Kwadwo Duah ends Swiss striker worries

The answer is: Kwadwo Duah.

It is an answer that hardly anyone would have come up with a few weeks ago when asked the much-debated question of which striker should – please – score the Swiss goals at the European Football Championship.

Kwadwo Duah needed 12 minutes to turn the question mark into an exclamation mark in Switzerland’s 3-1 win against Hungary on Saturday at the start of the European Championship. He coolly scored the 1-0 with a low shot. And even long-time football journalists up in the stands in Cologne frantically glanced at the search engines to find out what information the Internet had to offer about this striker.

Duah’s nomination in mid-May for the 38-man squad for the European Championship preparations was already a surprise. And when the 27-year-old remained pale in the first half of the 4-0 friendly against Estonia, many observers thought the attacker would not survive the next cut. A few days later, Duah is a goalscorer at the European Championships. And he says: “I am grateful to be able to take part in the European Championships.”

Duah probably didn’t expect it himself until recently. But in the almost desperate search for a solution for the attack, the Swiss coaching staff expanded their scouting – and found in Duah a profile that other Swiss strikers lack. Because Duah likes to run deep, holds his position up front, and is strong in finishing, as in the 1-0 win against Hungary.

Duah’s complicated career path

Perhaps Kwadwo Duah is the best example of what is important, especially for strikers: form, momentum, constellation. National coach Murat Yakin has often let it be known that he is dissatisfied with the situation in attack. The development of the talented Zeki Amdouni and Noah Okafor was not ideal after their transfers to Burnley and Milan. Neither of them are central strikers anyway, but are at their strongest when they find space to dribble.

And Embolo, by far the best striker, was once again out injured for months this season. He made it to the European Championships in reasonable shape, scored the 3-1 goal against Hungary in his brief comeback as a substitute and should be able to play for longer in each game.

Two Swiss striker goals! At a European Championship! In the same game!

“Unfortunately, we can’t clone Breel Embolo,” said Yakin after the 1:1 draw against Austria on June 8, when the Swiss had once again disappointed in attack. Against Hungary, the coach did present a kind of Embolo clone. Duah is only two centimeters shorter and just ten days younger, he was also born abroad, and his roots are also in Africa. Duah’s parents are from Ghana, he was born in London, he speaks as clear Bernese German as Embolo speaks Basel German, and grew up in Tscharnergut in Bern, where his family and many friends still live. Like Embolo, who was born in Cameroon, Duah decided against his family’s homeland and for the Swiss selection.

At YB, Duah was considered a talent early on, but even on loan at Xamax, FC Winterthur and Servette, he did not make a name for himself. When he was sent off by Young Boys in 2019, it was said that Duah lacked determination, goal-scoring ability and class. Someone who has known him for a long time says that Duah had lived through difficult times, but always believed in himself on the complicated path to the top: FC Wil, FC St. Gallen, 1. FC Nürnberg, Ludogorets Rasgrad. Challenge League, Super League, 2. Bundesliga, efbet League. The top Bulgarian club Rasgrad paid a transfer fee of three million Swiss francs a year ago – a record transfer in the history of the Bulgarian league. With the best efbet hit rate (10 goals in 20 games), Duah was a factor on the way to the championship title.

Seferovic, Itten, Zeqiri, Monteiro – all not taking part in the European Championship

In total, Duah has scored an impressive 66 goals in competitive matches since 2019 and his back-door exit in Bern. “Kwadwo has a good finish and trained well with us,” says Murat Yakin. “And now Europe knows him.” The national coach did not include Haris Seferovic, the most influential Swiss striker of the last decade, in his European Championship squad. He did not field the solid, strong Cedric Itten. He has never had confidence in Michael Frey and ultimately not in Andi Zeqiri either, and did not seriously try to sign Haris Tabakovic, who now plays for Bosnia. But in the spring he suddenly saw Joël Monteiro as an alternative, even though the YB striker has rarely stood out as a goalscorer.

With his power, Monteiro could pass as an Embolo kid, and his naturalization was pushed forward in the spring. And when he had received Swiss citizenship just in time, found a place in the 38-man squad and had been built up here and there as a Swiss savior, Yakin sent him home again after a few days. Injuries had hampered Monteiro in the spring.

Form. Momentum. Constellation. Unlike other medium-sized football nations, Switzerland does not have a generational talent with international appeal at its disposal up front like Norway’s Erling Haaland and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, or at least Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojlund. Perhaps that could be Embolo, but the attacker has not only been plagued by injuries but also numerous scandals for years. Embolo’s goal tally for the national team is relatively modest (14 goals in 64 international matches), as was that of Stéphane Chapuisat (21 goals in 103 appearances), the only Swiss world-class striker in history, and Seferovic (25 goals in 93 matches). Alex Frei probably came closest to being a goalscorer with 42 goals in 84 matches.

And the next so-called super talent is ready

Embolo, Amdouni, Okafor – despite stagnation, like the fast wingers Ruben Vargas and Dan Ndoye, they are still hopefuls in the Swiss offense. None of them are goal scorers. Three or four years ago, the young Bradley Fink was considered a goal machine at Borussia Dortmund, most recently he was a reserve at GC. Predictions for so-called super talents are difficult anyway: in 2016, Jérémy Guillemenot (at 18 from Servette to Barcelona), Nishan Burkart (at 16 from FC Zurich to Manchester United) and Lorenzo Gonzalez (at 16 from Servette to Manchester City) went to the youth centers of world clubs. None of them made it through; after years of traveling, they now play for Servette, Winterthur and NK Tabor Sezana in Slovenia’s second division.

So let’s just quietly mention which young Swiss striker is currently expected to have a really great career. The young player is called Winsley Boteli, is 17 and moved from Servette to Borussia Mönchengladbach two years ago. Now the world’s clubs are lining up. Boteli was top scorer in the U-17 Bundesliga West this season (21 goals in 21 games) – ahead of Dortmund’s heavily hyped striker Paris Brunner, who is even a year older than Boteli, won the U-17 World Cup with Germany in 2023 and was also voted the best player of the World Cup.