Luca Sigrist underlined his immense potential against Austria.
Picture:
Keystone
The Swiss qualify for the 2026 European Championship finals in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Although coach Andy Schmid’s team lost 33:34 against Austria in Graz, that was enough.
The narrow defeat was enough because four of the eight third-placed teams in the group also got a ticket to the European Championship. Only the results against the top two teams in each group were taken into account. The 32:32 draw against Olympic silver medallists Germany in the Zurich Hallenstadin on Wednesday was therefore worth its weight in gold, after the Swiss had already picked up a point in their home game against Austria (29:29).
In Graz, the visitors took the lead for the first time in the game in the 34th minute thanks to center Lukas Laube (17:16). One minute later, set-up man Luca Sigrist increased the lead to 18:16, but instead of carrying the momentum with them, the Swiss team fell 18:22 behind. At least they recovered after a timeout by Schmid, with Sigrist making it 33:34 shortly before the final buzzer. The latter, at 19 the youngest in the Swiss team, was his team’s most successful scorer with eight goals. Seven goals were scored by left wing Noam Leopold, although he failed to convert two penalties.
Telegram:
Austria – Switzerland 34:33 (16:15)
Graz. – 3000 spectators. – SR Mitrevski/Todorovski (MKD). – Penalties: 4 times 2 minutes against Austria, 5 times 2 minutes against Switzerland.
Austria: Möstl (10 saves)/Bergmann; Bozovic (9 goals), Albek, Frimmel (7/2), Belos (4), Herburger (1), Schweighofer, Paulnsteiner, Damböck, Wagner (4), Nigg (5), Kofler, Hutecek (4), Lastro, Miskovez.
Switzerland: Portner (9 saves/1 goal)/Scheidiger; Meister (1 goal), Rubin (3), Aellen (6), Röthlisberger, Küttel, Maros (2), Steenaerts (2), Laube (3), Wanner, Sigrist (8), Samuel Zehnder, Willecke, Leopold (7/2), Wolfisberg.
Remarks: Switzerland without Manuel Zehnder, Ben Romdhane and Schelker (all injured). Missed penalties: 0:2.
Result/Ranking:
European Championship qualification. Group 7. 6th round. In Graz: Austria – Switzerland 34:33 (16:15). – In Stuttgart: Germany – Turkey 44:26 (21:11). – Final ranking (6 games each): 1st Germany 10 (204:165). 2. Austria 8 (180:176). 3. Switzerland 6 (188:191). 4. Turkey 0 (173:213). – Germany, Austria and Switzerland qualify for the 2026 European Championship finals in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
Mode: The first two teams in each group (8 in total) plus the four best third-placed teams qualify for the 2026 European Championship finals.