The mission “Home European Championship 2024” has started
10/10/2023As part of the EHF EURO Cup, Switzerland will play Austria on Wednesday (18.15, St. Gallen) and Norway on Saturday (16.45, Larvik). These are also the first matches under the new national coach Knut Ove Joa.
A new coach, a new equipment supplier and a home European Championship on the horizon – many things are different for the Swiss women’s national team on this sunny October Sunday in Schaffhausen. Three days before the first match of the EHF EURO Cup against Austria in St. Gallen, the team gathers at the BBC complex in Schaffhausen to start the mission “Women’s EHF EURO 2024”, whose preliminary rounds will be held in Basel at the end of November and beginning of December 2024.
The new boss kicks things off. Knut Ove Joa will present his plans to the players in person for the first time in front of the assembled senior and U20 national teams. The new management committee for women’s competitive sport – Karin Weigelt, Ariane Pejkovic and Manuel Schnellmann – will also introduce themselves after an introductory speech by SHV president Pascal Jenny. After a joint dinner, it was time to distribute the equipment. As you know, the new supplier of the Swiss senior national teams is called “Hummel”. The women’s team will have the honour of wearing their new kit for the first time on Wednesday at the Kreuzbleiche stadium in St. Gallen.
Knut Ove Joa: “Of course I had contact with some of the players before we moved together. But now that we have had our first training session together, the anticipation for Wednesday’s game is even greater. I’m really looking forward to my debut in St. Gallen.
Goalkeeper Lea Schüpbach added: “We’ve had a good start to training. Under the new coach, we are adapting a few tactical things. The aim is to implement them on Wednesday and score easy goals on the back of a solid defence.
Melanie Felber drops out
The new national team coach will be without Melanie Felber this week. The winger, who plays for Swedish club Skara HF, has been ruled out through injury. That leaves 14 players out of the 15-man squad originally announced three weeks ago. After a basic training session with SPL players on 3 October, Knut Ove Joa has expanded his squad as announced. Emma Bächtiger (LK Zug) and Laurentia Wolff (LC Brühl) complete the squad. There are now 16 players in the squad for the two matches against Austria and Norway. Three more SPL players – Nuria Bucher, Celia Heinzer and Annika Lauper – are currently training with the senior squad.
Tickets on sale for match at Kreuzbleiche
For the first time since 2016, the women’s national team will be playing in eastern Switzerland. Around 1000 tickets have already been sold for the match against Austria. Tickets can still be purchased in advance from SHV partner Ticketcorner. The box office in St. Gallen will also be open on Wednesday.
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