Will the second blow in the European Championship qualification follow today? However, after the opening victory over Turkey, things will become much more difficult. Because Switzerland has an unpleasant opponent waiting in Schaffhausen today. While Kreis Lukas Herburger and Wing Sebastian Frimmel worked with the cadets in Schaffhausen, Eric Damböck’s impressions of Switzerland are very fresh. In the summer he moved from the Fivers to Kreuzlingen in the first federal league. “It’s more strenuous than in Austria. The players are physically advanced and therefore the sport is more brutal. The referees also let a little more get away with it,” says the winger, adding with a laugh: “You can sometimes beat people up and get nothing.”
The Viennese is therefore expecting the European Championship game to be tougher than usual. He knows a few players from the Swiss league. “We don’t have to worry about them with our own quality.” Legionnaires like Manuel Zehnder (Magdeburg), Lenny Rubin (Stuttgart) and Lukas Laube (Stuttgart) are more demanding to play against. “We will have to deal with the pressure in Switzerland. If we succeed, we win,” says the winger.
Herburger moved from Schaffhausen to the Füchse in Berlin in the summer. “They have a good individual class. Switzerland is simply well-positioned and broadly positioned.” However, the head of defense sees the fact that the Swiss under coach and Rhine-Neckar legend (2010 – 2022) André “Andy” Schmid usually play in the setup with three right-handers as an advantage for Aleš’s team Pajovič. What has to change after the 31:28 win against the Turks: the evaluation of chances and the covering work. “We have to perform better than in Bregenz. The most important thing is our defense. Our 6-0 defense has to be much stronger, then we can win the game,” says the coach.
A victory in Switzerland would already open the door to the European Championships. Not only do the first two in each group qualify, but the four best third-place finishers in the eight groups will also be there in 2026. In the parallel game, the Turks host Germany in Ankara (3:10 p.m., ARD live).
