Yann Sommer has been the goalie for the Swiss national team since 2014. The Inter keeper has played for the national team at five major tournaments. This makes the former Gladbach and Bayern keeper the record national goalkeeper for Switzerland. The 35-year-old has played a total of 94 international matches. This means that Sommer is missing out on a few appearances compared to Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, who are the two players with the most international matches for Switzerland with 130 and 125 appearances respectively. However, this record is unique for a goalkeeper for the national team.
When Sommer took over the position of national goalkeeper from former Wolfsburg player Diego Benaglio in 2014, the goalkeeper question was initially settled for many years. Although other keepers, such as Roman Bürki, Marwin Hitz and Yvon Mvogo, guarded the goal from time to time, they were never able to displace Sommer. And so it took until 2021 before a serious candidate to succeed Sommer made his debut for the national team. On September 1, 2021, Gregor Kobel played for Switzerland for the first time in a friendly against Greece. Kobel had previously been called up several times, but was never used.
In recent seasons, however, Kobel has improved continuously, so that the 26-year-old has now closed the gap to his competitor Sommer. At the European Championships this summer, many spectators may have been surprised that Kobel did not go beyond the role of substitute goalkeeper.
As the Swiss online medium blue Sport reported, the situation has now changed. Shortly after Switzerland’s elimination in the quarter-finals, national coach Murat Yakin had publicly announced that he would hold talks with both goalkeepers. According to blue-Sport-Infos have led to Kobel going into the next international matches as the new number one. It was important to Yakin to find a long-term solution. Even before the talks, the 49-year-old had explained that the decision was primarily about the goalkeeper for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Kobel is now to be established as the new regular goalkeeper.
Kobel is expected to play his first international match in his new role at the beginning of September. During the first international break of the new season, the Swiss selection will face Denmark (05.09., 8.45 p.m.) and European champions Spain (08.09., 8.45 p.m.) in the Nations League. It is still unclear how Sommer will react to the decision and whether the demotion will mean resigning from the national team. At 35, it is entirely conceivable that Sommer will now concentrate solely on his duties at Inter Milan.
