One last duel between the handball veterans: Schmid (40) and Switzerland against Karabatic (39) and France

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When the national handball team plays against France at the European Championships in Berlin on Sunday evening (6 p.m., SRF live), it will be the last meeting between Andy Schmid (40) and Nikola Karabatic (39). A three-time Olympic and European champion and four-time world champion, Karabatic is considered the greatest handball player of his generation, if not history. He will end his career after the Olympic Games in Paris.

Although they are almost the same age, duels between Schmid and Karabatic are quite rare. When the Swiss came to the Bundesliga in 2010, the Frenchman was already gone. The 2014 Champions League quarter-finals were legendary, as Karabatic and Barcelona overturned a seven-goal deficit from the first leg in the second leg against Schmid’s Rhein-Neckar Löwen.

Both veterans had a bad start at their last European Championship: Schmid lost 14:27 to Germany with the national team. France got going in the 39:29 win against North Macedonia just as Karabatic went to the bench. Of course, no one dares to shake the Karabatic handball monument with its fellow favorites.

One thing is clear: if Switzerland loses to France and Germany wins against North Macedonia later in the evening, the European Championship for the national team will be over.

Source : Blick