Kündig: “I want to bring calm to the young and wild ones”

It happened in mid-September. During training at her club Thüringer HC, Kerstin Kündig collided with a teammate. Knee injury, surgery — all this just a few weeks before the Switzerland team captain’s career, the Women’s EHF EURO 2024 co-hosted by her country alongside Austria and Hungary.

A race against time began. From the start, the 31-year-old playmaker was ready to do what it takes to recover as she definitely did not want to miss the tournament on home ground.

The hard work paid off and on Sunday 10 November, Kündig was back on court and scoring five times in THC’s match against Vác (34:22) in the EHF European League qualification round. The EHF EURO can come for player with the second-most caps in the Swiss squad – behind 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuela Brütsch.

“Yes, it was a race against time. I trained with the club for three weeks before the comeback without any problems. Now I’m no longer in pain, everything is great,” Kündig said.

Her anticipation for the European Championship home matches in Basel is growing. Switzerland’s opponents in the preliminary round are Faroe Islands, Olympic bronze medallists Denmark, and Croatia.

“Switzerland was awarded with the tournament many years ago and we always thought it was still a long way. And now, it has happened so quickly, the tournament is just around the corner, we can hardly wait,” Kündig said.

Two years ago, the Swiss women’s team qualified for a European Championship for the first time. In the preliminary round in Ljubljana, they faced eventual European champions Norway, Hungary, and Croatia.

“Looking back, those were very important experiences for us. It is great that a lot of players in the current squad were with us two years ago, so they could gain this experience. Not just in terms of what happens on the court, but also in terms of the organisation and the processes. Otherwise, the home European Championship would have been their first big tournament and the tension would have been even bigger than it already is,” Kündig said.

Kündig has fond memories of the first ever Swiss EHF EURO point, from a draw against Croatia in 2022. This time, Switzerland are meeting the same opponents again.

“We know that we can keep up. Even though we lost the other two games, we can be very satisfied with the EHF EURO 2022. After all, we had an incredibly young team and the whole tournament was a great experience for us,” Kündig recalled the 2022 event.

From 2009 to 2020, Kündig played for Swiss top clubs Yellow Winterthur and LC Brühl before mobbing abroad — first to Germany (THC), then to Denmark (Viborg HK), and ultimately back to Germany (first SG BBM Bietigheim, since 2023 THC again).

With her extensive international experience, Kündig wants to be the calming influence in the young team.
“I want to bring calm to the court. Of course, everyone should be excited, but I hope that I can bring a certain level of composure. We have two or three experienced players, the rest are young and wild ones,” Kündig said.

One of these young and wild ones has already been in the spotlight since the EHF EURO 2022: 19-year-old right wing Mia Emmeneger, who plays for three-time WEHF Champions League winners Vipers Kristiansand since the summer of 2024.

“I am really proud of Mia’s way, she is already a real figurehead of Swiss women’s handball. And she is the perfect role model for young players, that you can achieve anything. We have many talents who can do it, especially thanks to our academy. I think the development in Switzerland is excellent, many will make their way and emulate their idol Mia Emmenegger,” Kündig said.

The positive development of Swiss youth handball was also demonstrated last summer, when the national under-16 team won the European Open to become the first national team from Switzerland to win an international event.

For the EHF EURO 2024, Kündig hopes for a full St. Jakob Arena in Basel, where the team’s 2023 IHF World Championship play-off against Czechia in April 2023 was attended by 3,174 spectators – a record crowd for a Swiss women’s handball match.

Many activities followed in the region to get fans excited about the EHF EURO coming to town.

“Many of our national team players visited clubs and trained with children there. We notice that interest in our women’s national team has been increasing,” Kündig said.

Even Swiss handball legend Andy Schmid has contributed his part.

“With someone like him, we reach the entire handball community in Switzerland. You can see that the entire federation backs and supports us, which is a great feeling for our team,” said Kündig, who hopes the fans’ support will help Switzerland book their ticket to the main round.

“A win against the Faroe Islands is a must and we can keep up with Croatia,” Kündig said. “We will prepare as well as possible for this.”

photos © 2023-24 Beate Oma Dahle / NTB (main image and first in-text image); Alexander Wagner