Due to injury to regular captain Gökhan Inler, Lichtsteiner wore the Swiss armband for the first time on 14 October 2014 in his 70th match, a 4–0 away win over San Marino in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. Prior to the finals in France Lichtsteiner was made permanent captain as Inler was dropped due to lack of playing time at club level. The Swiss made it out of the group stage and faced Poland in the Round of 16. With the score at 1–1, the match was decided by penalties, and Lichtsteiner took first and scored but the Swiss lost as Granit Xhaka missed.