Asian Cup winners Qatar drew 1-1 with Switzerland in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup, equalizing in stoppage time.
Published June 13, 2026
In Group B of the World Cup, Qatar spoiled a dominant day against Switzerland with a 1-1 draw as Boualem Kuki headed home the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
On Saturday, several Qatari players fell to the ground celebrating a late goal, while others rushed to each other to hug.
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Switzerland scored a goal from the penalty spot in the first half, just over a week after being allowed into the United States due to visa delays, but Switzerland failed to capitalize on multiple other scoring chances.
In the 13th minute, Embolo was fouled by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada and received a yellow card for this play. Abunada lay on his stomach and appeared motionless for several minutes, but then he began to move his legs and was able to stand up again.
When Embolo calmly slotted a penalty into the top left corner in the 17th minute, the red-clad Swiss fans went wild in the stands at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
The 29-year-old forward applied for an emergency visa at the U.S. Embassy in Bern on June 3, a day after he was denied boarding the team’s flight to his third World Cup due to a 2018 criminal conviction that was only finalized in April.
On an unseasonably warm June afternoon, Switzerland dominated the possession game as the sprinklers came on during the first-half break.
Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, was dotted with thousands of empty seats. Brazil and Colombia drew in the group game of the Copa America two years ago with 70,971 spectators. Santa Clara’s stadium hosted the Super Bowl just four months ago.
Two minutes into the game, Edmilson Junior broke through the defense in a one-on-one situation and was saved by Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Korbel won the ball again in the 90th minute with a shot from close range by Ahmed Alaeldin.
Switzerland will be hoping to improve on their last-16 performance four years ago, when they lost 6-1 to Portugal, with Gonzalo Ramos replacing star Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench and scoring an unlikely hat-trick. The loss prompted Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to apologize to the fans.
Switzerland used consistency and experience to go undefeated through qualifying against Sweden, Kosovo and Slovenia. Coach Murat Yakin’s side have won four games and drawn two, qualifying for the World Cup for the sixth year in a row and haven’t missed a spot since 2002, but the team has never made it past the quarter-finals.
Qatar, led by Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui, missed out on a spot in the group stage of the Asian qualifiers and had to qualify by defeating the United Arab Emirates and Oman in a play-off in November.
Four years ago, the Gulf nation became the first host nation to lose all of its group stages. In the 2022 tournament, he lost to Senegal, Ecuador and the Netherlands, scoring the only goal in a 3-1 loss to Senegal.
