The opening round of matches in Group I of European Championship qualification takes place on Saturday. It looks set to be one of the most interesting qualifying campaigns, with all six teams believing that they have at least an outside chance of reaching the major tournament.
EURO 2024 Qualifier Preview
Switzerland will be the clear favourites for progression out of Group I as winners, as they were drawn as the top seed. The Swiss should come into qualifying in good spirits, as they made it out of a tricky group at the World Cup at the end of last year. However, their journey at the competition in Qatar ended in humbling fashion, as they were hammered 6-1 by Portugal in the round of 16.
However, the Swiss have qualified for nine of the previous ten major international tournaments, with their only absence since 2004 coming at the 2012 EUROs. They were excellent in qualifying for EURO 2020, as they won five of their eight matches, and were handed just a single defeat. Qualifying for tournaments hasn’t been an issue historically for Switzerland, but they have often flattered to deceive when competing at tournament finals.
Belarus is yet to qualify for a World Cup or European Championships, and they come into this EURO qualifying having won just once in their eight matches in their campaign to reach Qatar. Their record in qualification for the previous Euros was also similar, as they registered a single win from nine matches.
Last year was a disappointing one for Belarus, as they come into this fixture having won just once in their previous eight matches. That single victory was recorded against Syria, while losses have come against lesser nations in the forms of Oman, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. That doesn’t bode well for their chances of progression out of this testing Group I.
Belarus vs Switzerland Head to Head
This is the fourth time that these two nations have clashed in an international fixture. All three of the previous meetings have been won by Switzerland, which includes a 1-0 success in the most recent clash between the sides in June 2017.
Belarus vs Switzerland Prediction
Switzerland has faced few issues in reaching major tournaments in recent memory, and we fully expect them to have enough quality to win Group I. We expect them to get off to the best possible start on Saturday with a victory on the road against Belarus.
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