“It’s an easier job than at a club”

At the Wednesday mornings Andy Schmid and the Swiss Handball Federation let the cat out of the bag: the superstar will take over as coach of the national team from 2024. “If you get the chance to become a national coach in your home country, you shouldn’t think twice,” says Schmid.

reservations there is a national coach Andy Schmid actually alone one: The 39-year-old is still listed as a player until 2024 and, as a newcomer to the coaching business, will immediately take on the most prominent job in handball in Switzerland. “Of course that’s a risk,” replies Schmid. “But that’s every decision in professional sport. My first move abroad, to Denmark, was a risk to return home as a player Kriens-Luzern also.”

Schmid finds eventhat the position of national coach as an active player is easier to fill than that in a club: “I don’t have to carefully plan an entire season and pay attention to when each player has to be at his peak physically and tactically. The national team gives me the chance to promote an entire sport. It’s not just the naked results that count. That’s why the job as national coach is all the easier for me, as absurd as it may sound.”

“I didn’t want to lose Andy”

Schmid’s role goes far beyond the four annual appointments with the A-Nati. The exceptional Swiss handball player with five awards as MVP of the Bundesliga in the trophy cabinet must continue to be the face of the sport and promote it throughout Switzerland. “I saw how we lost Marc Baumgartner once. That shouldn’t happen to us with Andy,” says union boss Pascal Jane. Top scorer at the 1993 World Cup, Baumgartner was the first Swiss Bundesliga star in handball in the 1990s. Today he works for an insurance company.

To prevent this story from repeating itself, Schmid was bound to the association years ago with an affiliation contract. That this contract would ever lead to a commitment as national coach was still a long way off. Against this background, it makes all the more sense that Schmid will receive a contract up to and including the home EM 2028. Swiss handball will not have a better draft horse than Schmid in five years’ time.

Last international match at Euro 2024

See you then Schmid with the euro 2024 in his old handball home Germany one last highlight as a player in mind. “I haven’t really thought about it yet, but I do think these will be my last caps if active become,” says Schmid.

The current national coach Michael is still on the trainer’s bench at the European Championship, for which Switzerland is almost qualified suter. Suters The contract will not be renewed after eight years, although “we are very satisfied with him”, as Jenny says. Schmid is aware that the situation with him as a player will be special under his predecessor: “But we would be pretty stupid if we made each other’s lives miserable. Our sport is too small for that and the goal with the European Championship 2024 is too big.” After eight successful years under suterthat of the Descendants Association came, the start to an even greater future should now succeed with the world star Schmid.

This world star then reveals this when asked by the association But didn’t immediately agree: “I’ve already picked up Nikolaj Jacobsen’s blessing.” The Danish world champion coach Jacobsen won two national titles and the cup with Schmid in Germany. The two are friends outside of sports. “I have taken over a lot from him. It helps that I can always count on his help.”

Source : Blick