Rychenberg Winterthur versus Zug a summit meeting? That’s right, and one with an announcement. It is the duel between the Prime League qualification winner and the third place – the duel between the country’s current model team with by far the best average attendance and the financially strong club from central Switzerland, which brings playful shine to the league with its individual class.
Neither of them has a championship title yet. Rychenberg Winterthur’s last of four cup victories dates back to 1996, Zug’s only title in the club’s history is the 2020 cup victory thanks to a 6:5 win after extra time against Malans.
Rychenberg’s upswing
The leading clubs of the last two decades were Wiler-Ersigen, Köniz and the Grasshoppers, but this year’s final is not an embarrassing constellation. Both Rychenberg Winterthur and Zug have been able to gradually increase their ambitions over the last few years and are now at the forefront of the national elite, which has moved closer together.
Rychenberg benefits from a stable environment and from the AXA Arena, the ball sports hall that was inaugurated in 2018, which contribute to the pleasingly high level of public interest. In addition, several top Swiss players who returned home from Sweden joined the team of long-time coach Philipp Krebs.
«The Winterthur team have made good use of the effect of the new arena and have a lot of expertise on and off the field. The team is an exciting mix of our own players and newcomers and has a good breadth,” says Oscar Lundin, who was Malans’ coach from 2017 to 2020 and has been coaching the Swiss women’s national team since 2022.
Zug’s Scandinavian extra class
Zug managed to catch up to the top, particularly through the inclusion of top-class Scandinavian companies. With the Swedish exceptional Albin Sjögren, who recorded 66 points in 22 league games, as well as his compatriot Sami Johansson and the Finn Miko Kailala, the club has the three best scorers in the league, and Robin Nilsberth, one of the best defenders, is also in its ranks. The coach is Finnish Jarkko Rantala, who led Zug to promotion in 2017 and enjoys a high standing in his home country.
Although the castling at Zug is greater than at Rychenberg, the club is definitely proactive, as the notable signings made at regular intervals show. “The people of Zug have their kind of continuity. There’s a plan behind it, especially since Zug also has good juniors of its own,” says Lundin. Sjögren and Nilsberth, who Lundin knows well personally, would not only be involved on the field. “In this way they help the boys enormously in their development.”
Zug won the two direct encounters this season (10:5, 8:7 nV), the second in December after a 0:5 deficit after twelve minutes.
Hungry Emmental women
The women’s final is a new edition of the 2022 cup final. Kloten-Dietlikon, which won 4-3 two years ago, is aiming for its sixth cup victory in nine years under coach Julia Suter and could win its eleventh title with the record winners Red Ants Winterthur catch up.
Emmental Zollbrück is hungry for its first title 21 years after the club was founded and after three defeats in crucial games. In addition to the cup final two years ago, the Bernese women also lost out in the super final against Kloten-Dietlikon in 2021 and 2023, but they gradually seem ripe for silverware. Oscar Lundin, who has also attended training sessions with the Emmental team, speaks of a good dynamic in the team, of high training intensity and a huge will to win their first title.
However, so far little has emerged from the direct encounters with Kloten-Dietlikon. In addition to the three finals, the two duels in the current championship were also lost.
2024-02-24 15:58:58
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