Albania (70) v Switzerland (18) – Group A – 2pm (BBC) – 11.06.16 – Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens
We rank Albania as the weakest team at these Finals and they face a tough opening game against a good Switzerland side. These teams were in the same qualifying group for the last World Cup, when Switzerland won both home and away, and the Swiss have won their last nine competitive matches against teams ranked outside our top 50. Seven of those wins came to nil and five were by more than one goal, while if we include friendlies they’ve won their last 11 games against these teams with nine wins to nil.
The win to nil certainly looks a great option as Albania have a poor attack. Since 2010, Albania have played eight competitive games against top-35 ranked sides and have gone W1-D2-L5 as they’ve only scored four times and three of those defeats were without scoring. Since 1990, there have been 25 opening group matches at World and European Championships where one team has been 30-70 places higher in our rankings and those sides have a W17-D6-L2 record. 10 of those wins were to nil while 14 of the 25 matches had fewer than three goals.
Recommendation: Switzerland Win 1.8
