Philippe Senderos is perhaps the most recognisable member of the Switzerland national squad. The 1.89m-tall, 87kg central defender, whose shaven head and tough tackling are known far and wide, is the rock at the heart of the Swiss backline.

Born on 14 February 1985 in Meyrin in the Swiss canton of Geneva, Senderos spent most of his youth with local club FC Servette, making his Super League debut aged just 16. After 11 successful years with the Garnets, several leading clubs from around Europe became aware of the giant defender's abilities, and it came as no surprise when one of England's top teams came in for his services in 2003.

Arsenal won the race for Senderos' signature, though it was another year before the Swiss stopper finally made his first team debut for the Gunners in a League Cup fixture against Manchester City. His first Premier League appearance as a substitute in a match against Charlton Athletic followed on 1 January 2005.

In the subsequent years, Senderos developed into one of coach Arsene Wenger's key performers, popping up with four league goals between 2005 and 2008 and even being given the honour of wearing the No6 shirt vacated by Arsenal legend Tony Adams.

A loan move to Italy with AC Milan materialised in August 2008, but the big defender failed to have the desired impact at the San Siro. First injuries prevented the 25-year-old from making his Serie A debut until January 2009, but even then he struggled to nail down a place in the Rossoneri starting line-up.

Senderos returned to Arsenal last summer but only managed two appearances for the Gunners throughout the first half of the campaign. The Swiss international elected to join Everton in another loan deal and spent the rest of the season leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ at Goodison Park.

Having previously captained his nation to UEFA U-17 European Championship glory in Denmark in 2002, Senderos went on to represent his country at U-20 level, again captaining the side at the FIFA U-20 World Cup three years later in the Netherlands.

The towering defender made his senior debut on 26 March 2005 in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match against France and has continued to form an important part of the Swiss defence ever since, appearing in two major tournaments.

At Germany 2006, he was one of the key members of then coach Jakob Kuhn's squad and was again a fixture in the Switzerland side which disappointed on home turf at UEFA EURO 2008.

Current Nati coach Ottmar Hitzfeld first called Senderos into his squad in February 2009, though owing to injury the central defender only appeared in four of his country's ten matches en route to South Africa 2010. However, the talented polyglot - Senderos speaks six languages - is raring to go ahead of this June and July's showpiece and Switzerland's fortunes will no doubt depend heavily on the big man's form.