Andy Schmid has played for the Swiss national team for more than 20 years. On Tuesday he called it quits, possibly with his club career too.
That’s it: Andy Schmid has ended his career in the Swiss national team. He was still fighting back tears long after the final siren; saying goodbye to the big handball stage was visibly difficult for the Swiss director. “Well, I cried for three thirty minutes out of the last five minutes. That’s why melancholy is probably a slight understatement,” said the 40-year-old with moist eyes after his final appearance in the national jersey at the European Championships on Tuesday evening.
“That was probably my last game for the national team. Or that was my last game for the national team, on this stage anyway,” said Schmid: “In this country where I lived for twelve years, where my children were born where I had my best handball time. This is a nice end to my international career.” Schmid was the playmaker for the Rhein-Neckar Löwen for many years, was under contract in Heidelberg from 2010 to 2022, and was also the mentor of the German handball player Juri Knorr.
However, Schmid was denied a win with Switzerland on Tuesday evening; he was also unable to prevent the 27:29 defeat against North Macedonia in the preliminary round with his twelve goals. “I now definitely know that there is no handball god,” said Schmid: “Because if the handball god had seen that, he would have let us win in my last game.”
Decision in the next few days
Schmid also hinted at an immediate end to his career. “I have to go home, collect my thoughts, talk to my club. I have an employer, I have an association, I have a family. And now I will decide in the next few days whether this might even be my last game. “
However, Schmid, who will succeed Swiss national coach Michael Suter in the summer, left a back door open. When asked whether World Cup qualification was no longer an issue, Schmid said: “Now I’ll be pinned down and then I’ll run again,” but he “actually doesn’t want it.”