As part of our Language of Soccer World Cup series, The Athletic is speaking to supporters of all 48 nations competing at the 2026 edition to capture their unique football culture, distilled into a single phrase. You can read the articles in one place here.Hop Suisse – Hopp Schwiiz – Forza Svizzera – Ancora Svizra – Go SwitzerlandExpectations are rising among Switzerland fans.The Swiss national team — or ‘Nati’ as they’re usually called — have been a steady, reliable presence at most major tournaments in recent years. They have been at six of the past eight European Championships, and this will be their sixth World Cup in a row, their seventh since 1994. Before that, they had been absent from the previous six World Cups, a fallow period stretching back to 1966.For a nation of around nine million people, whose club teams have never reached a major European final, much less won one, and which has never really had a proper global superstar, that’s a pretty good record. From that perspective, just being there is a decent achievement.Now, though, ‘being there’ has become the standard. They had never won a knockout game until beating France at Euro 2020. They were knocked out in the next round by Spain, but only on penalties. Then they defeated Italy in the round of 16 at Euro 2024 and should have beaten England in the quarter-finals, going on to lose on penalties, again.Little tastes of success have left the people wanting more. Thus, a sense that something bigger is required seems to be growing.“I think that the supporters want to be in the quarter-finals because we lost the last two tournaments on penalties,” says Jerome Lambert, who is the supporters’ liaison officer for the Swiss Football Association. “We came so very, very close. It was very special, but we lost on penalties against England, and against Spain: every time it’s the same. “So we hope that this time we’ll go one better. We hope change will come, and this will be our time.”Switzerland fans show their support for their team at Euro 2024 (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)“Definitely the expectation level has risen,” says Tobias, a fan from near Zurich. “Steadily, we’ve grown from being a small team — if we score a goal, or maybe draw or win one game, that’s already a success — to getting out of the group regularly, to breaking the barrier of winning our first knockout round ever, which was legendary, and qualifying for the quarter-finals for the first time. “Then we did it again, beating Italy convincingly. Now, the quarter-final is par, and the round of 16 is maybe a bit below par.”