BERN, Switzerland (AP) — World Cup quarterfinalist Switzerland rewarded 20-year-old Sion forward Winsley Boteli with a first international call-up Thursday after a fast start to the season that reportedly made him a transfer target for Champions League teams Galatasaray and Porto.
Boteli scored a hat trick last month against Ajax in the Conference League qualifying playoffs in his tally of 12 goals from 14 games so far.
The Swiss youth international publicly declared commitment to the national team last week after being courted by the soccer federation of Congo, which reached the World Cup round of 32 and where he has family ties.
Switzerland coach Murat Yakin also picked 20-year-old Parma defender Sascha Britschgi for the first time in a 25-man squad for Nations League games against Scotland, Slovenia and North Macedonia.
Captain Granit Xhaka returns after an impressive World Cup to extend his national record of 152 appearances. The Sunderland midfielder turns 34 the day after Switzerland opens its Nations League second-tier group at North Macedonia on Sept. 26.
Breel Embolo, who was incorrectly sent off in the World Cup quarterfinal loss to Argentina, was selected after his move to Atlanta United in Major League Soccer.
A third uncapped player, 21-year-old center back Zachary Athekame, is back in the squad while playing on loan from AC Milan at Lyon.
Athekame and Boteli join World Cup breakout star Johan Manzambi, Denis Zakaria and Zeki Amdouni as squad members who were once in the youth system at Servette yet combined to play just six games for the Geneva club. Zakaria, now the Monaco captain, played all six of those games in the Swiss second tier in 2014-15.
Later Thursday, the 20-year-old Manzambi posted a photo on his Instagram account of himself with Athekame, who is 10 months older, when they were boys.
Switzerland plays at Scotland on Sept. 29 then hosts Slovenia and North Macedonia for back-to-back home games in Lucerne.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Sunderland's Granit Xhaka, left, and Arsenal's Declan Rice challenge for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Sunderland and Arsenal in Sunderland, England, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s left-leaning opposition won a narrow majority in the country’s national election, a complete vote count showed on Thursday.
The Swedish Election Authority said the four opposition parties won 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, in Sunday’s election. The four parties that make up or support the outgoing conservative-led government took 173 seats.
Center-right Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson posted a letter on X shortly after the final results were announced, saying he would resign from his position as the head of government.
Magdalena Andersson, the opposition leader and a former prime minister, said that “the Swedish people have voted for a new direction for our country, voted for cohesion and against division,” Swedish news agency TT reported.
It was not immediately clear exactly what government NATO’s newest member will get for the next four years. Sweden, a country of about 10.6 million inhabitants, is also a member of the European Union.
Andersson hopes to regain the prime minister's job, which she lost in 2022. Her center-left Social Democrats finished as the biggest single party with 99 seats, despite losing eight seats.
But she will still face a complicated task to turn the result into a government because of tensions within the left-leaning bloc.
The opposition’s small lead was initially uncertain but was confirmed after early votes that didn’t arrive at polling stations by Election Day, including overseas ballots, were counted.
Kristersson has led Sweden with a three-party, center-right coalition. The parliamentary majority relied on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream.
Kristersson had held out the prospect of Cabinet seats for the Sweden Democrats this time, if the governing coalition won. However, it was a disappointing election for the Sweden Democrats, who dropped into third place behind the outgoing prime minister's Moderates and took 62 seats, 11 fewer than in the last parliament.
Andersson faces the task of overcoming differences in the opposition bloc. The Center Party, which aligned with the left because it does not wish to govern with the Sweden Democrats, also doesn’t want to go into government with the Left Party at the other end of the spectrum.
Any combination across the traditional right-left division would also be complicated. But there is broad political consensus in Sweden on several major issues, such as support for Ukraine and the decision to join NATO, whose 32nd member it became in 2024.
Election workers count early votes and overseas votes in Stockholm City Hall, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
An election worker counts early votes and overseas votes in Stockholm City Hall, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Leader of the Sweden Democrats party Jimmie Åkesson speaks during the Sweden Democrats election night watch party, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Stockholm. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson arrives at the Moderate Party election watch night in Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson speaks during the Social Democrats' election night watch party, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Stockholm. (Jonas Ekströmer/TT News Agency via AP)
