Switzerland
After missing out on the 2022 edition, Switzerland return to the EHF EURO final tournament in 2024. In recent years, the team has been making steady progress under head Michael Suter. Switzerland did qualify in 2020 and also competed at the 2021IHF World Championship in Egypt, where they even reached the main round. In the EHF EURO Qualifiers, Switzerland defeated Lithuania and Georgia twice, while they displayed some interesting handball during their confrontations with Hungary.
A glance at their squad confirms that Switzerland belong at the EHF EURO 2024. Goalkeeper Nikola Portner and Lucas Meister won the EHF Champions League with SC Magdeburg in June 2023, and many of the nation’s brightest young talents have made the move to neighbouring Germany to make progress and gather more experience.
Talking of experience, Andy Schmid’s will be key at EHF EURO 2024 for Switzerland one last time. The centre back, who competed with HC Kriens-Luzern in the EHF European League group matches this season, will be displaying his genius for the last time with his national team, having announce his retirement at the end of the 2023/24 season. Whoever can take pick up the torch in the forthcoming years remains to be seen, but for now, Schmid will remain the undoubted leader of this team.
In a group composed of France, Germany, and North Macedonia, Switzerland might be regarded the outsiders by many, by they have proven they can be dangerous opponents for any team, let alone in the inspiring surroundings of an EHF EURO final tournament.
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EHF competition history
Key Players
Nikola Portner made his debut for Switzerland in 2011 and has 123 caps for the national team – including 25 goals. He signed for Magdeburg in summer 2022 together with his Swiss national teammate Lukas Meister, winning the EHF Champions League for a second time in 2023 after previously raising the trophy with Montpellier in 2018. Magdeburg is his sixth club in his career, after Grauholz, Bern Muri, Kadetten Schaffhausen, Montpellier, and Chambéry. Portner is the son of late Zlatko Portner, three-time Champions League winner and world champion in 1986 with Yugoslavia
Andre Schmid is a legend of Swiss handball, who has played more than 200 international games for Switzerland and scored over 1,000 goals since 2003. He is the only member of the Swiss national team who played at EHF EURO in both 2006 and 2020. Schmid moved back to Switzerland in 2022 to join HC Kriens-Luzern after playing for 12 years for German side Rhein-Neckar Löwen; he previously played for Grasshopper and Amicitia in Zuerich as well as for Bjerringbro. Schmid has has announced that the 2023/24 season will be his last.
Head Coach
Michael Suter took over the national team coach position in 2016 and helped Switzerland to qualify for their first EHF EURO since 2006 in 2020, before the team reached the main round at the 2021 IHF Men's World Championship. The former right wing played 74 games for Switzerland and scored over 130 goals as well as playing for clubs including HC Bülach, Pfadi Winterthur and Kadetten Schaffhausen.