a period of 45 minutes between the 16th minute (when Ballaman scored the first goal) and the 60th (when Hügi reduced the Swiss arrears to 5-6).
That twelve-goal thriller belied the most famous contribution to football tactics for which the Swiss are known: the verrou suisse or Schweizer Riegel. However, this precursor of catenaccio, in which midfield players were moved back to defense and nominally weaker sides tried to score on quick counter-attacks, was actually invented by an Austrian: Karl Rappan, who twice played for the Austrian national team but ended his playing career in Geneva at Servette before working as trainer in Switzerland for more than three decades. In fact, he was the coach of the Swiss national team at that 1954 World Cup encounter.
All matches listed are friendlies unless otherwise stated.
Game Date Venue Result Remark 1. 23-12-1917 Basel Switzerland 0-1 Austria 2. 26-12-1917 Zürich Switzerland 3-2 Austria 3. 9- 5-1918 Wien Austria 5-1 Switzerland 4. 1- 5-1921 St. Gallen Switzerland 2-2 Austria 5. 11- 6-1922 Wien Austria 7-1 Switzerland 6. 21- 1-1923 Genève Switzerland 2-0 Austria 7. 22- 3-1925 Wien Austria 2-0 Switzerland 8. 8-11-1925 Bern Switzerland 2-0 Austria 9. 10-10-1926 Wien Austria 7-1 Switzerland 11. 29- 5-1927 Zürich Switzerland 1-4 Austria 11. 28-10-1928 Wien Austria 2-0 Switzerland [International Cup] 12. 27-10-1929 Bern Switzerland 1-3 Austria [International Cup] 13. 16- 6-1931 Wien Austria 2-0 Switzerland [*] 14. 29-11-1931 Basel Switzerland 1-8 Austria [International Cup] 15. 23-10-1932 Wien Austria 3-1 Switzerland [International Cup] 16. 25- 3-1934 Genève Switzerland 2-3 Austria [International Cup] 17. 11-11-1934 Wien Austria 3-0 Switzerland [International Cup] 18. 8-11-1936 Zürich Switzerland 1-3 Austria [International Cup] 19. 19- 9-1937 Wien Austria 4-3 Switzerland [International Cup] 20. 10-11-1946 Bern Switzerland 1-0 Austria [International Cup] 21. 18- 4-1948 Wien Austria 3-1 Switzerland [International Cup] 22. 3- 4-1949 Lausanne Switzerland 1-2 Austria [International Cup] 23. 19- 3-1950 Wien Austria 3-3 Switzerland [International Cup] 24. 22- 6-1952 Genève Switzerland 1-1 Austria 25. 26- 6-1954 Lausanne Switzerland 5-7 Austria [World Cup] 26. 1- 5-1955 Bern Switzerland 2-3 Austria [International Cup] 27. 14- 4-1957 Wien Austria 4-0 Switzerland [International Cup] 28. 22- 9-1968 Bern Switzerland 1-0 Austria 29. 22- 9-1976 Linz Austria 3-1 Switzerland 30. 4- 4-1978 Basel Switzerland 0-1 Austria 31. 27- 8-1986 Innsbruck Austria 1-1 Switzerland 32. 18- 8-1987 St. Gallen Switzerland 2-2 Austria 33. 5- 2-1988 Monaco Switzerland 2-1 Austria [Tournoi de France] 34. 21- 8-1990 Wien Austria 1-3 Switzerland 35. 27- 3-1996 Wien Austria 1-0 Switzerland 36. 10- 3-1999 St. Gallen Switzerland 2-4 Austria 37. 15- 8-2001 Wien Austria 1-2 Switzerland 38. 21- 8-2002 Basel Switzerland 3-2 Austria 39. 11-10-2006 Innsbruck Austria 2-1 Switzerland 40. 13-10-2007 Zürich Switzerland 3-1 Austria 41. 11- 8-2010 Klagenfurt Austria 0-1 Switzerland 42. 17-11-2015 Wien Austria 1-2 Switzerland 43. 8- 6-2024 St. Gallen Switzerland 1-1 Austria Note: [*] this match was only recognised as official after 1970
Total record:
Austria 43 25 6 12 106- 61 56
Switzerland 43 12 6 25 61-106 30
Some more stats:
Pd A D S AG- SG
In Austria: 20 14 2 4 55- 22
In Switzerland: 22 11 4 7 50- 37
Elsewhere: 1 0 0 1 1- 2
Austria - List of International Matches
Switzerland - List of International Matches
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
(karel.rsssf@gmail.com)
Last updated: 9 Jun 2024
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans
and RSSSF 2017/24
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.