Switzerland is a fine example of a small country that has made the very best of its resources. Swiss football has emerged with a flourish and recent positive results attest to the hard work undertaken at all levels of the game.

The Swiss Football Association (Schweizerischer Fussballverband/Association Suisse de Football or SFV-ASF) is one of the biggest and most popular sporting associations in multilingual Switzerland, defending the interests of Swiss football nationally and internationally in the political, economic and social arenas.

The SFV-ASF, a financially independent body that does not require public funding, promotes both grassroots and élite football while attaching particular importance to the youth element. It can look back with legitimate pride on more than 100 years of history – a fluctuating timeline perhaps, but one showing more highs than lows on the pitch, especially in recent years. Indeed, there is a major peak where Switzerland won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria in November 2009.

Qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals after a 32-year absence from the global showpiece, followed by the country's first participation at the UEFA European Championship – in England two years later – indicated the progress being made at senior level. These foundations were built on as the national team qualified successfully for UEFA EURO 2004 in Portugal and for the 2006 World Cup in Germany under coach Jakob Kuhn, and later for the 2010 World Cup with Ottmar Hitzfeld at the helm. In between times, the Swiss co-hosted, with Austria, the UEFA EURO 2008 final round.

In youth football, too, great strides have been taken. After seeing representative sides qualify for numerous final tournaments at various age groups, the SFV-ASF could finally celebrate a victory proper in 2002: Switzerland caused a sensation by winning that summer's UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Denmark. They threatened to repeat the feat by getting to the semi-finals of the same competition in May 2009, an achievement that earned the country's ticket to the FIFA U-17 World Cup later in the year. There, in Nigeria, Switzerland defeated Brazil in their concluding group game, then Germany, Italy, Colombia and Nigeria to become world champions. Such positive results, which must also include the U21 squad's run to the UEFA European Championship semi-finals in 2002 on home soil, betray a great commitment to youth development.

A number of Swiss clubs have caught the eye in European competition. BSC Young Boys from the Swiss federal capital Berne were the first to impress, reaching the semi-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1959. FC Zürich has since matched that performance on two occasions. FC Basel 1893, meanwhile, have been a towering monument to Swiss football down the years, advancing as far as the UEFA Champions League second group stage in 2002/03. Grasshopper-Club and Servette FC are other world-renowned teams produced by this Alpine nation.

Organised football in Switzerland has undergone a tremendous expansion, and today more than 240,000 players are active across some 1,500 local associations. Under the aegis of the SFV-AFS, the game is played by about 12,800 teams. If for the vast majority the sport is merely a hobby, for a small number of élite players football is beyond a question of goals, points and keeping physically fit; it represents an opportunity to pursue international victories, fame and wealth.

The SFV-AFS has played a full part in the football story. UEFA (Nyon) and FIFA (Zurich) have their headquarters in Switzerland, and not only was UEFA founded in the country in 1954, but the then SFV-AFS president Gustav Wiederkehr had a significant role in the consolidation and growth of the fledgling institution. Wiederkehr served as UEFA President between 1962 and 1972.