The 40-year-old Andy Schmid shaped handball in Switzerland and Germany. He has proven that even small and slender players can be successful.
Brought wit and dynamism to the Swiss national team for almost two decades: Andy Schmid.
Michael Buholzer / Keystone
The fact that Andy Schmid’s career is coming to an end became clear at the last European Championships. This was evident, for example, when Switzerland lost 14:27 in the opening game against Germany almost three weeks ago in the Düsseldorf football stadium in front of over 53,000 spectators. Schmid, the best Swiss handball player in history, looked ailing. He didn’t come close to achieving the verve and playfulness that had previously distinguished him for almost two decades. Of all places, on this huge stage, the engine of the once outstanding playmaker sputtered. This match made it clear to Schmid what he had suspected: that it was over.
What was only rumored during the European Championships: Schmid, 40 years old, played with a muscle injury in his thigh. But he picked himself up and led Switzerland to a draw against Olympic champions and eventual European champions France. “It was important for me that I got close to my performance level again in this game,” says Schmid.
In the final group game against North Macedonia (27:29), Schmid secured the national team’s goal record. He scored 1,094 times in 218 games. The defeat against North Macedonia meant Switzerland was eliminated from the preliminary round. Schmid said he cried for three and a half of the last five minutes of the game. Today he officially announced his resignation.
At Kriens-Luzern, where Schmid ended his career in 2022, he would have had a contract until the summer. But even in the days before the European Championships there were thoughts of quitting. Schmid is known for thinking through decisions carefully. The club was informed about the considerations at an early stage. Before the European Championships, Schmid gave insights into his thoughts in an interview with the NZZ, but asked for silence. He doesn’t want any unrest before the tournament.
He doubted whether it was a good idea for the future Swiss national coach to play play-offs in the domestic league a few weeks before taking office. What if he gets into a fight with a coach or a referee? What if an aspirant for the national team fouls him hard and a little later comes face to face with national coach Schmid? “Thoughts like that would paralyze me,” he says.
Before the European Championships, he hired a personal athletic trainer
In the same conversation, Schmid says that he is no longer a top athlete with heart and soul. He lacks the irrepressible will to go to training or games. “I am convinced that I have been playing for a year too long.” But he still wanted to experience this last European Championship. With the tournament in mind, he hired an athletic trainer. “I wanted to squeeze everything out of myself,” says Schmid.
Now he acts consistently and stops. This consistency has distinguished Schmid throughout his entire career. After starting in Switzerland, he felt in 2009 that he would be stuck in the National League A. At the same time, he didn’t feel ready for a move to the Bundesliga. He had already dreamed of the best league in the world as a junior player. He took a detour to achieve this dream and played for Bjerringbro-Silkeborg in Denmark for a year.
From there he was transferred to Germany to the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. Schmid had a difficult start. In the first season he only sat in the stands for a while, and a trade magazine voted him “Relegated Player of the Year”. He once said that he went to training every day with a stomach ache.
At that time he considered returning to Switzerland early. But that wouldn’t have suited Schmid. As a player, he was obsessed with the urge to succeed – without ever losing his composure. Even after bitter defeats like the European Championship opening game against Germany, he stood up and tried to provide explanations. He suppressed his anger about his teammates’ mistakes or incompetence on the field.
The thought of immediate resignation was already present for Andy Schmid before the European Championships.
Michael Buholzer / Keystone
This attitude paid off in Germany. Schmid opened up to his fellow players and tried to convey his game idea to them, which they had not previously understood. He became a leader and a cult figure in the scene with his creative circle passes and throwing variations. Schmid set the style by proving that even small and slender players can be successful in handball. Nikolaj Jacobsen, Schmid’s coach at the Rhein-Neckar Löwen from 2014 to 2019, told the NZZ in 2022: “He was the best handball player in the world for years.”
Before Schmid, Switzerland was a handball no-man’s land for the Germans
Until the end, Schmid hoped to close a gap in the Palmarès with victory in the Champions League. He could imagine a short engagement until next summer at a top European club, in Barcelona or at THW Kiel. But after the European Championships, Schmid says: “I realized that I would no longer be fit enough to compete at this level for months. I didn’t want to take it to the extreme.”
Schmid played for twelve seasons in Germany with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen until 2022. He won two championship titles with the club from Mannheim, won a cup and triumphed in the European Cup. He was voted the most valuable player in the Bundesliga five times in a row between 2014 and 2018 – the most valuable success. Before Schmid, Switzerland was a handball no-man’s land for German clubs. Only his successes changed this.
It is partly thanks to Schmid that eight players from the Swiss squad for the 2024 European Championship will play in the Bundesliga. He not only brought Swiss players to the attention of Bundesliga clubs, but also gave advice to young talents. Schmid convinced her to focus on top-class sport and dare to move abroad.
This commitment was rooted in the difficult relationship between Schmid and the national team at times. There were times when he no longer cared about the national team. The team with numerous students and semi-professionals was chronically unsuccessful; Schmid saw no point in being a professional for a project that was doomed to failure. It was only Michael Suter who convinced him to return in 2016. Success came under national coach Suter; Schmid played under him at the 2020 and 2024 European Championships and the 2021 World Cup.
He will replace Suter as national coach in the summer. It has become apparent that Schmid will one day enter the coaching profession. He keeps saying that he is obsessed with handball. As a player, he prepared meticulously for the matches. Ideas for moves sometimes came to him on the sofa. And when play in the Bundesliga was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic, he developed offensive tactics and thought about defensive systems. Schmid prepared for a coaching position early on – with all the rigor.
Almost 12,000 spectators say goodbye to Andy Schmid at the last Bundesliga game in June 2022.
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