Although the Swiss women's handball team suffered four clear defeats in the main round of the European Championship, SHV President Pascal Jenny is more than positive.
The highlight from a Swiss perspective was the 26:22 victory in Basel in the final preliminary round match against Croatia, which enabled them to reach the main round in Vienna for the first time in their second European Championship participation. It was the first win in the seventh duel with the Croatians.
"We have finally been rewarded as a Swiss handball community, the national team performed to the letter," said Pascal Jenny, President of the Swiss Handball Federation (SHV), in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. "In the main round, we lost a bit of tension, we were more tired, and then it's no longer enough to score points against such caliber. However, there were always phases that showed that it doesn't take much more to be on a par with such teams. That makes us very confident. We now have players who would also play a role in top teams."
Already some successes
The positive development is the reward for investing a lot of resources - in terms of personnel, content and finances - in women's handball in recent years. There is now the same level of effort in all areas as for the men. Since 2020, there has been an academy at the OYM Competence Center in Cham, which is aimed at players aged between 14 and 20. The development squad was recently launched as a further vehicle for the professional development of even more young female athletes. This was possible because the SHV is one of five national sports associations to receive additional financial support for women's competitive sport from the "Sportförderung Schweiz/Swiss Olympic" foundation over three years. "We need to use this momentum," says Jenny.
The successes already achieved are certainly impressive. The U16 national team won the unofficial European Championships in July, while the U20s made it into the top 8 for the first time at this year's World Championships. Eleven of the 18 players in the current European Championship squad are aged 21 or under, and half of them are working abroad.
"The investment has more than paid off so far," says Jenny. "My main goal as president is to make handball more present, so it was a necessary step to include the women and thus find more young talent." He also finds it pleasing that the two national coaches (Andy Schmid and Knut Ove Joa) regularly exchange ideas and thus benefit from each other.
More spectators hoped for in Basel
However, although the European Championships can be described as a success, not everything went as planned, with far fewer spectators coming to the St. Jakobshalle than hoped. Although the atmosphere was great against Croatia, almost 2,000 seats remained empty with 3,826 spectators. World champions France, who played in the second preliminary round group in Basel, attracted fewer than 1500 spectators on two occasions.
"We're not satisfied with that," says Jenny. "That shows me three things: One is that there wasn't enough commitment from the handball scene. Secondly, we have not yet succeeded in motivating the public enough to attend a match at the Women's European Championship. Thirdly, we didn't receive all the support we needed from the European association in terms of certain freedoms for innovative solutions."
Olympic participation by 2032 at the latest
But the positives clearly outweigh the negatives. "We have excellent prospects," says Jenny. "Apart from France and Norway, I don't see any other nation that has as much up-and-coming talent as we do, which I have received confirmation of from decision-makers in other countries. And we mustn't forget that this was the first major tournament for our coach and staff. This team will also learn a lot from this European Championship."
Where does Jenny still see the biggest deficit compared to the top nations? "In athleticism. Most of them need five to ten kilograms more weight, and 80 percent of that has to be muscle mass. In contrast to the previous round, we had phases with unusual technical errors in the main round. For me, this is due to a lack of strength and stamina, which is normal at this young age."
Jenny makes it clear that the women's national team should be at the Olympic Games by 2032 at the latest. "With my experience as a former player and as an official who now understands the whole system, I have to say: 'If we don't qualify for the 2032 Olympic Games with this starting position, then we've all done something wrong. I think that's more than realistic, provided that 90 percent of the talents continue to work seriously. We now have to get this commitment."
