Switzerland’s most Googled searches have shed light on what has been on the minds of the Swiss throughout 2021. Topping off the list are football, COVID-19 and even Squid Game.

Switzerland caught football fever watching Euro 2020

Switzerland’s top search for 2021 was unsurprisingly the Euro 2020 football tournament. The competition was an emotional roller-coaster for Switzerland, as the country’s national football team shocked the world by knocking the World Cup holders France out on penalties, giving Switzerland a victory in its first penalty shootout in 83 years and taking the team all the way to the quarter-finals.

Some of the most searched people in Switzerland were also key figures in the European football tournament, with the most Googled person in Switzerland this year being Danish footballer Christian Eriksen, following the footballer’s terrifying on-pitch cardiac arrest and subsequent recovery in hospital.

Most of the top Googled Swiss people in 2021 are part of the Swiss national football team that played in the Euro 2020 tournament, including goalkeeper Yann Sommer, as well as Xherdan Shaqiri, Haris Seferovic, Granit Xhaka, Breel Embolo, Mario Gavranović, Ruben Vargas and Murat Yakin, the Swiss national team coach who took charge after the competition.

International news was also popular in Switzerland

Alongside the Swiss football team, many famous faces from around the world made up a large part of the country’s Google searches in 2021. The second most Googled international personality that people in Switzerland have been curious about was Alec Baldwin, presumably following the actor’s incident with a prop gun on the set of the movie Rust, which tragically killed cinematographer and journalist Halyna Hutchins.

Many of the other most Googled people in Switzerland this year were sportspeople, reflecting the country’s obsession with sport in 2021 - a year for not only football tournaments, but also the Tokyo Olympic Games, Tokyo Paralympic Games, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Kylian Mbappé, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Belinda Bencic, Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Donnarumma were all among the most searched.

Aside from international sports competitions, the US presidential election continued to dominate Swiss Google searches throughout the year, despite the vote taking place in late 2020. Both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders ranked highly on Switzerland’s search results, being the sixth and seventh non-Swiss people to be most Googled in the country.

COVID-19 vaccines and Swiss coronavirus restrictions

While many of the country’s searches were positive, much focus was also placed on the COVID-19 pandemic. The start of 2021 saw the first people in Switzerland receive their COVID-19 vaccines, much to the relief of overwhelmed doctors and hospitals. The third most searched term overall this year was “corona Switzerland”, followed several spots later by “COVID certificates”, which proved to be controversial following their introduction in the country earlier in the year.

Other frequently Googled coronavirus-related questions in Switzerland this year have included: “How long is a PCR test valid for?”, “How long does the coronavirus last?”, “How long is an antigen test valid for?”, “What is a COVID certificate?”, and “How much does a corona test cost?”

Selber machen and Swiss geography

Since the pandemic forced the country into several “lockdowns” throughout the year, the people of Switzerland, much like many other people around the world, were desperately searching for something to do while they were away from work. DIY projects, cooking and baking took the country by storm, and many Swiss people used the internet to hunt for recipes.

Some of the most sought-after recipes were for homemade ice cream, dumplings, pasta, sauerkraut and gnocchi. The most-Googled “what” phrase of the year was “what shall I cook today?”

People in Switzerland were also curious about their own country’s demographics and geography in the last year. Frequently searched questions in this domain were: “How many cantons does Switzerland have?” and “What is the population of Switzerland?”

Top Google searches in Switzerland for 2021

While Google categorises their most popular searches into a number of groups, the overall most Googled search terms in Switzerland are:

• 1. Euro 2021
• 2. Corona Schweiz (Corona Switzerland)
• 3. Champions League
• 4. Roland Garros
• 5. SRF Tippspiel
• 6. Squid Game
• 7. iPhone 13
• 8. Serie A
• 9. Wimbledon
• 10. Christian Eriksen

To see Switzerland’s top Google searches for 2021 across all categories, visit Google Trends’ Year in Search 2021.