He was still one of the best handball players in the world in 2024 and is now leading the national team into the World Cup group stage as coach. Here, Andy Schmid talks to blue Sport about his love of football, Xhaka, Klopp, Nagelsmann and the whims of FC Luzern.
No time? blue Sport summarizes for you
- Andy Schmid was still the national team star on the pitch at Euro 2024, and now he has led the handball team to the main round of the World Cup in Denmark as a coach.
- Schmid would certainly trust his footballing counterpart Granit Xhaka to do the same. Schmid not only loves handball, he is also a football enthusiast.
- In an interview with blue Sport, he talks about FC Luzern ("You don't get any peace and quiet at FCL anyway") and dispels the prejudice that handball players are tougher than footballers.
Andy Schmid, we start with a deadly journalistic sin: a cliché. Handball players are tougher than footballers, aren't they?
Andy Schmid: Absolutely not. You have a bit more physical contact in handball than in football. And it's possible that an injured player is more likely to play. But that could also be for insurance reasons, because there's more money involved in football. But a clear no: footballers can also take a knock.
What can handball players learn from footballers?
I don't like to make comparisons. But where football as a whole is ahead of us is professionalism, that's for sure. In terms of the staff, medical care, nutritional advice, mental training: you have specialists for everything. We're lagging behind in handball because we simply can't afford it.
And vice versa?
If footballers are now watching the handball World Cup, they might notice something they can take away for themselves (smiles).
What do you like about football?
I like football for the reason that everyone likes it: it's entertaining, exciting. And you have a kind of connection with the players because you see and hear so much about them in the media. Then you also want to know how they're going to play in the next game. I watch a lot of football. In the Super League, I mainly follow FC Luzern, of course, and I'm also in the stadium from time to time. But I also watch the Champions League, Premier League and Bundesliga.
You've gone straight from top player to national team coach. Do you think Granit Xhaka, the head of the national team, can do the same?
It's certainly more difficult to become a national team coach directly in football. But I definitely believe Granit Xhaka can become a top coach for a club team straight away. It's always a question of the constellation. I was a player for a very long time and played in a position where you have to think a bit like a coach - that's what it's all about. And I think it's very similar for Xhaka as it is for me.
In football, the path to a Uefa Pro license is difficult for many ex-professionals. What's it like in handball?
You do the C, B, A and then the professional coaching license. That's compulsory. But I can now do it alongside my job. Is that possible in football?
Yes, Markus Babbel, the former FCL coach, was a coach in Stuttgart when he did the final stages of his training to become a football coach.
I imagine that was brutally stressful...
...and then he was sacked this year.
Exactly.
Is there anyone in football who impresses you?
Jürgen Klopp! His straightforwardness, his empathy, his humanity - that's second to none. And I'm also impressed by Julian Nagelsmann. Without being able to judge it exactly, because I'm not close enough, I have the feeling that he has grown even more with the move from Bayern to the national team. From a tactics freak to an open-minded guy who also thinks about the big picture.
What do you attribute that to?
I have a good relationship with Pirmin Schwegler, who played under Nagelsmann at Hoffenheim. He always raved that Nagelsmann was tactically incredible. But that's just one part that a coach has to master. It's also about leadership, psychological factors that influence a player. And I have the feeling that Nagelsmann is now doing even more in this respect.
Which other coaches do you look to for inspiration?
You can take something from all of them. I've had a lot of good coaches myself. But I also read a book by basketball coach Phil Jackson (Jackson won 13 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers, ed.). But I am me, and I have to find the best way for me. After all, I can't pretend to be an elder statesman like Carlo Ancelotti, who is more than 20 years older and has already won everything.
Does a handball coach have more influence during the game than a football coach?
I was never a football coach. But I would say yes. Football coaches can change five times nowadays, in the past it was only three times. I can change any player every second. That naturally increases the tactical possibilities. I also have three timeouts per game to exert influence. And I'm closer to the players in the closed hall. That's why they can hear me better. In football, it's certainly the tactical preparation that is extremely intensive.
Back to your favorite club, the FCL. How do you experience it?
The last two years have been turbulent with the dispute over investor Bernhard Alpstaeg. But you don't have peace and quiet at FCL anyway. That's Lucerne, that's what makes the club what it is. It moves the city and the whole region. Everyone wants to have a say, and that creates constant unrest. In sporting terms, the club is now quite stable, but not so much on the sidelines (smiles).